Resources
Support is available, and we’re here to help! Check out the resources below, as many are available in just about every city, and we provide support in attaining many available benefits.
Individual Development Account
Individual Development Account (IDA) is an asset-building tool designed to enable low-income families to save towards a targeted amount usually used for building assets in the form of homeownership, post-secondary education, and small business ownership.
USDA
United States Department of Agriculture provides leadership on food, agriculture, natural resources, rural development, nutrition, and related issues based on public policy, the best available science, and effective management.
U.S.D.A. vision is to provide economic opportunity through innovation, helping rural America to thrive; to promote agriculture production that better nourishes Americans while also helping feed others throughout the world; and to preserve our Nation’s natural resources through conservation, restored forests, improved watersheds, and healthy private working lands,
STRIKEFORCE
“StrikeForce has proven to be an effective, collaborative process that builds partnerships and enables USDA to bring economic opportunity directly to rural Americans where they live and helps rural communities leverage their assets.”
Currently, 85 percent of our country’s persistent poverty counties are in rural America. More than one-third of rural Americans and one-in-four rural children live in poverty.
Research has shown that even kids growing up in families earning as much as twice the poverty threshold is still nearly three times as likely as all other children to have poor health, are more likely to finish two fewer years of school, and are more likely to learn to earn half as much money in their adult life
DOL
The Department of Labor’s mission is to foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners, job seekers, and retirees of the United States; improve working conditions; advance opportunities for profitable employment; and assure work-related benefits and rights.
ALICE
ALICE is a United Way acronym that stands for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed.
ALICE is your child care worker, your parent on Social Security, the cashier at your supermarket, the gas attendant, the salesperson at your big box store, your waitress, a home health aide, an office clerk.
ALICE cannot always pay the bills, has little or nothing in savings, and is forced to make tough choices such as deciding between quality child care or paying the rent. One unexpected car repair or medical bill can push these financially strapped families over the edge.
CRA
Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 (CRA) provides a framework for financial institutions, state and local governments, and community organizations to promote banking services to all members of a community jointly. In a nutshell, the CRA:
Prohibits redlining (denying or increasing the cost of banking to residents of racially defined neighborhoods), and
Encourages efforts to meet the credit needs of all community members, including residents of low- and moderate-income neighborhoods.
SBA
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) was created in 1953 as an independent agency of the federal government to aid, counsel, assist and protect the interests of small business concerns, to preserve free competitive enterprise and to maintain and strengthen the overall economy of our nation.
HUD
HUD’s mission is to create healthy, sustainable, inclusive communities and quality affordable homes for all.
H.U.D. is working to strengthen the housing market to bolster the economy and protect consumers; meet the need for quality, affordable rental homes; utilize housing as a platform for improving quality of life; build inclusive and sustainable communities free from discrimination, and transform the way H.U.D. does business.