ADVOCACY - October, 2009
BE A VOLUNTEER TAX PREPARER
Provide FREE tax preparation services to low- and moderate-income taxpayers
Great training and Community Service Opportunity!
What do volunteers do?
- Trained volunteers provide quality tax return assistance to taxpayers
- Prepare tax returns based on taxpayers' documentation and preparers' tax law training (1040, 1040A, 1040EZ)
- Prepare tax returns using electronic filing software
- Provide assistance only to the level of their training
TRAINING AVAILABLE FROM NOV TO JAN; SERVE FEB TO APRIL
How do you get involved?
- complete self-paced, on-line "Link and Learn" training (approx 30 hours)
- attend "Taxwise" software training and volunteer orientation (approx 10 hrs)
- Spend an average of 4 hrs/week for 10 wks during tax season volunteering at a local site.
FOR MORE INFORMATION - contact Ray Peterson, 882-4011, ray@unitedwaynashua.org . This is a program of the Greater Nashua Asset Building Coalition (of which NSK&S is a part)
NEW STATISTICS ON WHAT CONSTITUTES POVERTY IN US
New rates of poverty in the US were announced recently, although, since the way in which poverty is determined has not been changed in 40 years, the numbers are not a true picture of what is happening in our economy. According to these statistics, poverty has risen from approximately 12% to approximately 15%,
Statistics:
Size of family #of kids None One Two Three Four
1 $11,201
2 14,417 14,840
3 16,841 17,330 17,346
4 22,207 22,570 21,834 21,910
5 26,781 27,170 26,338 25,694 25,301
Imagine living at these levels in NH, with the cost of housing, etc.
NEW HUD PRIORITIES INCLUDE MORE EMPHASIS ON RENTALS
The new director of HUD (Housing and Urban Development) is focusing on increasing opportunities for subsidized rental units as well as home ownership. While for the last dozen or so years there has been a well-intentioned emphasis on home ownership by the federal government, the cost of purchasing a home, the instability of the job market, and the unrealistic mortgage market, especially here in the greater Boston area, have made it impossible for lower-income residents to realize this dream. Recognizing that, we welcome a new emphasis on subsidized rental unit creation, which will create construction jobs, stop the increase in homelessness, and provide stability for families and individuals in our community. See www.boston.com for Sunday, August 16, 2009 for more on this.
NEW INSTITUTE ON FISCAL POLICY
Thirty-eight other states have these institutes, including all the other New England states. Former state senator Paul Speiss (R-Amherst) is working on this project, which will provide fiscal research that includes the advocacy community in NH to supports economic opportunity and well being for residents, focusing on low and moderate income people. For more information, contact eileen@nsks.org .
"UNAPOLOGETIC DEMAND FOR PERMANENT, AFFORDABLE HOUSING"
Here is an excerpt from Quaker Witness newsletter by Maggie Fogarty, who coordinates statewide housing issues for the American Friends Service Committee:
THE SITUATION
As winter approached in Concord...the community's shelter directors were alarmed to report that they were already full to capacity. Soon, the 2 overflow shelters would open, as they have for the past several years, to provide additional beds for the 3 coldest months of the year. People in Concord gathered resources and coordinated yet another overflow shelter for the winter.
As impressed as I am that this community of compassionate peole has again set an example, I could not help but feel a heaviness of heart as I joined in to help. For how long are we going to have to focus precious human and financial resources on creating overflow shelters for our overflow shelters for our emergency shelters? For how long is a cot in a church or an empty school going to be "home" for people who only want what you and I want - a safe, decent, affordable home?
In the short time that I have been engaged in public policy advocacy at the AFSC, I have joined with others to identify those mostly small (and usually "budget-neutral") changes we can make in state policy or at the federal level, or even in how we develop local volunteer initiatives to ensure that everyone in NH - low-wage workers, middle class families, immigrants and refugees, young children, homeless veterans who are both mentally ill and addicted, university students, recently-released prisoners - can have access to safe, decent, affordable housing.
THE QUESTIONS
As long as wages, adjusted for inflation, continue to decline,and as long as the publicly-funded safety net is shriveled and tangled, we are going to have people who endure a fundamental precariousness that undermines their dignity, their well-being, and their capacity to return to economic security.
As long as well-meaning people assume that these issues are too complicated and persistent to be solved by public policies and programs, then they will not be.
As long as "the poor" refers to people who are not like "us", we will continue to blame them entirely for their own economic marginalization and peril. As long as "wealth" is what individuals are entitled to, and not something possessed by communities, we will need to rely on charity instead of building strong, self-sustaining communities to care for one another.
POSSIBLE ANSWERS
Let's stop asking for crumbs, when crumbs are not enough.
Let's practice our demanding, unapologetic posture with the new administration's economic recovery package.
Capitalize the National Housing Trust Fund with $10 billion over the next 2 years. Create 400,000 new housing vouchers to provide the lowest-income households with rental assistance. Spend $3 billion to upgrade federally-assisted multi-family housing. Fund the Public Housing Capital Fund at $5 billion for 2 years, using green standards to upgrade public housing.
If enacted, these would provide economic relief to some 800,000 households, those hardest hit not only by the recent economic crisis but by several decades of declining wages, rising housing costs and the dismantling of our safety net. These would have the benefit of creating jobs, perhaps as many as 200,000 over the next 2 years.
What do you think?
NEW HAMPSHIRE STATE BUDGET - LOTS OF HOLES
The NH state budget passed with new fees, cuts in services, and many questions. Some advocacy groups are planning to work on possible solutions during the coming year. Contact Eileen if you are interested in participating in these discussions.
BEST WISHES TO NH LEGISLATORS AS NEW SESSION GEARS UP
Many thanks to the members of the NH Legislature who worked very hard to create solutions in the budget process. Offer your thanks to these ultimate volunteers. Find your reps on www.nh.gov .
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SOME WAYS TO BE INVOLVED
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