Here’s your chance:

When:  Saturday, October 23rd, 2010, 10 AM to 4 PM

Where: North Seattle Community College, 9600 College Way N, Seattle 98103

Why:  Because we all have questions about money, but we don’t always have the money to pay for the answers

Click here for more information!

Guests at United Way's Community Resource Exchange

“Token days are not the ebb and flow of life.  They ease our feelings of regret about the way things have to be for the remainder of the year.  They do not really change the way things are.”–Jonathan Kozol, “The Shame of the Nation”

Last Friday was Day of Caring, my 13th with United Way of King County.  I was among about 300 volunteers (there were over 10,500 total throughout the county) that spent the day at Qwest Field for the Community Resource Exchange.  In case you don’t know, the CRE is an event that provides direct access to a variety of public and quality of life services to people struggling with homelessness, all in one place on one day.  Last year, we had approximately 1200 guests.  Last Friday, we had over 2000.  That’s a conservative estimate.  I stood in line with many of them, and I can tell you 2000 is low.  But I’ll wait for the official numbers next week.

I shouldn’t be surprised by the huge increase in need.  None of us should be, really.  As one of the organizers of the event, I was an obvious target for the emotions that naturally accompany something like this:  anger, fear, gratitude, sadness, hope, surrender, and love were all on display.  As the day came to an end, one of the final guests came up to me as I loaded materials into our UPS truck.  The sadness in her voice was masked by the smile on her face. 

“Bless you,” she said.  “I didn’t get everything I needed today, but you made me feel human again.  Just for a moment.  And that’s enough for now.  Maybe I can get up tomorrow and keep going, and do it again.”

I’ve always been a bit cynical about Day of Caring.  Kozol’s quote above puts my perspective in words.  And yet, this woman’s words stick with me, as well.  They give me pause, for which I now turn and ask of you.  To the more than 10,000 people who gave of themselves so graciously last Friday, I say “THANK YOU.”  And, “What’s Next?”  To the rest of us, I know that many of you allow yourselves those moments when you actually think things aren’t so bad.  But they could be better, right?  So I say “Bless YOU.”  And, “What’s Next?”  Here are two possibilities in our local area:

• The Bridge to Basics program connects volunteers to local organizations in an effort to help struggling families stretch their limited resources by getting signed up for public benefit programs.  As someone said at the CRE, ‘I may only qualify for $15 in food stamps per month because I’m working more, but that’s almost four days worth of food for me and my daughter’.
• Our Free Tax Campaign helps thousands of low-income individuals and families get every dollar back on their federal tax return that they’re eligible for, without having to pay someone to do it for them.  You can be one of almost 650 volunteers in King County this year to help make that happen!  Registration opens Friday, October 1st right here!  And as I love telling folks, NO tax experience necessary!

Whatever you might think about the amount of actual change that can occur on a ‘token day’, I hope you remember two things.  First, make today as good as you can make it.  Second, wake up tomorrow and do whatever you can to make it better than today.

Anna Moore, 42, Ballard, Drowned

James Dolan, 73, Seattle, Fall

Randy Leonard, 52, Seattle, Overdose

Matthew Crook, 41, Normandy Park, Suicide by drowning

Chad Venegas, 32, Auburn, Shot to death

Brandi Lambert, 35, Downtown Seattle, Infection

Jeffery Kukkonen, 29, West Seattle Junction, Overdose

Dereje “Teka” Beri, 29, Ship Canal Bridge, Suicide by car

Robert Hansen, 58, Seattle, Natural causes

Tyree Bellinger, 27, White Center, Shot to death

Jason Gaspaire, 33, Seattle, Overdose

David Jensen, 51, Seattle, Overdose

John Huff, 35, West Seattle, Asphyxia

Carlos Candia-Morale, 41, Highway 99, Hit by car

Peter Radford, 27, Lake Union, Drowned

Lee Wheeler, 47, West Seattle, Overdose

• Here’s an interesting thought.  How crazy am I to even think this cold work??  Go to town, naysayers!
• Last Sunday, YouTube featured our old friend Mark Horvath and his invisiblepeople.tv site on their main page to help bring some social media exposure to the issue.  Successful?  I stopped counting at 500,000 views.  Mark continues to give voice to the people who we too often ignore at our convenience.
• And along the lines of what one day can do, United Way of King County will host it’s 5th Community Resource Exchange on September 24th as part of our annual Day of Caring.  You can help by conducting a Supply Drive and dropping off your collections at our downtown office by Friday, September 10th.  For the Tweeters among us (you know who you are), be sure to follow us throughout the day on September 24th at #uwkcdayofcaring.

When I heard last fall that Cyndy’s was closing, I had the same reaction as a lot of other folks in the area.  I couldn’t believe it.  But given that the owner was looking to retire after nearly 40 years, I felt I could understand.  Then it started circulating that the potential lot buyer planned to put in a strip club.  Uh, oh.  Neighborhood activists worried that a strip club would “harm the character of the neighborhood and serve as a magnet for crime.” Thankfully, that fell through, in part due to the diligence of the local morals squad in identifying an obscure city zoning law prohibiting ‘adult cabarets’ within 800 feet of certain institutions (schools, parks, etc).  A private school existed 742 feet away.  Cyndy’s re-opened (for the time being), and everything seemed right again.  But the spot was still for sale…and then an interesting thing happened.

The Downtown Emergency Service Center put in a proposal to build an affordable housing development on the property.  Their intention was to create another Housing First site, similar in nature (if not clientele) to the successful venture at 1811 Eastlake.  So I wondered, how would the neighbors react to THIS?  Apparently, my cynicism was unfounded for once :-).  By all accounts, many of the people attending the open forum at Cyndy’s earlier this month warmed up to the idea after hearing from DESC’s ED Bill Hobson.  And I was pleasantly surprised in reading many of the reader comments to this excellent re-cap (something that I usually find extremely depressing).

Well done, North Seattle!

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This is from a nice piece in today’s Seattle Times about Washington CASH, a local nonprofit organization committed to helping people get out of poverty by supporting their entrepreneurial efforts.  Our Free Tax Campaign also has a budding relationship with them to help small business owners learn how to file their federal income tax return.

It’s ironic that so many cash-starved, multi-billion dollar financial institutions are finding it difficult to lend money for small business development, yet an organization like CASH has actually increased the number of people it serves since the start of the recession.

Okay, maybe not “ironic”.  Pathetic, absolutely.

When are these guys going to jail, anyway?

But I’d like to talk about an IRS program that many people may not even know about.  It’s one of the most successful community volunteer initiatives ever, in terms of return on investment (for you bottom-line types) and the ‘warm fuzzies’ (for those of you who like puppies and kittens).  It’s called the Community Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program, or VITA.  It started back in 1969 (like myself) with the Tax Reform Act (not like myself).

From very modest beginnings, VITA has grown to over 4,500 free tax sites nationwide (including 17 right here in King County).  In 2009, those 4,500 sites utilized the services of over 43,000 certified volunteers to prepare 1.2 million federal tax returns–a growth rate of 155% over 5 years!

But that’s just part of the success story.  The average VITA client earns about $18,800 a year before taxes (2008).  And here are some amazing numbers for 2009:

• Total federal refunds returned to VITA clients: $1.4 billion.
• 355,000 VITA clients claimed the Earned Income Tax Credit.
• The average EITC was $1,465.  And the total EITC return amount exceeded $520 million.
• Each EITC dollar brought back into a community generates approximately $1.58 in local economic activity.

And because of VITA programs in local communities, 100% of those dollars go into VITA clients’ pockets, bank accounts, and/or savings opportunities like bonds, instead of towards fees for paid tax preparers.

So why am I telling you all of this?  Because despite the tremendous success of this program and the demonstrated impact that it has had on communities across this country, there was never a dime of federal funding to support it until 2008.  That’s when Congress approved an $8 million competitive matching grant initiative for local VITA programs.  It was increased to $12 million for 2010.  But now the administration is recommending it be decreased back to $8 million for FY 2011, meaning all of the work done to expand VITA programs to reach more families over the past 3 years would be severely impacted when we start doing taxes in 2012.

VITA is exactly the type of federal program that should be kept intact during times of economic turmoil.  The numbers literally speak for themselves.  If you agree, there are two things I’d like you do:

• The decision about funding for the VITA Grant Program for 2012 will be made in Congress over the next several months.  Contact your representative, and tell them that now is NOT the time to cut back on programs that put money back into people’s pockets!  Don’t know who your rep is?  Click here.
• Add your name to this state-by-state petition drive to not only keep funding for the VITA Grant Program intact, but to increase it.  For Washington, click here.

I met Mark when he came to Seattle last year for a social media conference.  He’s been in the news a lot lately (google him, if you don’t believe me), and his work inspires people around the country to learn more about an issue while others (including our elected leaders) would have us simply wish it would go away so we could shop. 

You can learn more about Mark here and here, and follow him on Twitter here (if you’re into that kind of thing :-)). 

He’ll tell you that ‘it’s not about him’, and that’s true.  But Saturday is his birthday, so…happy birthday, my friend, and cheers to you!!

The state Senate has proposed a devastating $39.3 million cut to the Housing Trust Fund.  At least $32 million of this will come from funding that has already been allocated and projects that may already be underway.  The Housing Trust Fund is Washington’s most important means of providing safe, decent, and affordable housing.  Without the Trust Fund, we can’t make progress towards our commitment to end homelessness.  A cut this deep to projects that are already underway will not only put access to affordable housing at risk but will also cost us jobs when we can least afford to lose them.

Click here to send your message

The Senate needs to hear that an investment in the Housing Trust Fund now will provide housing for thousands of families in need, many of whom are struggling more than ever because of the recession.  It will provide homes for people leaving homelessness, low-wage working families, the elderly, and people with disabilities.

It’s critical that Senators hear this message loud and clear.  They need to know that now is the time to INVEST in the Housing Trust Fund, not cut it. Please take a moment send your message and also forward this email to at least three of your colleagues and friends.  Ask them to join you in this critical action today.