February 16, 2024 • 29 mins
I speak with Dr. Nikia Owens, President/CEO Campaign for Working Families which provides an invaluable service to individuals and families through it’s free tax preparation services as a pivotal resource in the community for financial empowerment, access to tax credit, error reduction and fraud prevention and economic stimulus. For information on more financial resources, CWF locations, make appointments or volunteer, visit https://www.cwfphilly.org/, email getinfo@cwfphilly.org or call 215-454-6483.
The Impact Center @ North 10 will provide resources for the residents of Hunting Park-East Tioga and the broader North Philadelphia community where they can receive training, job preparedness skills, and advanced credentialing to acquire quality jobs, increase wages, and achieve sustainable careers to spur economic mobility and community development. Together, North 10, Uplift Solutions, and Graduate Philadelphia will offer life-skills training, workforce opportunities, advising and access to higher education degrees and post-secondary credentials, and networking opportunities for participants to leverage connections. I speak to Josh Klaris, Executive Director, North10 Philadelphia and Atif Bostic from Uplift Solutions. For more information go to www.north10phl.org or call 267-908-9008 ext. 224.
The Impact Center @ North 10 will provide resources for the residents of Hunting Park-East Tioga and the broader North Philadelphia community where they can receive training, job preparedness skills, and advanced credentialing to acquire quality jobs, increase wages, and achieve sustainable careers to spur economic mobility and community development. Together, North 10, Uplift Solutions, and Graduate Philadelphia will offer life-skills training, workforce opportunities, advising and access to higher education degrees and post-secondary credentials, and networking opportunities for participants to leverage connections. I speak to Josh Klaris, Executive Director, North10 Philadelphia and Atif Bostic from Uplift Solutions. For more information go to www.north10phl.org or call 267-908-9008 ext. 224.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Good morning. You're listening to Insight, a show about empowering our community.
I'm Lorraine Balladmorrow. Before we getstarted, I wanted to share some thoughts
about my dad, Frederick Paul Ballardduring this Black History Month. Freddie Paul,
as his family used to call him, spent thirty six years in the
Army and earned a bronze Star inthe Korean War. He retired as a
(00:22):
master's sergeant, and despite his stellarcareer, was never able to make the
leap from enlisted soldier to officer assomeone with his background might have accomplished when
he blamed on discrimination. After heretired from the military, he became head
of security at the National Gallery ofArt and eventually ended up at McKinley High
School in d C, where hetaught ROTC law and black history. He
(00:47):
often told me that when he wascoming up as a college student at Tuskegee
Institute, black history was a given. He was surrounded by history makers.
He would also pepper me with blackhistory facts. Did you know that?
Dot dot? I'm not going tolie. We had a challenging relationship,
especially during my teen and young adultyears, but achieved resolution before he passed
(01:10):
away. In nineteen eighty nine atthe age of eighty two, before my
career really took off. He wouldhave loved it. There's a powerful anti
(01:59):
poverty tools that not everybody knows about, and that's the Earned Income Tax Credit,
which provides a crucial financial boost toload of moderate income individuals and families
and is a powerful tool for povertyalleviation and economic stability. How do you
find out if you qualify for thisand other benefits, Well, you can
start by getting your taxes done forfree by a program called Campaign for Working
(02:23):
Families. To tell Us More isthe president and CEO of the Campaign for
Working Families, Doctor Nikiah Owens.Thank you so much for joining us today.
Thank you so much for having me. Thank you. Well, let's
talk about the campaign. As Iindicated, you do provide free income tax
help for those who need it.Tell us More, absolutely so. Campaign
(02:45):
for Working Families mission really is tobuild and champion the financial wellbeing of individuals
and families, and one of theways that we do that is providing free
tax preparation services. We have abouttwenty six tax sites and we also have
a virtual tax filing option for allof those individuals that are seeking to get
(03:06):
their taxes filed this year. AsI mentioned at the very beginning, there
is the earned income tax Credit thatnot everybody knows about but can be a
powerful tool for getting lifting people outof poverty. Tell us what it is.
Absolutely, so, the Earned IncomeTax Credit is really, really,
really important, especially for low tomoderate income families. It has increased this
(03:28):
year, and also for those thatare filing in the state of Pennsylvania,
those tax credits have increase at thestate level as well. One of the
things that you mentioned is that ithas the ability to lower poverty. Really
it does across the board in almostevery state across the country, which is
why it's the most effective anti povertyfighting program in the country. Its companion,
(03:52):
the Child Tax Credit, is equallyimportant. So we want to make
sure that individuals that qualify for theirEarned income tax Credit receive that credit along
with any other credits that they mayqualify for, such as the child tax
credit. Right, and we're talkingabout a good chunk of money that can
come back to individuals and families.It could be thousands of dollars. Tell
(04:13):
us what the impact of getting thatback for a family or an individual.
Absolutely, so many individuals and wellindividuals and families, they actually spend those
dollars on their children. It goesto paying school costs, clothing for their
children's food on the table. Manystudies have been done, especially by the
(04:34):
Federal Reserve Bank, in terms ofwhere those dollars actually get spent, and
many of those dollars really go tocare for the children and take care of
the basic needs of the household.So it's really, really, really important
for individuals that qualify for their earnedincome tax Credit to receive those dollars.
The other thing I just want toshare as well as it is concerned with
(04:58):
the earned income tax Credit, isyou may not let's say that you may
not have earned a lot of moneythat year. Maybe you got a seasonal
job, maybe you earned two,three, four thousand dollars, so you
think that you know, hey,I don't, I'm not going to file
my taxes. If you are anindividual who may have received a seasonal employment
or work just part time or justyou know, for a short period of
(05:20):
time, I would really really encourageyou to file your taxes, even though
you may not necessarily have to fileyour taxes, because if you're single,
if you make under thirteen thousand,eight hundred and fifty dollars. You don't
have to file. You don't necessarilyhave to file your taxes. The same
thing. If you're head of household, the dollars increase, so it's about
(05:41):
nineteen thousand dollars in terms of headof household. So but we want to
encourage you to file because you're missingout on money. You're missing out on
the earned income tax credit a portionof that. And so for example,
maybe you don't get the all ofthe four thousand and some dollars back in
your pocket, but you will geta portion of that if you file your
(06:01):
taxes. So maybe you don't getjust over four thousand dollars to full amount,
but maybe you get one thousand dollarsplus the federal taxes that were in
to date taxes that were taken outof your check. So it's really,
really, really that important. Yeah, I can tell you back in the
day when I first was starting out, I was making minimum wage. I
didn't file for a couple of years, and then when I finally did get
(06:24):
around of filing, I got allthis money back that I didn't realize that
was owed to me because I wasvery naive back then. So I didn't
make very much money, but Igot this big chunk of money back.
And when you talk about, forinstance, getting the full amount that four
thousand dollars, Wow, that couldgo to a down payment on a car,
or it actually might even be ableto buy. It might be a
(06:45):
hooptie, but a car that runs, and or maybe it becomes a down
payment towards a mortgage a house,and it really can make a huge difference
from this can be a tremendous boonfor them. And so the question then
comes, how do you get thatfree tax assistance? I know that you've
got locations everywhere, you make itso very convenient. What are the different
(07:09):
ways that people can take advantage?Absolutely? So, as I mentioned,
we have about twenty six tax sitesacross the Philadelphia area as well as Montgomery
and Delaware County, so the Philadelphiaregion as well as southern New Jersey.
We have about five in southern NewJersey five tax sites. But you can
also get it done virtually, Sothere's four different ways that you could actually
(07:30):
get your taxes done. You cango to any one of our tax sites
and get your taxes completed in person. If you don't have time to wait
for completion of your tax return tobe done at that point in time.
You can drop it off and comeback within two to three business days and
we will have your tax return completeit for you. You could also go
(07:51):
to any site and drop off yourreturn and not come back and a virtual
tax manager will call you in completeyou've returned with you, so you never
have to come back to the taxsite. Or you can upload your tax
documents to our online virtual portal getyour refund and we can We'll make sure
(08:13):
and do it all for you virtuallyand call you back with you, do
your quality review, and everything willbe done digitally right. And we want
to encourage people to take advantage ofthis because there are a lot of predatory
organizations out there who say they'll doyour taxes and they'll give you your money
upfront, but it's almost like aloan with very high interest rates. Talk
about that predatory practice that sometimes organizationswill do. Absolutely so the refund anticipation
(08:37):
loans, a lot of those arerefund anticipation checks are really really predatory products,
and so we want individuals to avoidreally getting those refund anticipation loans because
what they don't realize is that whileit may be interest free for a period
of time, it could really backfireif you don't get all the money that
(09:00):
you thought you were going to receive. Probably the paid prepare is taking already
a portion of it, at leastten percent of anything that you're getting back,
that those dollars are so critical theycould actually be kept in your pocket.
Most people, at least sixty percentof the people almost that we serve,
make less than twenty thousand dollars ayear, So a three or four
(09:22):
hundred dollars expense is really really significant, and so we want to make sure
that we keep those dollars in,you know, the pockets of hardworking individuals
and families, and Campaign for WorkingFamilies has been able to do that.
We save people about seven million dollarsevery year in tax preparation fees because why,
you may go into one of thepaid preparers and they say, oh,
(09:43):
here's our base rate. So yourbase rate may be two hundred and
ninety dollars, three hundred and twentythree dollars, but for every form,
there's a cost you pay for everyform, and it's about one hundred and
forty dollars per form, so it'syour base rate on top of the other
additional forms that you get. Itkind of like going somewhere and you have
(10:05):
a basic meal, Well, thebasic meal comes with whatever it comes with,
and then if you want to addadditional sauce or anything else like that,
you're going to pay for that.It's the same thing with paid prepares,
right, So that's very very importantfor people to realize, so that
you need to really examine what you'regetting if you were, in fact to
go to one of these places,But why do that When you've got the
(10:28):
Campaign for Working Families, which providesfree tax preparation in addition to that,
it becomes really a partnership because notonly do you do free tax preparation,
but there's often a lot of dollarsthat are sitting on the table on accessed
because people don't know what their benefitsthat they are qualified for. So not
(10:48):
only do you provide the free taxassistance, but you also hook people up
right with the benefits that they deserve. Absolutely. So you know, while
we're certainly about making sure that peopleget their taxes done, and I just
wanted to add to that all ofour tax prepares are IRS certified. Every
year they get IRS certified, andthey can only do taxes at the level
(11:11):
in which they are certified at andevery tax return is quality reviewed. So
even though it's a free service,it is a high quality service. Yeah,
that's right. And once again,there are a lot of benefits.
I know so many people. I'malways turning them onto the campaign or to
other nonprofits that help handle connecting peoplewith benefits because there are a lot of
(11:35):
benefits and people are actually entitled tothat they simply don't know that they're entitled
to. Absolutely, So, ifyou come into any one of our tax
sites and you're interested in just seeingif you're eligible for any benefits on your
intake form, you just check thatyou would like to be contacted so that
you can determine whether or not youmay qualify for any other benefits. We
(11:58):
have a full time staff that isavailable and ready, willing and able to
assist you in really tapping into anyof the benefits that you may qualify for,
from the Water program to the EnergyAssistance Program, to law heat,
to SNAP benefits, Medicaid. We'rehere to support you and also connect you
to a fair, equitable financial productand service through one of our financial banking
(12:20):
partners as well, Fantastic. Well, there are a lot of folks out
there who now know that there isa free service that provides just a tremendous
benefit. If you qualify for theearned income tax credit, that's cash right
in your pocket and you want toget access to it. You may not
realize that you qualify for this bigchunk of money, but you might very
(12:43):
well be qualified for it. Buthow do you find out? You have
to check out the Campaign for WorkingFamilies tell us once again all the different
ways people can access you. Wehave a call center, so you can
actually call if you have any questions, any anything that you want to ask
or inquire about, you can callour call center and that number is two
one five four five four six foureight three. That's two one five four
(13:07):
five four six four eight three,and that's our call center. They're open
and available to answer any questions youhave from eight am to seven pm Monday
through Saturday. Are there any finalwords before we close? Absolutely? So,
Campaign for Working Families is here tobe of service to you and to
make sure that we maximize your taxcredits for a maximum refund. We want
(13:28):
to make sure that also your taxreturn is done correctly, right and on
time. So let us be ofservice to you. As I mentioned before,
you can either call our call centeror go to our website at WWWCWF
Philly dot org or once again callus at two one five, four five
four six four eight three. Pleasedon't miss out. This is a tremendous,
(13:48):
tremendous tool to help lift folks outof poverty. And certainly the city
of Philadelphia is the largest big citywith the largest poverty rate and we want
to make a difference in the Campaignfor Working Families is doing exactly that.
Thanks to doctor Nikia Owens, whois CEO and President of the Campaign for
(14:09):
Working Families. Thank you so much, thanks for having me. What's going
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(14:54):
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(15:15):
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(15:39):
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persistent problem inhoe here in the cityof Philadelphia. We are, in fact,
the big city with the highest povertyrate in the country. How do
we begin to chip away at thatvery intractable problem. Well, we've got
some folks here who are doing theirbest to really think outside of the box
when it comes to getting people intolife. Sustaining careers. And we're going
(18:19):
to be joined by Josh Claris,executive director of North ten Philadelphia, and
Atif Bostik, who is with UpliftSolutions. They're here to tell us about
the grand opening and ribbon cutting ofthe Impact Center on Wednesday, February twenty
first at the Lensfest Center, andwe'll tell you all about it, but
we're going to also talk about whatexactly they are doing to lift people out
(18:42):
of poverty. So let's begin withyou, Josh, tell us about what's
happening. There is a coalition ofgroups that are working together to solve this
long term issue of intergenerational and racialwealth gaps inside of our city. How
do you begin to do that?And what's the purpose of this Impact Center?
(19:03):
Thanks Lorraine. What I'll start bysaying is that to solve any really
serious, deep rooted problem is thatyou need a collective to do it.
And that's what North End Philadelphia,Uplift Solutions, and our third partner,
Graduate Philadelphia are doing together because weunderstand that working together, building a collective
with different skill sets and different expertisesthat attack a problem will ultimately lead to
(19:30):
the solution. And so together,the three organizations have made a home for
a workforce development program inside North End'sLenfest Center on North tenth Street and the
Hunting Park and East Tyoga section ofNorth Philly. And we are bringing the
expertise at Uplift and Graduate Philly intoour building to serve the needs of our
community. Atif let's talk about workforcedevelopment, because that's a catch phrase that
(19:56):
has been used for decades now.But I think that this coalition is looking
at workforce development a little differently thanpeople have in the past. So I
wonder if you can tell us exactlywhat your approach is and how it differs
from what people have done in thepast. Absolutely, Laurene, thank you,
and again, just like jos said, we're excited to be here to
talk about this. And so whenwe think about workforce development, historically,
(20:19):
it's really about connecting individuals to ajob. And what's different and problematic about
just connecting the individual to a jobis are they prepared for the job truly?
But also at the same time,once we've done that, are we
preparing them to advance in the job? And then are we preparing them for
long term success? And so whatthat looks like is in workforce historically,
(20:44):
is that individuals go through workforce trainingprograms, they go get employed, but
they don't have all the skills tomaintain that will maintain a life, a
sustainable life, and they end upbacking another workforce training program. Here,
we're looking to change that because firstof all, we started with understanding what
are the root causes to the issuesthat we're looking at. Right, So,
just like I talked about historically,that we connect them to a job
(21:07):
and not necessarily given the other skills. Here, we're going to provide those
other skills with problem solving, conflictresolution. We're going to address needs such
as housing, childcare, so allof the real true wrap around services as
it relates to the whole person aspart of the work. And then we're
going to extend beyond just the wholeperson, but to the whole family,
(21:29):
where the collective comes into play withbeing able not to just work with the
individuals the adult population, but thenalso be able to work with the children
and the youth population as well.And I think Malik Brown, one of
our partners in this, the CEOof Graduate Philly, talked about it best
and really bridging the gap and connectingthe workforce development and post secondary education,
(21:52):
because through this collective we now havea continuum support and not just one component
of it, where we bring individualsinto the program, really assess where they
are, identify what those unique needsare, build success plans for that individual,
and then hold their hand through theentire process. And then the other
part that's extremely unique about this processis that we case manage them for three
(22:15):
years post program completion, and sothat's another difference in the program and the
work that we do. Yeah,no, that's great. It sounds like
in the past you tell somebody,okay, you're a baker. Here's flour,
sugar, and an egg, butyou don't tell them how to combine
them all together, and you're basicallyshowing them how to make make a cake,
(22:36):
make a cookie, if I usethat metaphor here. So now,
Josh, let's talk specifically about whatis going to happen moving forward. You're
cutting the ribbon on the Impact Center, and again, this is going to
be kind of like a one stopshop, a holistic approach to really addressing
the issue of helping people build wellhealth and life sustaining careers. Who are
(23:02):
you looking to connect with on thisparticular campaign. How do they do that?
Give us all the details. Yeah. Absolutely, So we're looking to
serve around two hundred and fifty individualsand their families a year to build economic
stability, and that's the language thatwe use around it and to a Tief's
point, to really look at thatstability in terms of a long term career.
(23:25):
North ten Philadelphia and our Lenfest Centerspecifically serves individuals in the Hunting Park
East Tyoga area right around Hunting Parkitself, just east of Broad Street,
and more broadly, this Impact Centeris there to serve the broader North Philadelphia
community. So very specifically, ifyou can get to us, we will
serve you. There's no bar,there's no bar of entry or high barrier
(23:47):
of entry other than really wanting tomake a difference in your life and your
family's life. Right, So,people can just walk up to the center,
absolutely, or they can go onlineor they can call YEP. So
North ten phld is North End's website. The Lenfest Center, where the Impact
Center is located, is on Northten Street and Pike thirty eight ninety North
tenth Street, and absolutely they cancome right in and see our reception there
(24:11):
and get signed up for the program, right right, and ATIEV tell us
a little bit about your organization,specifically Uplift Solutions. Who what do you
do exactly? So Uplift Solutions isknown as a workforce organization or workforce agency,
but it's almost a misnomer for ourtrue work. So individuals coming into
our programs, what we look atis again addressing the whole individual by assessments,
(24:34):
and then we provide what again isalmost a misnomer as well, a
life skills program that works with theindividual around cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectic behavioral
dialectical behavioral therapy, problem solving,conflict resolution, communications skills. And then
once we do that, then weactually move them to an actual workforce training
(24:55):
program, whether it's one of ourHVAC programs or our CDL program. We
have a same day work and payprogram as well as being behind the bars.
Because our population primarily is justice impactedor justice involved individuals, which again
in your opening remarks you talked aboutthe high poverty rates and you think about
our most vulnerable population, the justiceinvolved, the justice impact the population is
(25:18):
the most vulnerable, one of themost vulnerable populations here in Philadelphia, and
so that's what we look to addressin our organization. That's fantastic because I
know what a great challenge it isfor those re entry folks who are trying
to get jobs and are told notime and time again, or maybe don't
have the skills because they've been behindthe walls for a while and don't necessarily
know all the soft skills that peopleneed in order to succeed. Now North
(25:42):
ten has been in this location fora while. Just tell us a little
more about North ten in addition towhat you're doing with Impact. Yeah,
absolutely so. North ten Philadelphia describesitself as a place based, neighborhood strategic
planning organization that thinks about the holisticimprovement of the area of Hunting Park in
East Tyoga, And with that inmind, we run programs and services inside
(26:06):
the Lanfest Center, So not justthe Impact Center, but an out of
school time program, comprehensive college andcareer readiness program for kindergarten through twelfth graders
of the neighborhood. We provide communityservices. We have a great wonderful gym
that the guys come and play basketball. We have a market that's free for
anybody who comes, and just tothe point I mean, I think part
of where we're looking at for theImpact Center is that anybody who joins the
(26:30):
Impact Center has access to all ofthese resources. So they can come play
basketball, they can get food fortheir family, they can sign their child
up for an out of school timeprogram, they can use our computers if
they need to update their resumes andanything like that. So it's a full
holistic community center. But beyond that, North ten Philadelphia is also investing in
infrastructure around the neighborhood. We've justopened our first forty one unit affordable housing
(26:52):
apartment building on Germantown Avenue, andwe're about to go into partnership with a
healthcare provider to create a twenty thousandsquare foot fully comprehensive healthcare center in the
neighborhood, right across from the localelementary school. And beyond that, I
think that North End is really lookingto continue to build collective action efforts around
a whole variety of needs that arepervasive in our neighborhood that has been so
(27:15):
severely under resource. So, youknow, really thinking about educational outcomes for
our young people, thinking about healthand wellness, and building a collective to
address some of the great disparities thatcause the people in this neighborhood to have
a life expectancy on average twenty yearsless than other areas of Philadelphia, and
so we are really bought into thiscollective action effort. Well, if people
want more information about the Impact Center. To get more information on the Impact
(27:40):
Center, they can visit anyone ofour websites and northenphl dot orgazaars. They
can call us at two sixty sevennine zero eight nine zero zero eight Extension
two three nine and ask for missDarte and she's the manager of sport of
Services, or she can just stopinto the Landfest Center on North tenth Street.
Fantastic entity. If people want moremention about uplift solutions, how do
(28:02):
they find out more? Absolutely,for more informational uplift solutions, please visit
our website at www dot upliftsolutions dotorg. On that website we have contact
as forums, we have applications tojoin our programs on the website as well,
and then our phone members right onthe website as well. So thank
you fantastic well. Josh Claris,Executive Director, North ten Philadelphia, A
(28:22):
chief Bostic Uplift Solutions. They arehere to tell us about the Impact Center,
which is opening up on Wednesday,the twenty first, at eleven am
at the Lensfest Center thirty eight ninetyNorth tenth Street in Philadelphia. And it's
an effort in a campaign to reallywork holistically and collaboratively to solve long term
systemic problems that have caused intergenerational andracial wealth gaps inside of our cities and
(28:48):
to make it a better place tolive and to work. And I want
to thank you both very much forall the good works that you're doing.
Thank you, Lauren, Thanks Ran. You can listen to all of today's
interviews by going to our station websiteand typing in keyword Community. You can
also listen on the iHeartRadio app keywordLorraine with one R. Follow me on
Twitter and Instagram at Lorraine Ballard.I'm Lorraine Ballard, Moral and I stand
(29:11):
for service to our community and mediathat empowers. What will you stand for?
You've been listening to Insight and thankyou
Good morning. You're listening to Insight, a show about empowering our community.
I'm Lorraine Balladmorrow. Before we getstarted, I wanted to share some thoughts
about my dad, Frederick Paul Ballardduring this Black History Month. Freddie Paul,
as his family used to call him, spent thirty six years in the
Army and earned a bronze Star inthe Korean War. He retired as a
(00:22):
master's sergeant, and despite his stellarcareer, was never able to make the
leap from enlisted soldier to officer assomeone with his background might have accomplished when
he blamed on discrimination. After heretired from the military, he became head
of security at the National Gallery ofArt and eventually ended up at McKinley High
School in d C, where hetaught ROTC law and black history. He
(00:47):
often told me that when he wascoming up as a college student at Tuskegee
Institute, black history was a given. He was surrounded by history makers.
He would also pepper me with blackhistory facts. Did you know that?
Dot dot? I'm not going tolie. We had a challenging relationship,
especially during my teen and young adultyears, but achieved resolution before he passed
(01:10):
away. In nineteen eighty nine atthe age of eighty two, before my
career really took off. He wouldhave loved it. There's a powerful anti
(01:59):
poverty tools that not everybody knows about, and that's the Earned Income Tax Credit,
which provides a crucial financial boost toload of moderate income individuals and families
and is a powerful tool for povertyalleviation and economic stability. How do you
find out if you qualify for thisand other benefits, Well, you can
start by getting your taxes done forfree by a program called Campaign for Working
(02:23):
Families. To tell Us More isthe president and CEO of the Campaign for
Working Families, Doctor Nikiah Owens.Thank you so much for joining us today.
Thank you so much for having me. Thank you. Well, let's
talk about the campaign. As Iindicated, you do provide free income tax
help for those who need it.Tell us More, absolutely so. Campaign
(02:45):
for Working Families mission really is tobuild and champion the financial wellbeing of individuals
and families, and one of theways that we do that is providing free
tax preparation services. We have abouttwenty six tax sites and we also have
a virtual tax filing option for allof those individuals that are seeking to get
(03:06):
their taxes filed this year. AsI mentioned at the very beginning, there
is the earned income tax Credit thatnot everybody knows about but can be a
powerful tool for getting lifting people outof poverty. Tell us what it is.
Absolutely, so, the Earned IncomeTax Credit is really, really,
really important, especially for low tomoderate income families. It has increased this
(03:28):
year, and also for those thatare filing in the state of Pennsylvania,
those tax credits have increase at thestate level as well. One of the
things that you mentioned is that ithas the ability to lower poverty. Really
it does across the board in almostevery state across the country, which is
why it's the most effective anti povertyfighting program in the country. Its companion,
(03:52):
the Child Tax Credit, is equallyimportant. So we want to make
sure that individuals that qualify for theirEarned income tax Credit receive that credit along
with any other credits that they mayqualify for, such as the child tax
credit. Right, and we're talkingabout a good chunk of money that can
come back to individuals and families.It could be thousands of dollars. Tell
(04:13):
us what the impact of getting thatback for a family or an individual.
Absolutely, so many individuals and wellindividuals and families, they actually spend those
dollars on their children. It goesto paying school costs, clothing for their
children's food on the table. Manystudies have been done, especially by the
(04:34):
Federal Reserve Bank, in terms ofwhere those dollars actually get spent, and
many of those dollars really go tocare for the children and take care of
the basic needs of the household.So it's really, really, really important
for individuals that qualify for their earnedincome tax Credit to receive those dollars.
The other thing I just want toshare as well as it is concerned with
(04:58):
the earned income tax Credit, isyou may not let's say that you may
not have earned a lot of moneythat year. Maybe you got a seasonal
job, maybe you earned two,three, four thousand dollars, so you
think that you know, hey,I don't, I'm not going to file
my taxes. If you are anindividual who may have received a seasonal employment
or work just part time or justyou know, for a short period of
(05:20):
time, I would really really encourageyou to file your taxes, even though
you may not necessarily have to fileyour taxes, because if you're single,
if you make under thirteen thousand,eight hundred and fifty dollars. You don't
have to file. You don't necessarilyhave to file your taxes. The same
thing. If you're head of household, the dollars increase, so it's about
(05:41):
nineteen thousand dollars in terms of headof household. So but we want to
encourage you to file because you're missingout on money. You're missing out on
the earned income tax credit a portionof that. And so for example,
maybe you don't get the all ofthe four thousand and some dollars back in
your pocket, but you will geta portion of that if you file your
(06:01):
taxes. So maybe you don't getjust over four thousand dollars to full amount,
but maybe you get one thousand dollarsplus the federal taxes that were in
to date taxes that were taken outof your check. So it's really,
really, really that important. Yeah, I can tell you back in the
day when I first was starting out, I was making minimum wage. I
didn't file for a couple of years, and then when I finally did get
(06:24):
around of filing, I got allthis money back that I didn't realize that
was owed to me because I wasvery naive back then. So I didn't
make very much money, but Igot this big chunk of money back.
And when you talk about, forinstance, getting the full amount that four
thousand dollars, Wow, that couldgo to a down payment on a car,
or it actually might even be ableto buy. It might be a
(06:45):
hooptie, but a car that runs, and or maybe it becomes a down
payment towards a mortgage a house,and it really can make a huge difference
from this can be a tremendous boonfor them. And so the question then
comes, how do you get thatfree tax assistance? I know that you've
got locations everywhere, you make itso very convenient. What are the different
(07:09):
ways that people can take advantage?Absolutely? So, as I mentioned,
we have about twenty six tax sitesacross the Philadelphia area as well as Montgomery
and Delaware County, so the Philadelphiaregion as well as southern New Jersey.
We have about five in southern NewJersey five tax sites. But you can
also get it done virtually, Sothere's four different ways that you could actually
(07:30):
get your taxes done. You cango to any one of our tax sites
and get your taxes completed in person. If you don't have time to wait
for completion of your tax return tobe done at that point in time.
You can drop it off and comeback within two to three business days and
we will have your tax return completeit for you. You could also go
(07:51):
to any site and drop off yourreturn and not come back and a virtual
tax manager will call you in completeyou've returned with you, so you never
have to come back to the taxsite. Or you can upload your tax
documents to our online virtual portal getyour refund and we can We'll make sure
(08:13):
and do it all for you virtuallyand call you back with you, do
your quality review, and everything willbe done digitally right. And we want
to encourage people to take advantage ofthis because there are a lot of predatory
organizations out there who say they'll doyour taxes and they'll give you your money
upfront, but it's almost like aloan with very high interest rates. Talk
about that predatory practice that sometimes organizationswill do. Absolutely so the refund anticipation
(08:37):
loans, a lot of those arerefund anticipation checks are really really predatory products,
and so we want individuals to avoidreally getting those refund anticipation loans because
what they don't realize is that whileit may be interest free for a period
of time, it could really backfireif you don't get all the money that
(09:00):
you thought you were going to receive. Probably the paid prepare is taking already
a portion of it, at leastten percent of anything that you're getting back,
that those dollars are so critical theycould actually be kept in your pocket.
Most people, at least sixty percentof the people almost that we serve,
make less than twenty thousand dollars ayear, So a three or four
(09:22):
hundred dollars expense is really really significant, and so we want to make sure
that we keep those dollars in,you know, the pockets of hardworking individuals
and families, and Campaign for WorkingFamilies has been able to do that.
We save people about seven million dollarsevery year in tax preparation fees because why,
you may go into one of thepaid preparers and they say, oh,
(09:43):
here's our base rate. So yourbase rate may be two hundred and
ninety dollars, three hundred and twentythree dollars, but for every form,
there's a cost you pay for everyform, and it's about one hundred and
forty dollars per form, so it'syour base rate on top of the other
additional forms that you get. Itkind of like going somewhere and you have
(10:05):
a basic meal, Well, thebasic meal comes with whatever it comes with,
and then if you want to addadditional sauce or anything else like that,
you're going to pay for that.It's the same thing with paid prepares,
right, So that's very very importantfor people to realize, so that
you need to really examine what you'regetting if you were, in fact to
go to one of these places,But why do that When you've got the
(10:28):
Campaign for Working Families, which providesfree tax preparation in addition to that,
it becomes really a partnership because notonly do you do free tax preparation,
but there's often a lot of dollarsthat are sitting on the table on accessed
because people don't know what their benefitsthat they are qualified for. So not
(10:48):
only do you provide the free taxassistance, but you also hook people up
right with the benefits that they deserve. Absolutely. So you know, while
we're certainly about making sure that peopleget their taxes done, and I just
wanted to add to that all ofour tax prepares are IRS certified. Every
year they get IRS certified, andthey can only do taxes at the level
(11:11):
in which they are certified at andevery tax return is quality reviewed. So
even though it's a free service,it is a high quality service. Yeah,
that's right. And once again,there are a lot of benefits.
I know so many people. I'malways turning them onto the campaign or to
other nonprofits that help handle connecting peoplewith benefits because there are a lot of
(11:35):
benefits and people are actually entitled tothat they simply don't know that they're entitled
to. Absolutely, So, ifyou come into any one of our tax
sites and you're interested in just seeingif you're eligible for any benefits on your
intake form, you just check thatyou would like to be contacted so that
you can determine whether or not youmay qualify for any other benefits. We
(11:58):
have a full time staff that isavailable and ready, willing and able to
assist you in really tapping into anyof the benefits that you may qualify for,
from the Water program to the EnergyAssistance Program, to law heat,
to SNAP benefits, Medicaid. We'rehere to support you and also connect you
to a fair, equitable financial productand service through one of our financial banking
(12:20):
partners as well, Fantastic. Well, there are a lot of folks out
there who now know that there isa free service that provides just a tremendous
benefit. If you qualify for theearned income tax credit, that's cash right
in your pocket and you want toget access to it. You may not
realize that you qualify for this bigchunk of money, but you might very
(12:43):
well be qualified for it. Buthow do you find out? You have
to check out the Campaign for WorkingFamilies tell us once again all the different
ways people can access you. Wehave a call center, so you can
actually call if you have any questions, any anything that you want to ask
or inquire about, you can callour call center and that number is two
one five four five four six foureight three. That's two one five four
(13:07):
five four six four eight three,and that's our call center. They're open
and available to answer any questions youhave from eight am to seven pm Monday
through Saturday. Are there any finalwords before we close? Absolutely? So,
Campaign for Working Families is here tobe of service to you and to
make sure that we maximize your taxcredits for a maximum refund. We want
(13:28):
to make sure that also your taxreturn is done correctly, right and on
time. So let us be ofservice to you. As I mentioned before,
you can either call our call centeror go to our website at WWWCWF
Philly dot org or once again callus at two one five, four five
four six four eight three. Pleasedon't miss out. This is a tremendous,
(13:48):
tremendous tool to help lift folks outof poverty. And certainly the city
of Philadelphia is the largest big citywith the largest poverty rate and we want
to make a difference in the Campaignfor Working Families is doing exactly that.
Thanks to doctor Nikia Owens, whois CEO and President of the Campaign for
(14:09):
Working Families. Thank you so much, thanks for having me. What's going
on? Yash your boy, WanyeMars the Boys to Men Motown Philly back
again doing a little invisible symptom jam. Autoimmune symptoms can be invisible to the
eyes, so don't fail to identifyyou lost your groove, can't move,
(14:33):
hard to walk, talk balance off. Remedies exist Advocate Today sponsored by the
Getting Up organization, educating people fromevery zip code to identify symptoms of rare
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and curious at getting up dot orgasis. Mister, this morning, Kim
told me you weren't feeling well,so I'm just doing a self care check.
(14:54):
Thank you friend. Now you're doinggirl. Listen. My energy was
so low because I didn't eat breakfastwhen I got up, so I had
to miss virtual yoga with y'all.Trust me, I understand. But I'm
doing much better now that I've eaten, so I'm back on track. Great
in that case, let's get somesteps in tonight. I'll come over and
we can walk around the lake.Sounds good. Appreciate you being in my
(15:15):
business too. Now let me getin yours. Did you check your blood
pressure today? I did that andmy squad's okay. Okay. High blood
pressure is not going to be myfriend if I can help it. See
you at six. Let's get it. See you then. Now, more
than ever, it's important that weprotect our hearts and the hearts of those
we love. Check in on oneanother, and be a part of a
(15:39):
healthy blood pressure movement. Rally yoursquad to take the online plane at Release
the Pressure dot org Brought to youby the release the Pressure Coalition and the
AD Council. Wake up and text, Text and eat, text didn't catch
the bus, Text and miss yourstop. Wait wait wait wait wait,
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Text and be late to work,Sorry late, Text and work, Text
and pretend to work. Text andact surprised when someone calls you out for
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whole time. Uh, Text andwhatever. But when you get behind the
wheel, give your phone to apassenger, put it in the glove box.
Just don't text and drive. Visitstop texts, Stop rex dot org
a public service announcement brought to youby the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and
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the AD Council. If you're fortyfive over, listen up tonight. Colon
cancer untreated. You could take yourlife. Get it right, get screen,
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persistent problem inhoe here in the cityof Philadelphia. We are, in fact,
the big city with the highest povertyrate in the country. How do
we begin to chip away at thatvery intractable problem. Well, we've got
some folks here who are doing theirbest to really think outside of the box
when it comes to getting people intolife. Sustaining careers. And we're going
(18:19):
to be joined by Josh Claris,executive director of North ten Philadelphia, and
Atif Bostik, who is with UpliftSolutions. They're here to tell us about
the grand opening and ribbon cutting ofthe Impact Center on Wednesday, February twenty
first at the Lensfest Center, andwe'll tell you all about it, but
we're going to also talk about whatexactly they are doing to lift people out
(18:42):
of poverty. So let's begin withyou, Josh, tell us about what's
happening. There is a coalition ofgroups that are working together to solve this
long term issue of intergenerational and racialwealth gaps inside of our city. How
do you begin to do that?And what's the purpose of this Impact Center?
(19:03):
Thanks Lorraine. What I'll start bysaying is that to solve any really
serious, deep rooted problem is thatyou need a collective to do it.
And that's what North End Philadelphia,Uplift Solutions, and our third partner,
Graduate Philadelphia are doing together because weunderstand that working together, building a collective
with different skill sets and different expertisesthat attack a problem will ultimately lead to
(19:30):
the solution. And so together,the three organizations have made a home for
a workforce development program inside North End'sLenfest Center on North tenth Street and the
Hunting Park and East Tyoga section ofNorth Philly. And we are bringing the
expertise at Uplift and Graduate Philly intoour building to serve the needs of our
community. Atif let's talk about workforcedevelopment, because that's a catch phrase that
(19:56):
has been used for decades now.But I think that this coalition is looking
at workforce development a little differently thanpeople have in the past. So I
wonder if you can tell us exactlywhat your approach is and how it differs
from what people have done in thepast. Absolutely, Laurene, thank you,
and again, just like jos said, we're excited to be here to
talk about this. And so whenwe think about workforce development, historically,
(20:19):
it's really about connecting individuals to ajob. And what's different and problematic about
just connecting the individual to a jobis are they prepared for the job truly?
But also at the same time,once we've done that, are we
preparing them to advance in the job? And then are we preparing them for
long term success? And so whatthat looks like is in workforce historically,
(20:44):
is that individuals go through workforce trainingprograms, they go get employed, but
they don't have all the skills tomaintain that will maintain a life, a
sustainable life, and they end upbacking another workforce training program. Here,
we're looking to change that because firstof all, we started with understanding what
are the root causes to the issuesthat we're looking at. Right, So,
just like I talked about historically,that we connect them to a job
(21:07):
and not necessarily given the other skills. Here, we're going to provide those
other skills with problem solving, conflictresolution. We're going to address needs such
as housing, childcare, so allof the real true wrap around services as
it relates to the whole person aspart of the work. And then we're
going to extend beyond just the wholeperson, but to the whole family,
(21:29):
where the collective comes into play withbeing able not to just work with the
individuals the adult population, but thenalso be able to work with the children
and the youth population as well.And I think Malik Brown, one of
our partners in this, the CEOof Graduate Philly, talked about it best
and really bridging the gap and connectingthe workforce development and post secondary education,
(21:52):
because through this collective we now havea continuum support and not just one component
of it, where we bring individualsinto the program, really assess where they
are, identify what those unique needsare, build success plans for that individual,
and then hold their hand through theentire process. And then the other
part that's extremely unique about this processis that we case manage them for three
(22:15):
years post program completion, and sothat's another difference in the program and the
work that we do. Yeah,no, that's great. It sounds like
in the past you tell somebody,okay, you're a baker. Here's flour,
sugar, and an egg, butyou don't tell them how to combine
them all together, and you're basicallyshowing them how to make make a cake,
(22:36):
make a cookie, if I usethat metaphor here. So now,
Josh, let's talk specifically about whatis going to happen moving forward. You're
cutting the ribbon on the Impact Center, and again, this is going to
be kind of like a one stopshop, a holistic approach to really addressing
the issue of helping people build wellhealth and life sustaining careers. Who are
(23:02):
you looking to connect with on thisparticular campaign. How do they do that?
Give us all the details. Yeah. Absolutely, So we're looking to
serve around two hundred and fifty individualsand their families a year to build economic
stability, and that's the language thatwe use around it and to a Tief's
point, to really look at thatstability in terms of a long term career.
(23:25):
North ten Philadelphia and our Lenfest Centerspecifically serves individuals in the Hunting Park
East Tyoga area right around Hunting Parkitself, just east of Broad Street,
and more broadly, this Impact Centeris there to serve the broader North Philadelphia
community. So very specifically, ifyou can get to us, we will
serve you. There's no bar,there's no bar of entry or high barrier
(23:47):
of entry other than really wanting tomake a difference in your life and your
family's life. Right, So,people can just walk up to the center,
absolutely, or they can go onlineor they can call YEP. So
North ten phld is North End's website. The Lenfest Center, where the Impact
Center is located, is on Northten Street and Pike thirty eight ninety North
tenth Street, and absolutely they cancome right in and see our reception there
(24:11):
and get signed up for the program, right right, and ATIEV tell us
a little bit about your organization,specifically Uplift Solutions. Who what do you
do exactly? So Uplift Solutions isknown as a workforce organization or workforce agency,
but it's almost a misnomer for ourtrue work. So individuals coming into
our programs, what we look atis again addressing the whole individual by assessments,
(24:34):
and then we provide what again isalmost a misnomer as well, a
life skills program that works with theindividual around cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectic behavioral
dialectical behavioral therapy, problem solving,conflict resolution, communications skills. And then
once we do that, then weactually move them to an actual workforce training
(24:55):
program, whether it's one of ourHVAC programs or our CDL program. We
have a same day work and payprogram as well as being behind the bars.
Because our population primarily is justice impactedor justice involved individuals, which again
in your opening remarks you talked aboutthe high poverty rates and you think about
our most vulnerable population, the justiceinvolved, the justice impact the population is
(25:18):
the most vulnerable, one of themost vulnerable populations here in Philadelphia, and
so that's what we look to addressin our organization. That's fantastic because I
know what a great challenge it isfor those re entry folks who are trying
to get jobs and are told notime and time again, or maybe don't
have the skills because they've been behindthe walls for a while and don't necessarily
know all the soft skills that peopleneed in order to succeed. Now North
(25:42):
ten has been in this location fora while. Just tell us a little
more about North ten in addition towhat you're doing with Impact. Yeah,
absolutely so. North ten Philadelphia describesitself as a place based, neighborhood strategic
planning organization that thinks about the holisticimprovement of the area of Hunting Park in
East Tyoga, And with that inmind, we run programs and services inside
(26:06):
the Lanfest Center, So not justthe Impact Center, but an out of
school time program, comprehensive college andcareer readiness program for kindergarten through twelfth graders
of the neighborhood. We provide communityservices. We have a great wonderful gym
that the guys come and play basketball. We have a market that's free for
anybody who comes, and just tothe point I mean, I think part
of where we're looking at for theImpact Center is that anybody who joins the
(26:30):
Impact Center has access to all ofthese resources. So they can come play
basketball, they can get food fortheir family, they can sign their child
up for an out of school timeprogram, they can use our computers if
they need to update their resumes andanything like that. So it's a full
holistic community center. But beyond that, North ten Philadelphia is also investing in
infrastructure around the neighborhood. We've justopened our first forty one unit affordable housing
(26:52):
apartment building on Germantown Avenue, andwe're about to go into partnership with a
healthcare provider to create a twenty thousandsquare foot fully comprehensive healthcare center in the
neighborhood, right across from the localelementary school. And beyond that, I
think that North End is really lookingto continue to build collective action efforts around
a whole variety of needs that arepervasive in our neighborhood that has been so
(27:15):
severely under resource. So, youknow, really thinking about educational outcomes for
our young people, thinking about healthand wellness, and building a collective to
address some of the great disparities thatcause the people in this neighborhood to have
a life expectancy on average twenty yearsless than other areas of Philadelphia, and
so we are really bought into thiscollective action effort. Well, if people
want more information about the Impact Center. To get more information on the Impact
(27:40):
Center, they can visit anyone ofour websites and northenphl dot orgazaars. They
can call us at two sixty sevennine zero eight nine zero zero eight Extension
two three nine and ask for missDarte and she's the manager of sport of
Services, or she can just stopinto the Landfest Center on North tenth Street.
Fantastic entity. If people want moremention about uplift solutions, how do
(28:02):
they find out more? Absolutely,for more informational uplift solutions, please visit
our website at www dot upliftsolutions dotorg. On that website we have contact
as forums, we have applications tojoin our programs on the website as well,
and then our phone members right onthe website as well. So thank
you fantastic well. Josh Claris,Executive Director, North ten Philadelphia, A
(28:22):
chief Bostic Uplift Solutions. They arehere to tell us about the Impact Center,
which is opening up on Wednesday,the twenty first, at eleven am
at the Lensfest Center thirty eight ninetyNorth tenth Street in Philadelphia. And it's
an effort in a campaign to reallywork holistically and collaboratively to solve long term
systemic problems that have caused intergenerational andracial wealth gaps inside of our cities and
(28:48):
to make it a better place tolive and to work. And I want
to thank you both very much forall the good works that you're doing.
Thank you, Lauren, Thanks Ran. You can listen to all of today's
interviews by going to our station websiteand typing in keyword Community. You can
also listen on the iHeartRadio app keywordLorraine with one R. Follow me on
Twitter and Instagram at Lorraine Ballard.I'm Lorraine Ballard, Moral and I stand
(29:11):
for service to our community and mediathat empowers. What will you stand for?
You've been listening to Insight and thankyou
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