Grants & Initiatives
Higher Education as Guides to the Credit Path
With funding from Learn and Serve America, and in partnership with Drexel University's Center for Civic Engagement, PHENND will develop and expand four regional campus-community partnership initiatives focused on key areas of economic recovery: food stamp enrollment, income tax assistance for low-income families, financial education, and micro-entrepreneurship training. Each of these areas sits along a continuum of asset development, The Credit Path, which moves families from financial uncertainty to self-sufficiency. Layered across each of these regional partnerships, PHENND will also build capacity of partnering nonprofits and their affiliates through a series of targeted programs: capacity-building workshops, student internships, and student leadership development.Scholars in Service to Pennsylvania AmeriCorps Program
Scholars in Service to Pennsylvania is an AmeriCorps Education Award Only program (Ed Award). This means that participating students enroll as AmeriCorps members on a part-time basis and receive a partial Education Award at the end of their term. Students may choose to do a “quarter-time” or “minimum-time” commitment. A student who completes 450 hours of service over one calendar year can earn an education award of $1,250; a student who completes 300 hours of service over one year can earn a $1,000 education award. Starting with the 2010-2011 program year, the AmeriCorps Education Award will increase to $1,415 for 450 hours and $1,132 for 300 hours and is expected to increase modestly each year thereafter. Currently, students can do up to 2 terms of Scholars in Service regardless of which level of commitment they make; however, this limit is also in the process of being loosened. The award can be used to pay for any legitimate educational expense at their current undergraduate institution or to pay for future educational expenses, as well as to re-pay student loans.
Financial Outreach Initiative/Volunteer Income Tax Assistance
The Financial Outreach Initiative began during the 2002-2003 academic year. The project mission is to organize, implement, and sustain a multi-university project concerned with various forms of asset development for low-income communities in the Philadelphia region.
During the 2009 tax-filing season, students from Swarthmore College and Widener University, along with many community volunteers and agency staff, provided free tax services to 1275 filers who collectively received over $1.8 million in refunds. The target audience for this effort is low-income filers eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). This credit has been touted to be the most effective way of lifting a family above the federally defined poverty line. In order to accomplish this, we created a special working group, Delaware County Asset Development or “DelCoAD” to oversee this project as well as discuss ongoing issues with regard to asset development in the county.
Program in Systemic School Reform
The School District of Philadelphia is ramping up the quality and academic rigor associated with the “Senior Project” and PHENND is trying to match each participating school with a university partner. These partners will provide project mentors and other resources to help the schools and students succeed.