SULPHUR SPRINGS RESOURCE CENTER GRAND OPENING

Through many months of hard work and marriage of community and agency, the Sulphur Springs Resource Center became a reality on Saturday, March 28 when the grand opening was celebrated.

“The center will provide training and services that the community identified that it needed, said Emery Ivery, vice-president of United Way’s Community and Partnership Development. “Teamwork is what makes this so special.”

Services and programs that will be provided include: financial literacy, financial assistance, employment training, legal assistance, and GED training.

The center will be open Monday through Friday and occasional Saturdays starting April 13. It will be staffed by United Way partner agencies: Tampa Metropolitan Area YMCA, Crisis Center of Tampa Bay, and Bay Area Legal Services. The Tampa Bay Workplace Alliance and Hillsborough Schools will also provide training.

“A lot of partners and committed individuals worked together – a neighborhood alliance, agency partners, schools – to support Sulphur Springs and the vision to make it a better place. It took awhile, but there’s been steady progress along the way,” said Paula Kay, United Way Community Partnership and Development Manager.   United Way partners include: Cy and Joanne Spurlino, J.P.Morgan Chase, Hillsborough County Schools, Time Customer Service and Allegany Franciscan Ministries, Inc. IBM provided in-kind donations of computers while Refurbished Office Furniture provided office furniture for the center.

As the efforts move forward, United Way will gather data from the center’s programs, continue to convene community partners, advance further training opportunities, and secure resources for the center to prosper.

“This is a cause for celebration. People came together with this shared vision to make it happen: to support families,” Ivery said.  More than 75 people attended the grand opening from throughout the region, but especially from throughout Sulphur Springs.

For more information about the Sulphur Springs Resource Center, contact Paula Kay, Community Partnership and Development Manager, at 813.274.0936.

Featured Partner: Bay Area Legal Services

Bay Area Legal Services assists and supports individuals with limited access to legal services with a focus on elderly and low-income residents in Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties

The staff at Bay Area Legal Services provides free counseling and representation to eligible clients for civil legal problems including but not limited to the following areas: family law, including divorce, custody and domestic violence; senior advocacy; fair housing; consumer law; and individual rights.

United Way supports Bay Area Legal Services’ family Law preservation and senior home ownership program.

For more information: http://www.bals.org/
Telephone: 813-232-1343

Check Out Free Income Tax Preparation

[posted from myfamilysfuture.org]

Throughout Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties, there are many free income tax preparation sites that not only can help you file your income tax at no cost, but help you access EITC and Child Tax Credit refunds, if you qualify. Please read below to find out more.

About EITC
Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is a refundable federal income tax credit for low-and moderate-income working individuals and families. Congress, with strong bipartisan support, originally approved the tax credit legislation in 1975. When EITC exceeds the amount of taxes owed, it results in a tax refund to those who claim and qualify for the credit.

To qualify, taxpayers must meet certain requirements and file a tax return, even if they did not earn enough money to be obligated to file a tax return. EITC has no effect on certain welfare benefits. In most cases, EITC payments will not be used to determine eligibility for Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), food stamps, low-income housing or most Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) payments.

To find a free income tax preparation site near you:
Download sites in Pinellas County
Download  sites in Hillsborough County

For more information check out United Way’s financial asset building portal at http://www.myfamilysfuture.org

More About Imagination Library

by Debra Faulk

Amidst a fanfare of front page news and features on-line and on television and radio, Imagination Library of Hillsborough County made its debut on February 26, 2008.

Imagination Library is not an actual building, but a program founded more than 10 years ago by Country-singer Dolly Parton as a gift of encouragement to children in her hometown of Sevier County, Tennessee.

Today, there are almost 800 Imagination Library programs in three countries; with Hillsborough County’s program having the potential to be the largest in the world. 

Imagination Library gives eligible babies and toddlers a new, age-appropriate book each month, free. Eligible children are all children living in Hillsborough County born on or after September 1, 2006, regardless of income. Upon registration, hardback books are mailed to the child’s home. Research tells us that children get ready to read years before they start school. This “getting ready” — or “early literacy” — is what children know about reading before they can actually do it by themselves.

Why bother reading to your baby? Clearly, he or she can’t understand what you are doing or why. But do you wait until your child can understand what you’re saying before you start to speak? Do you bypass lullabies until your baby can carry a tune? Or wait until your child can shake a rattle before offering toys? No, no, and no. So why wait to read 

Reading aloud to your baby is an important form of stimulation. It teaches them about communication; introduces concepts such as numbers, letters, colors, and shapes; builds listening, memory, and vocabulary skills; and gives babies information about the world around them.

Best of all, it is a wonderful shared activity that continues for years to come. Like all members of Hillsborough County’s Imagination Library partnership, the United Way of Tampa Bay is committed to help improve early learning opportunities for all children by providing easily accessible, age appropriate books in the home.

To learn more, register, or make a donation,   visit www.unitedwaytampabay.com/imaginationlibrary. 

Breaking News: The Imagination Library

Program gives free books to all Hillsborough kids (St. Petersburg Times)

Free Books Exercise Imagination (TBO.com)

Fox News Video about Imagination Library

United Way and the Imagination Library Hillsborough County Partnership launched an early literacy initiative to put books in the hands of young children, helping prepare them for kindergarten.Hillsborough County’s kindergarten class of 2011 – infants born on or after September 1, 2006 are eligible to participate in the program.

 

Parents can call 813-272-5017 to register their child.

For more information go to http://www.unitedwaytampabay.com/imaginationlibrary

United Way Launches New Website

My Family’s Future (www.myfamilysfuture.org) was launched in early October to help Tampa Bay families build stronger financial futures. The site contains a wide range of information about banking accounts, home buying, loans, credit, as well as a searchable listing of organizations that can help families through workshops, courses, and financial services, and financial counselling. The web site is free to use and organizations listed on the web site must meet certain criteria to ensure that they are recognized service providers with a track record.

Service providers of financial education, counselling, and other services are invited to get a free listing on the web site. Please take a look at the criteria and if there is a match, please register. Click HERE. Financial institutions (banks and credit unions) are encouraged to sign up as well).

My Family’s Future is supported through a lead sponsorship from SunTrust.