PRESIDENT'S REPORT

By Kaye Schmitz  

Kaye Schmitz

Dear FPP Members, 

Please accept my sincere thanks to all of you who contacted me, prayed for me and kept positive thoughts in your heart during my recent surgery and recovery. I am very fortunate that everything went very well and I am almost back to normal. Your well wishes definitely speeded the process. I'd like to say a special thank you to Bill Mills and Janet Hamer who jumped right in and kept everything running smoothly while I was gone.

I've always considered fall a time of renewed energy and for me, this year is no different. As our summer winds down we begin to look forward to the heat letting up a little, to children being back in school, and to life taking on a little more structured pace.  

In the nonprofit world, volunteer recruitment efforts are building, end of year grants and grant reports are being completed and staff positions are being filled prior to the rush of tax season that brings so many additional opportunities to provide services to our clients. And the FPP is working on its initiatives and scheduling upcoming events and meetings. Please keep reading...

FPP Full Membership Quarterly Webinar

The FPP will host a webinar on Monday, September 12, 2011, entitled "CRA 101." This was one of the most popular sessions at the FPP Annual Conference in June and our follow up survey results showed that this is the most requested session for the webinar. Please see the newsletter sidebar and related article below, titled "The FPP Presents CRA 101" for details.

FPP Regional Meetings

The FPP Regional Meetings for fall are being finalized and will be held in October and early November. Please see the sidebar for dates and times and keep checking this newsletter for detailed meeting location information. The meetings will be held in Tampa, Ft. Myers, Miami, Tallahassee, Orlando, Jacksonville, and Crestview. Make plans to join us at the location nearest you.

The Fourth Annual FPP Statewide Conference

Last month we told you we would announce the dates and location of the 2012 FPP Annual Conference, chosen based on your survey input, so here they are!! We will move the conference back to Orlando and hold it at Universal's Portofino Hotel from May 30-June 1, 2012. The room rate is $109 per night, with a reduced self-parking rate of $6 and free in-room Internet. We are still working on the details of the conference, such as registration fees, but we can guarantee that the registration fee will not increase from what it was last year ($195).

Client Stories on the FPP Website

We are planning to have a client section on the FPP website that will feature your clients and link to your website. Please send us whatever stories-along with pictures-you may already have and then collect additional stories throughout the year so we can build a Florida client story showcase.    

Opportunity to Advocate for The VITA Act of 2011

The National Community Tax Coalition wants us to remember that they are working hard again this year to authorize the VITA Act of 2011, filed as S.816 in the U.S. Senate and H.R. 2151 in the U. S. House of Representatives. Passage of The VITA Act would be good for us all. For the U. S. government, the VITA Act would:

• Ensure strong compliance among underserved taxpayer populations
• Create a significant decrease in the administrative burden and cost associated with operating the federal tax return process due to the use of electronic submission
• Provide safe alternatives to untrained tax preparers who may exploit low-income taxpayers

For all those engaged in the free tax preparation process, the VITA Act will:

• Authorize an annual appropriation for matching community VITA grants (currently Congress has to approve this every year so there is always the danger of having the appropriation cut) at a suggested rate of $30 million
• Authorize refundable credits (these are not guaranteed year to year)
• Establish the National Center to Promote Quality, Excellence, and Evaluation in Volunteer Income Tax Assistance to provide technical assistance, best practice dissemination, and ensure continuation of service to underserved taxpayers  

So please, help this Act get passed by:

• Contacting Gail Parson or Jennifer Thall at NCTC's Civic Engagement Team (312-252-0280) to find out the most effective steps to take
• Contact your member of Congress and schedule a meeting to talk about the benefits of the Act and/or ask them to be a co-sponsor
• Check your Congressperson's website to find out about any meetings they will attend in person so you can be there, too, to talk about this Act
• Collect stories about your clients to post on your website, the FPP website, the Congressperson's website, and for letters to your local newspaper.

Grant Opportunities

From the Volunteer Hub Brief: $10,000 Grants Available Via 2011's Make a Difference Day

There's plenty of time left to organize your group's activity for this year's Make a Difference Day on October 22. Be sure to log your project in the Make a Difference DaytaBank before the event and complete your entry to be considered for an award afterward. Ten projects will receive $10,000 from Newman's Own.  Read more 

The FPP Presents CRA 101

The Florida Prosperity Partnership is happy to have Janet Hamer from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Jacksonville Branch, give everyone a valuable lesson about the Community Reinvestment Act as part of its regular membership meeting on September 12th at 1:30 PM. 

We know that finding partners and funding for community development projects has become more difficult in the last few years.  Many bankers are telling us that community groups are asking them about "CRA Money", and there really isn't a pot of money set aside by any institution for CRA purposes.  Instead, the Community Reinvestment Act regulation encourages banks to assess community credit needs, look for opportunities to serve unmet credit and banking needs - particularly for low and moderate income geographies and populations, and participate in the overall economic stabilization and revitalization of their market.

Beyond funding, it is also important to understand how you can identify financial institutions that will serve as good partners for you in fulfilling your community and economic development goals. 

The webinar will help you to:

• Understand the purpose of the CRA;
• Be familiar with some of the technical requirements of the regulation;
• Understand how your activities may help banks meet their CRA requirements and what type of support they may offer your organization and initiatives;
• How you can work with banks to meet community credit and banking needs.

We recommend signing into the webinar early to ensure you are able to access it.

To access the webinar:

• Click on the following link: https://www.freescreensharing.com/meetings/225-498-695
• Then, join the conference call:
• Dial: (559)546-1200 and enter the Meeting ID: 225-498-695 followed by the # key. THIS IS A DIFFERENT NUMBER FROM OUR REGULAR FPP CALL IN NUMBER!

Additional help:

Joining the Conference - At the scheduled date and time of the online meeting, dial into the conference line and when prompted enter the access code followed by the pound key.

Joining the Meeting - Click on the provided meeting link listed above. On the next page fill out your name and email address in the Join Meeting box. Once filled in, click on the Join Meeting button.

OR

Go to https://www.freescreensharing.com/ and fill in your name, email address and meeting ID (listed under Meeting ID above) fields in the Join Meeting login box.  Once filled in, click on the Join Meeting button.

Thanks again, everyone! Have a great September. 

Kaye D. Schmitz

President /CEO

By Evan Goldman and Ted Granger

Here at the FPP, we're full of great ideas. From dynamic statewide conferences to cutting-edge policy initiatives to broad-based partnerships, we're making a difference from Key West to Pensacola.

This doesn't mean, however, that we can't learn a thing or two from what's being done in other parts of the nation!   And that's the topic of this month's advocacy update. We're highlighting two meaningful pieces of legislation, one Federal and the other state-based, that we could support and replicate here in Florida.

In Washington, Congressman Andre Carson (D-Indiana) has introduced H.R. 300, the "Young Adults Financial Literacy Act." If enacted, it would establish a grant program in the Department of the Treasury to fund the establishment of centers of excellence to support research, development and planning, implementation, and evaluation of effective programs in financial literacy education for young adults and families ages 15-24 years old.

The bill has 16 co-sponsors from across the nation, but none from Florida. Please contact your Congressional representative and urge them to co-sponsor HR 300 in the 112th Congress!

Our other featured legislation comes from Massachusetts, where State Senator Jamie Eldridge has introduced S. 204, "An Act Relative to Financial Literacy in Schools." The bill would require the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to develop standards and objectives for personal financial literacy for grades K-12 in the mathematics curriculum. The curriculum would include information on loans, borrowing money, interest, credit card debt, online commerce, rights and responsibilities of renting or buying a home, saving, investing and planning for retirement, and banking and financial services.  

Now more than ever, it's important that children and young adults learn the tools they need to succeed in a world where knowledge about personal finance can mean the difference between good credit and bankruptcy. In fact, at least thirteen states now require students to take a personal finance course or personal finance included in an economics course as a high school graduation requirement.

As public policy chairs, we'll be examining these and other legislative proposals in an effort to bring best practices to Florida. If you have any suggestions regarding policy initiatives that should be considered, please don't hesitate to let us know!

Bill Mills

By Bill Mills

Director of Strategic Initiatives 

 How exciting is this?

Check out the new Bank On Florida website!  We still have some work to do to complete the site, but it is now open to the public.  It has a "clickable" map to direct people to the Bank On Program in their area, and general information about the program for the general public, community agencies, and banks.  The site will soon have the complete Bank On Florida in an eBox, education resources, and much more.  We would love to hear from you about this site!  Please email any suggestions to Bill.Mills@BankOnFL.org.

In other Bank On news from across the state...

Bank On Southwest Florida (Lee, Hendry, and Glades) will be the next one to launch!  They have scheduled their launch for October 27th.  Prior to the launch, they will be holding training sessions for both Bank Branch Representatives and Community Partners on October 11th and 12th respectively.  If you are interested in attending any of these events, please email Roger Mercado at roger@unitedwaylee.org.

Bank On South Florida (Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade) is now working toward a launch date to coincide with their VITA launch. This wonderful collaboration of organizations spanning the three counties is working hard to put everything together by January.  If you are interested in participating in this initiative, please email Mary Lynn Lovejoy at mllovejoy@unitedwaybroward.org.

Bank On East Central Florida (Volusia and Flagler) is now looking for some committee members for their initiative.  This group, headed up by the Campaign For Working Families, is looking to hold their first meeting on September 22nd.  If you are interested in participating in this initiative, please email Shelia Jackson at sjackson@unitedwayvfc.org.

FPP MEMBER NEWS

SOUTH FLORIDA URBAN MINISTRIES - WAYS TO WORK

By: Isabelle Pike, Director of Development

South Florida Urban Ministries

South Florida Urban Ministries (SFLUM), an FPP

member, is happy to announce that they have launched the "Ways to Work" program in Miami-Dade. This program helps low to moderate income working families secure low interest loans to purchase a used car or repair an existing vehicle.  As a component of the program, SFLUM will provide financial education and affordable loans to low-income families who lack access to fairly priced loans from banks and traditional lenders because of poor or no credit history. SFLUM staff person, Michele Edwards-Collie will be the Loan Coach Coordinator for this program.

Clients of this program will use the loans primarily to purchase reliable used cars to help them retain or move ahead in their jobs, reduce lateness and absenteeism at work, access additional education or job training and meet their family's needs, such as transporting children to child care, doctors' appointments and school activities. In order to approve and/or deny the loans which clients apply for, SFLUM has built two Loan Committees which are made up of local community volunteers and experts. Each Committee will meet once a month to make decisions based on the Loan Coach's recommendations and information. Some of the companies and organizations represented on this committee include: Bank of America, Bank United, BB&T, Belafonte Tacolcy, City National Bank, Coconut Grove Bank, JP Morgan, Partners for Self Employment, South Florida Community Development Coalition, Wells Fargo, YWCA and several others.

Over the past 14 years, the Milwaukee-based Ways to Work has loaned more than $43.4 million to more than 15,000 families, with a repayment rate of 90 percent. Ways to Work national is partnering with the FPP to bring this life-changing program to more and more Florida communities. For more information about the national Ways to Work program, click here: www.waystowork.org.

Funding for the SFLUM Ways to Work program has come from a WalMart Foundation pass-through grant facilitated by Ways to Work national. Citi is the other funder for the program.  

The mission of South Florida Urban Ministries (SFLUM) is "to serve, educate and empower people by partnering with volunteers, organizations and congregations to make a lasting impact in people's lives and communities." Established in 1973 as the urban and social justice agency of the Southeast District of the United Methodist Church, SFLUM innovates and delivers direct services that address the current and emerging needs of disadvantaged community members to help them move from poverty to prosperity.

Michele Edwards-Collie

If you would like to apply or know someone who may qualify for the local Ways to Work program, please contact Michele Edwards-Collie at mcollie@sflum.org. For more information about SFLUM, please visit www.sflum.org.  

The FDIC in collaboration with the North West Florida Dollar Smart Coalition Presents:

Train the Trainer - Instruction for Financial Education 

WHAT: This is a free workshop designed to present the basics of classroom instruction; to enable and empower volunteers to deliver approximately one-hour long courses on the FDIC's Money Smart curriculum to community members. The primary purpose is to provide the class participant with tools that may enhance their skills as an instructor in teaching the Money Smart modules. The seminar will also cover some ideas and recommendations on how to present the Money Smart curriculum. Participants are encouraged to teach one or more of the Money Smart modules to community members within the next 6 months

WHEN: The class will be on the following date:

• Wednesday, September 21, 2011

The session will be from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and will be limited to the first 30 enrollees (a light lunch will be provided). Please arrive on time.

• Please register for the workshop as soon as possible (and not later than Wednesday, September 14, 2011) by completing the Registration/RSVP form and faxing the form to Taurie Grant with the FDIC at 678-916-2437 (FAX), or send the forms by e-mail to tgrant@fdic.gov  (Telephone: 678-916-2301.

• The workshop will be held at Hancock Bank, 1022 West 23rd Street, Florida 32405. A local United Way contact is Ron Sharpe at (850)-348-0727. 

SOUTHEAST FLORIDA TO INTRODUCE SCREENING AND ENROLLMENT TOOL FOR HUMAN SERVICES

By Kasha Kitts Owers

Director of Community Impact-Income

United Way of Palm Beach County

It is estimated that thousands of residents in Palm Beach County are eligible for, but not enrolled in a whole host of health and human service programs totaling more than $300 million annually. Before we ring in 2012, there will be a new resource available for Southeast Florida's health and human service providers to enroll clients in programs for which they are eligible. One-e-App, a web-based software solution, will screen residents for a variety of health and human service programs, provide referrals and transmit electronic applications. United Way of Palm Beach County, acting on behalf of the Palm Beach County's Common Eligibility Collaborative, has secured funding and has contracted with Social Interest Solutions to bring One-e-App to Florida.

What will One-e-App do?

Initially the tool will provide an Anonymous Screen for: Medicaid, Florida KidCare, State Child Health Insurance Program, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps), Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), WIC, Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, LIHEAP (low-income energy assistance), EHEAP (low-income energy assistance for elders) and Project Access (health care for uninsured in Palm Beach County). There will also be an interface with ACCESS Florida that will allow for the electronic submission of applications for Medicaid, SNAP and Temporary Assistance to Needy Families.

Additionally, One-e-App will produce paper applications for Florida KidCare, State Child Health Insurance Program and Project Access (Palm Beach County only); will produce a pre-populated application for WIC ; and provide referrals for the Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit and the energy assistance programs.

One-e-App is not a replacement for ACCESS Florida. It will screen for multiple programs outside of ACCESS Florida, scan and store data, allow users to see if other clients have applied through One-e-App, provide accept or reject notification of electronic applications and allow for the customization of reports. As additional funding becomes available, new interfaces and programs will be added. All users will benefit from these enhancements, as applicable. Other south Florida counties participated in the selection of One-e-App and are securing the funding necessary to implement it in their respective communities.

Palm Beach County has identified up to 25 organizations across the health and human services sector to be a part of the Phase 1 rollout (organizations that have participated in the process from the beginning and those that have current partnership agreements with the Department of Children and Families will be among those selected). All user organizations will have to sign a Memorandum of Understanding. One-e-App will not initially be accessible to the general public.

For more information about One-e-App, please contact Kasha Owers, United Way of Palm Beach County's Prosperity Campaign Director at kashaowers@unitedwaypbc.org or 561-375-6617.

SAVE THE DATE FOR FPP EVENTS

(Click on date for more information)

FULL MEMBERSHIP QUARTERLY WEBINAR

• September 12, 2011- FPP Quarterly Webinar, "CRA 101", 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. EDT. Call in number is 559-546-1200, Meeting ID: 225-498-695

FALL REGIONAL MEETINGS

• October 18, 2011 - West Central Florida (Tampa) - 9:00 a.m. to 12 noon
• October 26, 2011 - Southeast Florida (Miami) - 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
• October 27, 2011 - Southwest Florida (Ft. Myers) - 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
•  November 2, 2011 - North Central Florida (Tallahassee) - 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
• November 3, 2011 - Northwest Florida (Crestview) - 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
• November 9, 2011 - Northeast Florida (Jacksonville) - 9:00 a.m. to 12 noon
• November 10, 2011 - East Central Florida (Orlando) - 9:00 a.m. to 12 noon

SAVE THE DATE FOR MEMBER AGENCY EVENTS

• September 7-9, 2011- Pathway to Independence Summit
• September 8 - The Federal Reserve System for Community Development Professionals presents "Micro Finance: Helping to Create First-time Entrepreneurs" 1:00 p.m.
• September 24, 2011 - Pathways to Home 2011 Homecoming Gala - 6:00 to 10:00 p.m. Call Zeynep Portway at 407-268-6363 for details
• October 7, 2011 - Hispanic Heritage Month Luncheon - 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.; Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront, 225 East Coastline Drive, Jacksonville, FL 32202
• November 4, 2011 - NANAY's 17th Anniversary Gala - 6:30 to 11:30 p.m., Signature Grand, 6900 State Road 84, Davie, FL 33317  

FINANCIAL CLASSES FOR WOMEN IN BUSINESS -  SPONSORED BY FLORIDA CFO JEFF ATWATER  

• October 7, 2011- 8:00 a.m.- Noon  Orange County School District Office; 445 West Amelia Street; Orlando, Florida 32801
• October 14, 2011 -8:00 a.m.- Noon  Nova Southeastern University; 3301 College Avenue; Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33314
• October 21, 2011 -8:00 a.m.- Noon  Marshall Student Center - University of South Florida; 4202 East Fowler Avenue, MCS 4100; Tampa, FL 33620
• October 28, 2011 -8:00 a.m.- Noon  Ramada Conference Center - Mandarin; 3130 Hartley Road; Jacksonville, FL  32257 

 For more information, and to register for an event, please visit

www.MyFloridaCFO.com/consumers or call 1-877-MY-FL-CFO (693-5236).   

THE FLORIDA PROSPERITY PARTNERSHIP (FPP)

FPP EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 

Janet Hamer, Chair  

Sr. Community Development Manager

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta

President and CEO

Catalyst Miami

(Formerly Human Services Coalition)

Dir. Of Public Affairs/Org. Dev.

Children's Services Council of Broward

President

United Way of Florida

Evan Goldman
CSC of Broward County

George Owen
Regions Bank

Maureen Quinlan
United Way of Marion County

Mike Smith
TD Bank

FPP BOARD MEMBERS

Erbi Blanco-True
Great Florida Bank

Amanda Clements
United Way of the Big Bend

Anika Coney
Hillsborough County

Sokoya Finch
Florida Family Network

Michael Gutter
University of Florida

Valerie Hendriex
Wachovia a Wells Fargo Company

Dorothy Inman-Johnson
Capital Area Community Action Agency

Iris Jones
BB&T Bank

Karen Landry
War on Poverty

Rosa Morgan
Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence

Kasha Owers
United Way of Palm Beach County

Felipe Pinzon
Hispanic Unity of Florida

Michael Roush
National Disability Institute

Ellen Stoffer
United Way of Tampa Bay

Barbara Travis
Internal Revenue Service   

FPP STAFF 

Kaye Schmitz
President and CEO

Bill Mills
Director of Strategic Initiatives

Penny Zaphel
Coordinator of Special Projects

Jennifer Cooper

Graphics Designer

Lynn Gill

Bookkeeper

To become a member of the FPP or submit articles for this newsletter, please contact Penny Zaphel at

floridaprosperitypartnership@gmail.com