Archive for the ‘eitc’ tag
Public Benefits Advocacy in Broward
Sometimes we get examples of particularly effective advocacy and like to pass the same along to spotlight the good work being done. This time, we have a docket of successes from Delores Gilmore, an advocate at the Legal Aid Service of Broward County.
Client had a 9 month old child and was working at Target and she was homeless. She had been receiving a welfare check but left the system for a job. This means that she could access certain support dollars that had been allocated for people such as her to ensure that they were able to retain their job. The client applied for assistance with housing and needed help with her security deposit. She was turned away flat and denied. After review of her case I found out that she was still receiving about $80 in welfare money each month due to her low pay. There is a provision in TANF that allows for a “cash severance” of $1,000 if the client stops her $80 welfare check and promises not to request welfare for in the least 3 months. After some time I was able to assist this client with support service assistance from WorkForce One in the amount of $800 and with WorkForce One and Department of Children Families to ensure that she received the cash severance benefit of $1,000. All the while the client was working, looking for a place to live and dealing with her homelessness. Now she has secured a place to live and continues to work. She has promised to go back to WorkForce One for assistance with training as soon as she gets things settled. More after the break!
CLSMF on scams, low-income tax prep help
CLSMF has continued to use press releases to good purpose in order to get local media coverage of their programs and services.
On scams:
Scams are on the rise because more people are looking for help, and scam artists will gladly take people’s money.
Patricia Kearney fell victim to such a scam. She and her husband needed money to pay their mortgage and bills.
A lender inflated the appraisal of her home, telling her to take out a mortgage at that inflated price…
Community Legal Services helps low income families and the elderly from scams like this one and others for free.
And in publicizing assistance to low- and middle-income persons for tax filing.
Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida wants you to know there’s free online help for middle- and low-income taxpayers to file their federal income taxes.
That help is called I-CAN! It’s Web-based software available in English and Spanish.
And, it’s very easy to use, Legal Services Campaign and Communications Manager Larry Glinzman told The Beacon.
“Taxes are easy to do with I-CAN! E-file, and you don’t need to be a computer expert,” he said.
One of those great press releases from CLSMF is reproduced after the break. Read the rest of this entry »