OTHER RESOURCES

FSA Income guidelines (pdf)

Family Asset Building

While jobs are the hub around which much of Impact’s work revolves, helping families to save, improve their earning power through education, and acquire and improve  homes are other strategies Impact employs to promote higher level of personal and family self-sufficiency.

Starting in 2005, Impact joined other Philadelphia agencies in the Campaign for Working Families.  The core of this work is to help lower-income families in Philadelphia claim more of the $50 million in Earned Income Tax Credits that research indicated was theirs for the filing.  Since that time, Impact’s Volunteers in Tax Assistance (VITA) Center has filed more than 2,200 returns, and garnered more than $3.6million in returns and credits for community members. In April 2007, it was recognized by the United Way for breaking the $1 million mark for the first time.

Each January, a call for VITA Center volunteers goes out. Training is free! If you are comfortable with a computer, like people, and want to make a tangible difference in the well being of a hard working family, check out our Volunteer opportunities.

Operating leveraged saving programs is another way Impact helps working families make economic progress. Pennsylvania’s Family Savings Account (FSA) program aims to help low-income families overcome barriers to homeownership, higher education, buying a first car for work, or starting a business. Designed to encourage saving, the program offers both financial literacy training and a dollar-for-dollar match of up to $2,000 for income-qualified individuals over 18 years of age.

For more information about the FSA program please contact Roy G. Viehweger, Program Director, at 215-423-2944 ext. 137. An application and income guidelines are attached.

The Building Materials Exchange is the oldest of Impact’s Asset Building projects. Started in 1985, the Building Materials Exchange provides low-to-no-cost building materials to income-qualified homeowners, allowing them to repair and improve their homes, building equity and wealth in a time-honored way.

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