From Our Investees

(From the March 2006 Newsletter)

CASH (Creating Assets, Savings, and Hope) -
Fundraising / Operational Update:
• CASH received a $121,000 three-year grant from the Ann and Bill Swindells Charitable Trust.
• CASH has secured SVPP as fiscal agent for CASH. Grant proposals had been on a hiatus pending resolution of the fiscal agency. CASH expects one or more grant applications to be submitted in Q1 '06.
• Multnomah County is in the early stages of developing its 06-07 budget. There is considerable effort and support to budget $75,000 to fund collaboration between CASH and the county-financed SUN (Schools Uniting Neighborhoods) school program. The collaborative effort would use SUN schools as the focus for volunteer recruiting, tax preparation and financial literacy training.
• The City of Portland Water Department included a CASH insert in a mailing to 6,800 low-income customers. The estimated cost of this in-kind contribution was $1,500.
• The CASH website is up and running. It now includes information on the EITC, downloadable brochures and handouts and links to appropriate partners, including SVPP. See www.CASHoregon.org (click).
• CASH will need a full-time volunteer coordinator next year. CASH's ability to recruit enthusiastic volunteers is exceeded by the capability to organize, train and deploy them.

Tax Preparation / Financial Literacy Services Update:
• Recruited approximately 70 new volunteer tax preparers and had to turn away six more because of training capacity limitations. Increased training capacity will be a priority next year.
• CASH is now listed on "211" phone service; callers can get questions answered and referrals to tax sites.
• Lloyd Center donated a large office suite that will accommodate up to ten volunteer tax preparers at a given time. The space is located on the third floor office above the food court area. The retail value of the space is $4,000 per month. CASH will have access to the space plus utilities for three months without charge.
• CASH hosted the grand opening of the Lloyd Center supersite on February 10 (story above).
• A CASH capabilities piece was translated into approximately 12 languages (including English, Spanish, Russian, Vietnamese, etc.) free of charge by the State. The brochures are being printed at CASH's expense and distributed through coalition members. The brochures are into their second printing.
• The State has offered a Russian translator to assist in tax preparation on an as-needed basis.

PEP (Parental Engagement Program) - There has been significant progress in the engagement process of SVPP and the two elementary schools that are part of the PEP program. School Advisory Boards have been formed and are active at both schools, and performance metrics have been defined to allow SVPP and each school to measure progress with parental engagement efforts. Specific accomplishments are:

Kelly Elementary:
• The School Advisory Board has been launched with participants from Kelly, SVPP, SUN (Schools Uniting Neighborhoods), the community, businesses and school volunteers. The focus for this group is: 1) to improve the front entry area for the school, and 2) develop a marketing project to improve the effectiveness of the communications between Kelly Elementary and parents.
• Kelly's new coordinator continues to make progress in reestablishing the PTA and identifying parent volunteers for the school, having recruited 10 new parents for the PTA and 70 parents to volunteer for various school activities.

Clark Elementary:
• The School Advisory Board has been launched and is working on corporate sponsorship and fundraising through the local business community and recruiting additional Board members. In addition, SVPP will be providing assistance in Clark Elementary's efforts to embed technology in the school.
• Two additional "Parents as Partners for Reading Excellence" evening workshops were held on December 6 and January 10 with very high turnout. SVPP volunteers provided literacy events for the children of the parents attending the January workshop. Three more evening workshops will be held throughout the school year.