PRESIDENT'S REPORT

Kaye Schmitz

You will also want to check other articles in "Member News" to find out about scholarships for low income families to send their children to private schools or out-of-area public schools. Alissa Ciaramello outlines the details in her article, "Step Up for Children-Scholarships Available for K-12 Students." And speaking of children, the Asset for Independence (AFI) Assets Initiative, in conjunction with the Association for Children and Families (ACF) is convening a conference in Florida City in mid-February to work with low income families--primarily those who are Hispanic American and/or families of Latino descent--to increase the benefits claimed by those groups. The conference will also train Head Start teachers about how to help their families find benefits. Please see the article about that conference in "Member News" and encourage your clients to attend.

In other areas of FPP News...

Another Sponsor has signed up for The Fourth Annual FPP Statewide Conference.    

Sponsorships are coming in fast and furious for the upcoming FPP Conference, with Iberia Bank as the newest one. Thank you to Beth Trotter from Iberia Bank for making it happen.

The conference registration website, which will feature all of our conference sponsors, will be up and ready by March 1 and Requests for Workshop Proposals will go out later this month. A number of state and local speakers have been confirmed as well as national speakers Chauncy Lennon from the Ford Foundation and Steve Holt from Holt Solutions, who has published research papers extensively for Brookings Institution, and other organizations. Please stay tuned as the momentum builds. If your organization is interested in becoming a sponsor, please either contact me or go to the FPP website, www.floridaprosperitypartnership.org, to fill out a sponsorship form. The Fourth Annual Florida Prosperity Partnership Statewide Conference will be held at Loew's Portofino Bay Hotel, at Universal in Orlando, FL 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.

FPP is launching its first Report to the Community 

February will also see the launch of the FPP's first Report to the Community which highlights and celebrates partnerships, affiliations, accomplishments, and goals. Electronic copies will be made available to all FPP members, with the option to request printed copies as well.  

Initial FPP Webinar and Full Member Call for 2012

We will continue our quarterly webinar calls during 2012 and kick them off with a fast-moving presentation on the "Power of Social Media" by Dr. Michael Gutter of the University of Florida. We all know that Social Media can be a powerful tool to facilitate sharing of information and maintaining contacts with your audience. It can also help you share your messages, increase your visibility, and encourage families to learn more about the programs, services, and support your organization can offer. Please join us as Dr. Gutter leads us in learning about using social media to engage your existing audiences and help others to find your organization. We will discuss different forms of social media, how to use them, and how to figure out whether or not they work.  The webinar is Monday, March 12, 2012 from 1:30 to 3:00 p.m. Please see sidebar for detailed call in information. The remaining 2012 FPP events include:

• May 30-June 1 - 4th Annual FPP Statewide Conference at the Portofino Bay Hotel in Orlando
• September 10 - Full Membership Webinar, Marketing Tools
• December 10 - Full Membership Webinar, Updates from NCTC, IRS, CFED and Prize Linked Savings

FPP Membership Fees

The new fee structure for the FPP has been approved by the Board of Directors and will be sent as a separate communication to FPP members in mid-February. The fees range from $50 for individual affiliates to $750 for corporate affiliates with a budget of more than $1,000,000 with more than 51 employees. All paid affiliates will receive discounts for FPP Conference Registration fees and complement the other benefits of being a paid member, which include:

1. Networking and educational opportunities from local, state, and national organizations that include access to professional development, specialized information, specialized training, communications, materials, services, and new programs that are crucial to the clients you serve
2. Templates, relationships, best practices, and tool kits for such statewide programs as Bank On Florida  and Ways to Work Florida
3. Train the Trainer classes brought to your area for free to boost the number of certified financial trainers available to your clients
4. Posting your services on the FPP website map that is searchable at the county level
5. Advocacy efforts with the unified voice of more than 140 organizations about policy issues selected by the affiliates themselves
6. Access to group discounts with select organizations and companies, once negotiations are finalized.

FPP is Spotlighted in National Community Tax Coalition's "Tax Buzz" 

The FPP was featured in the NCTC's Tax Buzz newsletter for January.  Please take a look--not only at the article about the FPP, but also the whole newsletter.  If you don't already subscribe, it's a great way to keep up with national movements in the tax field. Click here for newsletter.

 

NCTC Affiliate Spotlight -  Florida Prosperity Partnership

Florida Prosperity Partnership accepts a grant from TD Bank

Composed of more than 140 organizational members throughout the state and the nation with a distribution list of almost 600 individuals, the Florida Prosperity Partnership is a member-driven organization with a united passion to improve the financial capability and prosperity of Florida's vulnerable families using a holistic approach.    

  Learn more about the  Florida Prosperity Partnership.   

National Release of the 2012 Assets & Opportunity Scorecard    

On Tuesday, January 31, 2012, CFED released the 2012 Assets & Opportunity Scorecard in a national webinar that highlighted the latest asset poverty rates and other measures of financial security and opportunity. The Scorecard has valuable information we can all use to help with policies that will benefit our clients.  It is more important than ever to keep on top of these trends, pointed out by this national research organization because, unfortunately, Florida dropped in the rankings this year to 45th out of 51 (50 states and Washington, DC) and dropped a letter grade in the state comparisons from a "C" in 2009 to a "D" in 2012.

According to CFED: "By any measure, poverty in the United States is increasing. In 2011, the country saw the poverty rate rise to 15.1%, the highest level in nearly two decades. However, the official poverty rate released annually by the Census Bureau highlights just one aspect of household finances, namely the percentage of people with insufficient income to cover their day-to-day expenses. It does not account for the resources a family has to meet emergencies or longer-term needs. The Scorecard will offer critical new data on the growing number of Americans who are "asset poor," meaning they lack the savings or other assets to cover basic expenses for just three months if a layoff or other emergency leads to loss of income. The latest findings will show significant increases in "asset poverty" since the release of the previous Assets & Opportunity Scorecard in 2009."

To check Florida's latest Scorecard rating, please  click here.

Kaye D. Schmitz

President /CEO

The FPP Advocacy Team and Board are currently finalizing the 2012 Policy Agenda. 

Stay tuned to this space for details.

                                                         Ted Granger             Evan Goldlman 

Bill Mills

You Are Invited to Help Us Launch Bank On Florida

Please join us in Saint Petersburg, on February 9 or Orlando, on February 10, as CFO Jeff Atwater presides over the launch of Bank On Florida!

The press conference in Saint Petersburg will be held at City Hall, 175 Fifth Street North, St. Petersburg, FL 33701 at 2:30. The press conference in Orlando will be held at Heart of Florida United Way Dr. Nelson Ying Center, 1940 Traylor Boulevard, Orlando, FL 32804 at 9:30.

If you have not already done so, please RSVP to Bill Mills at Bill.Mills@BankOnFL.org by February 7, 2012.

COMMUNITY EDUCATION UPDATE 

By Pat Nelms, Community Education/Program Manager

My job, as the new Community Education/Program Manager, is to keep you, our partners and friends, informed about the initiative undertaken by the FPP to bring financial education and asset building techniques to all of our Florida communities. I am very happy to be a part of the FPP organization.

Currently, there are scheduled Train-the-Trainer classes at the following organizations during February and discussions are taking place with Anika Coney of Hillsborough County and Iris Jones of BB&T Bank concerning a possible Train-the-Trainer class in Sarasota.

02/16/2012 -  ACF Assets Initiative in Florida City  

02/22/2012 -  United Way of Northwest Florida in Panama City   

Pat Nelms 

Additional classes have already been scheduled for later in the year with Anita McKinney from Duval County Extension Service and with Janet Hamer, from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Jacksonville Branch, for Jacksonville's "MoneyWi$e Week in May.  

If your organization or community is ready to boost the number of certified financial trainers in your area, please contact me at patmnelms@yahoo.com or 904-217-4360 to discuss times and locations. I look forward to working with all of you.

University of Florida to Provide Florida Saves Materials

This year, Step Up For Students is providing K-12 scholarships to roughly 38,000 low-income students who attend 1,150 different private schools across the state. The scholarships, which are worth more than $4,000 to attend a private school or $500 to cover transportation to an out-of-district public school, are made possible by a 10-year-old state law that gives companies full tax credits for their contributions. Companies have contributed more than $900 million to date, providing more than 218,000 scholarships.

Families who qualify for the free or reduced-price lunch program may qualify for the scholarship program, too. The student must either be entering kindergarten or first grade or have attended a Florida public school the previous year. The income requirements vary by family income and household size.

Once a student's eligibility is verified, the parent has the freedom to choose any one of more than 1,350 participating private schools across the state. A recent survey by the state Department of Education found 95.4 percent of participating parents rated their chosen school as "good" or "excellent," and a state academic report released this year found scholarship students were achieving the same gains in reading and math as students of all income levels nationally. For more information please visit www.StepUpForStudents.org/family  or call 877-735-7837 or Text: new to 28766 to be added to our mobile list to receive additional information.

Step Up For Students new family flyer - English 

Step Up For Students new family flyer - Spanish 

Msg and data rates may apply.  Receive up to one message/week.  Test 'help' for help, text 'stop' to cancel.  T&C @ www.mztxt.com/terms  

Bank of America Volunteers Fill Their Own Class at Real$ense Tax Site Training

By Jeff Winkler

Thanks to the efforts of Manny Costa and Joy Spurlock, Bank Of America (BOA) has recruited more than 45 Associates to become VITA volunteer tax preparers and Client Greeters for the Real$ense Prosperity Campaign.  VITA training classes are held for all BOA Associates at their Southside Jacksonville campus on Saturdays throughout January, with the volunteers spreading out to prepare taxes throughout the network of Real$ense VITA sites in February.  This is the third year in a row in which BOA has produced the highest number of volunteers from any Real$ense coalition partner, and the impact they have on the Jacksonville community and clients is beyond measure.  Real$ense would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to Bank of America and their wonderful and generous Associates!

Chautauqua Charter School Helps NW VITA Sites

By Ron Sharpe

Students at the Panama City Chautauqua Charter School led by Cynthia McCauley, believe that "everyone has the right to know all you can know and to be all you can be." There are 94 participants in this school, both students and adults, and while they all have issues that would be classified as disabilities, they prefer instead to celebrate their abilities by working in their community. In addition to their learning programs, they perform services that include reading stories to kindergartners, delivering meals to the elderly, and assisting with Bingo at nursing homes, among many other things.

Ron Sharpe, Regional Resource Development Director at United Way of Northwest Florida recently partnered with the students so they can perform custodial services at Northwest Florida United Way's 2012 VITA sites. Not only will these students perform meaningful work for which they will get paid, but they will also perform a much needed community service. It is definitely a win-win for both groups and the community. 

 SAVE THE DATE  

FOR FPP EVENTS

February 15, 2012- Customer  Service Training

The Customer Service Training for our Bank On Jacksonville partners and staff will be held on February 15th at 3:00 p.m. EST.  Bill Mills, with Bank On Florida, will host the webinar to inform members of the benefits and services offered through the Bank On Jacksonville Program. Please inform your staff members to please attend, so that we are all speaking in the same voice when promoting this important program. Please see the webinar login information listed below.  

To access the webinar:

• Click on the following link: 
• Then, join the conference call:

Dial: (559)546-1200 and enter the Meeting ID: 225-498-695 followed by the # key.

February 22, 2012 -  Train the Trainer

United Way of NW Florida in Panama City      

March 12, 2012 - Full Membership Call

Don't forget to join us for our first webinar of the year, from 1:30 to 3:00 p.m. on Monday, March 12, 2012.  This will be a fast-moving presentation on the "Power of Social Media" by Dr. Michael Gutter of the University of Florida.

 To access the webinar click here.  

 Then, join the conference call:

May 30-June 1

Fourth Annual FPP Statewide Conference 

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

Dir. Of Public Affairs/Org. Dev.

Children's Services Council of Broward

President

United Way of Florida

Evan Goldman 

George Owen 

Maureen Quinlan 

Mike Smith 

FPP BOARD MEMBERS

Amanda Clements 

Anika Coney 

Dr. Michael Gutter 

Dorothy Inman-Johnson 

Valerie Hendriex Jenkins 

Iris Jones 

Roger Mercado 

Katie Metz

National Disability Institute

Rosa Morgan 

Joan Nelson

Heart of Florida United Way

 
Kasha Owers  

Felipe Pinzon  

Ron Sharpe 

Ellen Stoffer 

Barbara Travis

Internal Revenue Service (Retired)

Amber Tynan

League of Southeastern Credit Unions

Jeff Winkler

Real$ense Prosperity Campaign

FPP STAFF 

Kaye Schmitz
President and CEO 

Bill Mills
Director of Strategic Initiatives 

Community Education/Program Manager

Penny Zaphel
Coordinator of Special Projects

Emilie Pennington

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