2011 Defiance College Ohio Benefit Bank Ohio Campus Compact AmeriCorps VISTA Impact Report

Engaging campuses in service to the community. Ohio Campus Compact VISTA Impact Report 2010-2011: Defiance College The Ohio Campus Compact AmeriCorps*VISTA program strategically connects college resources with communities in need. Corps members gain valuable experience and educational awards. Campuses expand their civic outreach. And community partners receive critical support. HISTORY & BACKGROUND Poverty Alleviation Focus Area: Ohio Benefit BankFor the last two years, the Defiance College OCC VISTA Corps member: Nicholas WeberVISTA has worked closely with community partners (419) 783-2558 • nweber@defiance.eduto find a way to address the issue of high Site Supervisor: Mary Ann Studerunemployment and underemployment in the Defiance (419) 783-2555 mstuder@defiance.educommunity. Our closest ally has been the Northwest Ohio Campus Compact VISTA Sr. Program Director:Ohio Community Action Commission (NOCAC) Lesha Farias (740) 587-8571 • lfarias@ohiocampuscompact.orgone of the primary providers of social services to low www.ohiocampuscompact.orgincome families and the unemployed. Together, Defiance College and NOCAC have worked to helpthose suffering from financial insecurity using theOhio Benefit Bank program.The OBB focuses on providing free tax filingassistance and simplifies the process of applying forfederal assistance programs (such as Food Stamps,WIC, HEAP, free and reduced school lunch program,etc.) to low income families. While we cannot restore the jobs lost in the community, our focus hasbeen to use these services to keep money incommunity member’s pockets, helping to ease themout of the tyranny of the moment, allowing them toprovide for their families while easing their transitionbetween jobs. OMMUNITY IMPACTCIn 2009, there was only a very slight OBB presence in the six county area, limited to five small scale OBB sites, mostly churches offering the service to their Defiance College and the Northwest Ohio Communityown parishioners, closed to the larger community. Action Commission have joined together to bring theMaking matters worse, in 2010 both the Volunteer services of the Ohio Benefit Bank program to theConnection and AARP’s tax assistance program were Defiance County area and beyond. Providing one-on-onedisbanded, further reducing the number of assistance, counselors working with this programorganizations that offered much needed services to prepare tax returns free of charge and simplify thethe Defiance community. In the two years DC and process of applying for various public assistanceNOCAC have worked together, our OBB program programs (such as WIC, SNAP, Free or Reduced Schoolhas flourished and emerged as the leading provider of Lunch Program, etc.), helping to provide relief to low-OBB services, not just in Defiance, but throughout middle income families. These programs are designed tothe entire county while also expanding into keep money in the pockets of community members inneighboring Paulding and Williams counties. the times they need it most.

The VISTA Impact This incredible and rapid program growth is due to Defiance-area Ohio Benefit Bank the resource sharing 2011Program Stats between the college and NOCAC. While both Families Helped: 711 organizations shared responsibility in shaping Senior Citizens Helped: 255 the program, NOCAC utilized its connections to Low Income Families Served: 352 local nonprofits to (Below Poverty Level) advertise this new service and provided a hotline for community members to Money saved on preparation $106,650 call for scheduling fees: Counties our OBB program serves appointments. Federal Refunds: $1,005,266The college provided facilities to host the clinics and studentvolunteers to run them, drawing heavily from the Business,Accounting, Social Work and Service Leadership programs. As a State Refunds: $73,679result of these efforts, throughout 2010 our OBB services were ableto help over 550 local families. Total resources returned to the community: $1,185,595This program continued to grow in its 2nd year of operation, duringthe 2011 tax season. We saw a significant increase in the volume of new and returning clients while using significantly less advertising forthe program. Surprisingly, when we asked clients how they heardabout this service, word of mouth was the most prevalent response.In total, throughout the 2011 tax season we managed to serve 711families, and return a total of over $1,000,000 to the Defiancecommunity through refunds, savings on preparation fees and helping About Ohio Campus Compactthem apply for various tax credits and refunds they did not know AmeriCorps*VISTAthey were eligible for. It is important to note that the vast majority Ohio Campus Compact is a statewide nonprofitof the clients we served indicated that they would not have been coalition of colleges and university presidents andable to file their taxes that year if our service had not been available, their campuses working to promote the civicdue to either not knowing how to file their own returns, or because purposes of higher education. Ohio Campusthey could not afford the filing fees of a professional service. Compact provides resources, services & partnerships to help Ohio campuses deepen theirKEEPING OUR PROGRAM STRONG ability to educate students for civic and socialWith our two organizations working together, we were able to responsibility and to improve community life.serve the community together in a way that neither could have donealone. The fact that not a single one of our 480 appointment slots AmeriCorps*VISTA is the national service program designed specifically to fight poverty. Founded aswent unused throughout the entirety of the program’s 2011 season Volunteers in Service to America in 1965 andspeaks to just how much the community needs this service. In order incorporated into the AmeriCorps network ofto ensure long term sustainability of the campus based OBB programs in 1993, VISTA has been on the fronthowever, we must continue to build the student capacity to run this lines in the fight against poverty in America forprogram. This can be done by making the OBB a program formally more than 40 years.supported by the Service Learning department and furtherintegrating work with the OBB into the course syllabus of the The Ohio Campus Compact AmeriCorps*Accounting and Social Work departments. This will ensure that VISTA Program places and supports VISTAs whofuture students will be able to take ownership of the program, with create and expand programs designed to bringmore experienced students teaching the newer students each year, individuals and communities out of poverty. VISTAsallowing the program to transition without losing irreplaceable serve in the poorest areas of their communities topersonnel. tackle poverty-related problems such as hunger and homelessness, financial literacy, veteran student services, public health and college access. More information at: www.ohiocampuscompact.org

2011 Defiance College Ohio Benefit Bank Ohio Campus Compact AmeriCorps VISTA Impact Report

by Ohio Campus Compact on Jan 31, 2012

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2011 Defiance College Ohio Benefit Bank Ohio Campus Compact AmeriCorps VISTA Impact Report Document Transcript