From Our Investees - SVPP 2005 Investments Under Way

(From the December 2005 Newsletter)

CASH (Creating Assets, Savings, and Hope) - CASH seeks to help low-income families take advantage of state and federal income tax credits and build solid financial futures through savings, credit repair and financial literacy programs. SVPP's objective is to evolve the current loosely-organized Oregon Tax Credit Coalition into a self-sustaining organization with professional staff and strong community and government support.
Accomplishments:
- Executive Director hired and on-board as of August ‘05.
- A "Pilot" tax preparation session was held on November 5th, over 20 returns were filed for low-income families and over $25K in refunds were secured. Tax and financial counseling was also provided.
- One "super site" was secured for tax preparations in Q1 '06, several others sites are under discussion.
- Two grants were secured for over $100K and several others are pending for program funding.

If you have any questions or are interested in volunteering, please contact the CASH project leader Joel Kaplan.

PEP (Parental Engagement Program) - PEP is focused on creating a sustainable partnership model to improve elementary school performance at low-income schools through collaboration of businesses, community groups, parents and school leaders. SVPP's objective is to provide funding and volunteer power to build a strong community of engaged parents at the Kelly and Clark elementary schools of SE Portland.
Accomplishments:
- The PEP Coordinator at Kelly Elementary was hired and she has begun building relationships with parents with very positive results. The Kelly School Advisory Board has been formed and the first meeting was held in late November.
- The first Parents as Partners for Reading Excellence workshop was held at Clark Elementary. The Clark School Advisory Board met for the first time in November.