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Recently, United Way was approached by DonorsChoose.org with an exciting opportunity that we would like to share with you – and make $7,500 available to worthy education projects in our community.
DonorsChoose.org is an online charity that makes it easy for people to help meet classroom needs and/or support classroom projects all across the country. And, thanks to a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, DonorsChoose.org is partnering with local businesses and civic organizations to fund classroom projects in Hillsborough County.
Our United Way has agreed to help distribute these electronic gift cards to the public. The eCards are absolutely free to you. The only restrictions are that they need to be redeemed online before April 11, 2011, and that they have to be used to support classroom projects from Hillsborough County Schools as per the Gates Foundation, who provided the grant for the program. The first 300 people signing up will receive a $25 eCard to use for educational programs at local classrooms. You get to choose the school and program.
To get one of the eCards (sent to you via email) all you need to sign up with our Raise Your Hand for Education initiative. This campaign is uniting people from all walks of life to show their support of Tampa Bay kids learning and earning their high school diplomas. United Way believes education is the best path out of poverty and recognizes that everyone in the community should have the opportunity to get more kids through school and to high school graduation.
To sign up go to www.UnitedWayTampaBay.org/pledge It takes about three minutes to sign up and pledge your support for education. By signing up, you will receive periodic information and recommendations on how you can tutor, mentor and volunteer to help students throughout Tampa Bay. As well, you could even win an iPad for signing up!
After enrolling, you will receive a confirmation and within a few days, you’ll receive an email with the DonorsChoose.org eCard.
To use the gift eCard:
1) Visit: www.donorschoose.org/hillsborough2011.
2) Enter the code you receive in your email.
3) Choose a classroom project to support.
Remember, be sure to spend your gift card before it expires on April 11, 2011.
On behalf of United Way of Tampa Bay, DonorsChoose.org and the Gates Foundation, we are thanking all who participate!
The Florida Legislature’s Special Session concluded on the evening of June 14th. The result for the average Florida homeowner is a $1,300 annual property tax reduction by the fall of 2008. There are still hurdles to overcome, but if all goes as “planned,” this reform will put significant dollars back into the pocketbooks of citizens. As if often the case, however, in tax reform what individuals may be gaining could result in losses for communities in other areas.
Two measures were passed. The first measure involves statutory reform to how much property tax revenue local governments can collect this coming fiscal year and in future years. Property tax rates are now frozen at last fiscal year levels, and the legislature is calling for a roll back over time to the frozen rate by a specific percentage for groups of counties and cities. The actual impact will vary from county to county (or city to city). The variance is dependent upon how much a particular county or city increased property tax rates over the past five years (and how this increase positioned them in comparison to the state average for tax rates). In short , counties and cities are being asked to roll back their rates from the FY 2006-2007 levels, by 3%, 5%, 7%, or 9%.
Finally, the statute places a cap on how much local governments can raise property tax rates in future years. Read the rest of this entry »
