by Germaine Ingram
What is The Benefit Bank?
The Benefit Bank (TBB) connects communities and their residents to resources. TBB provides access to tax credits and public benefits for low- and moderate-income families. By maximizing tax refunds and reducing a family's household costs, TBB can increase the available cash on hand and help relieve some of the pressures people face in trying to care for themselves and their loved ones.
Billions of dollars in allocated public funds go untouched each year because applying for state and federal benefits such as Food Stamps or Medicaid is confusing, intimidating, time consuming, or embarrassing. Additional billions in tax credits are left unclaimed because people don't know about them or how to get them. The Benefit Bank removes these obstacles - bringing people closer to stability and closer to self-sufficiency.
The Benefit Bank is the only program available that can process federal tax returns, state tax returns, as well as a range of publicly sponsored health and social service benefits.
TBB puts Earned Income Tax Credit, Food Stamps, Medical Benefits, Children's Health Insurance, Heating/Cooling Assistance within easy reach to improve the lives of struggling families.
How does The Benefit Bank work?
TBB is an internet-based system designed for use by wide range of community-based, faith-based, governmental, job-training, healthcare, and social service agencies. Indeed, it can be used by any organization or agency working to help move families out of poverty.
Developed as a counselor-assisted program, TBB creates dialogue through simple interview questions. The counselor-who is either a volunteer or employee of a participating organization or agency-- navigates the screens and types the client's responses. When all the questions necessary to fill out the application have been answered, the system generates the completed form, fully populated, for the client to review. The completed form is printed for submission by the client, or is submitted electronically where that capacity is available.
TBB saves all of the client's information, so it doesn't need to be re-entered for each new form or application. As clients fill in data for one application, the program automatically stores and transfers the information for use in subsequent applications. For example, as a client completes an application for Food Stamps the software assesses eligibility for all benefits and tax credits that have been programmed into the system. With just a few more questions the client is able to print (or e-file) those benefit applications as well.
Why The Benefit Bank?
TBB provides an easy and practical technology solution to the complex and cumbersome process of accessing public benefit programs. It works by building relationships between counselors and clients, TBB sites and their communities, and between communities and policy makers.
The Benefit Bank is a national program that believes neighbors can help neighbors build sustainable economic lives. TBB can be part of a community-wide response to poverty that not only provides opportunities to help neighbors but also provides information for organizations to advocate more effectively for policies that better serve their communities.
TBB is available at no cost to the organizations that want to host The Benefit Bank program and is always offered for free to the clients using the service. (Thus far, TBB has been supported through governmental and philanthropic grants. Ongoing development and maintenance will require grant funding as well as maintenance contracts with state authorities.)
Where can The Benefit Bank be found?
The Benefit Bank can be found at social service agencies, community- and faith-based organizations, job-training programs, advocacy groups and private employers.
The Benefit Bank is currently in use in communities in Pennsylvania, Florida and Kansas. Development of TBB in Ohio, Mississippi, and the District of Columbia is underway, and additional states are poised to come on line in the next 18 months. We continue active discussions with state governments, civic organizations and philanthropic coalitions in several other states.
How do diverse organizations use The Benefit Bank?
The Benefit Bank is a tool for enhancing and extending the work of helping organizations. The types of organizations that can utilize TBB are legion‹churches, unions, employers of low-wage workers, social service agencies, job training programs, government offices, community development corporations, health providers, schools, colleges and universities, to name just a handful. Each organization can determine how sponsoring TBB sites would strengthen or compliment its existing programs and services. Here are examples of how some organizations are using The Benefit Bank to enrich their initiatives and programs...
- EducationWorks, the Philadelphia chapter of Americorp, has hosted TBB for two years and uses it for outreach to individuals and families for their Beacon Schools, afterschool programs, preschool, and youth development programs.
- Centro de Salud Familiar La Fe, Inc., based in El Paso TX, is a new TBB Affiliate organization. It plans to use TBB as part of the complex of services it will provide to residents of an area that is being redeveloped by HUD as a Hope VI community.
- The Public Defender in Tampa FL will use TBB to help ex-offenders get reintegrated into community life.
- Women's Revitalization Center in Philadelphia is using TBB in their focused effort to help their clients save money for homeownership.
- United Cerebral Palsy, TBB's Pittsburgh Affiliate, uses TBB to help implement its organizational strategy of building social capital by serving the broad community, in addition to serving the needs of the disabled.
- The Center for Social Policy Research, in Washington, DC, is hosting opportunities for its organizational clients and partners---including governmental agencies, foundations, interfaith collaboratives and social service networks--- to learn how TBB can support their mission and strategic plans.
- A private housing developer in the Brewerytown section of Philadelphia aims to use TBB as a vehicle for fostering collaboration among area organizations and strengthening the network of community resources in and around the housing development.
- Interfaith Ministries in Kansas is building a network of TBB sites to enhance the capacity of its Campaign to End Childhood Hunger to reduce hunger and poverty and build its advocacy network.
- The University of Texas in El Paso proposes to have all of its honors accounting students provide community service by serving as counselors for TBB.
- For The Prosperity Campaign, an initiative started in Miami by the Human Services Coalition in 2003 which has spread to several other FL cities, TBB is a means of linking local anti-poverty efforts to their counterparts across the state.
- NewCourtland Elder Care Services, based in Philadelphia, will use TBB in each of its six sites to help its health care workers gain access to energy assistance as well as other public benefits and tax credits.
- A coalition of Philadelphia churches has launched an initiative to provide energy assistance and weatherization services for low-income residents. TBB is one of several complimentary programs that make up this initiative.
For more information or to learn how your organization can become a host site of The Benefit Bank contact:
Alyse Bernstein
The Benefit Bank
Solutions for Progress, Inc
728 South Broad Street
Philadelphia, PA 19146
abernstein@thebenefitbank.com
www.thebenefitbank.com
Solutions for Progress, Inc. (SfP) is a Philadelphia public policy consulting firm working for social change. SfP addresses complex social and economic problems and utilizes technology, research, analysis and practical applications to improve the quality of life of their clients and the communities they serve.
The Benefit Bank® and TTB™ are trademarks of Solutions for Progress, Inc. All Rights Reserved 2005
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