Seven years and counting of making a real economic impact for persons with disabilities!

By Michael R. Roush, MA, National Program Director, NDI's Real Economic Impact Tour

2011 marks the seventh year of the Real Economic Impact Tour (REI Tour), National Disability Institute’s signature project that is working to build a better economic future for persons with disabilities. The primary mission of the REI Tour has been to increase outreach on the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) and the Earned Income Tax Credit to the disability community.  In 2010, the Real Economic Impact Tour began to look at the growing needs of tax coalitions across the country and began to implement new strategies based on the needs of our partners. As the team looks at these strategies of service, the REI Tour is working with partners to Be Bold, Embrace Difference and Change Lives in this new approach. By embracing this new methodology, the REI Tour has brought on additional staff to provide more technical assistance to tax coalitions, is enhancing existing strategies, strengthening partnerships and creating new opportunities for our partners. 

Be Bold…

The REI Tour has grown from 11 to 100 cities across the United States including over 700 partners from federal, state and local agencies that are working towards the same mission.  This growing network has created a new dialogue on the resources needed to serve persons with disabilities. Cities have asked for additional training on public benefit programs, how to deliver financial education to persons with disabilities and asset building strategies for persons with disabilities. This dialogue has the REI Tour partners engaging in other programs that NDI has been offering to the community.  Last year, we began providing benefits training to eight cities and coordinated and planned seven asset development summits that lead to the creation of action plans for those cities to compliment the work that they were already doing. 

In 2011, the REI Tour will host with local partners, 15 REI Tour workgroup meetings that will introduce local disability organizations to the tax coalition work, eight asset summits that will create a new conversation between the asset building and disability community on how the two communities can work together, 13 benefits trainings that will  help dispel the myths that persons with disabilities have about claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit and the impact on public benefit programs and  two Building Economic Strength Together (B.E.S.T.) train the trainer sessions that will  present disability providers with the tools they need to deliver financial education and asset building opportunities into their existing services.

By making available these additional services, the REI Tour team realized that we could not go deeper with the current structure so in 2011 we have added two staff members to assist with providing technical assistance to our partners and the implementation of the new activities.  The additional staff will allow the REI Tour team to offer more in-depth technical assistance to our partners. 

REI Tour partners across the country were bold by doubling the number of returns prepared for persons with disabilities in one year.  In 2010, volunteers prepared over 300,000 returns for persons with disabilities doubling the number prepared in the previous five years combined. Twelve coalitions were bold by offering a new delivery of services model to Deaf taxpayers through the DeafTax VITA project.  The DeafTax was undertaken in order to ensure those taxpayers are receiving all the tax credits and benefits to which they are entitled by using new technology that allowed Deaf taxpayers the opportunity to have their taxes prepared by a Deaf  VITA certified preparer using American Sign Language remotely.

Embrace Difference…

Tax coalitions are embracing difference by learning new opportunities to deliver service to persons with disabilities by eliminating access and accommodation barriers.  Six tax coalitions in the Southeast portion of the United States are participating in a pilot project called the TaxAccess Project.  TaxAccess Project, a pilot project designed to provide VITA volunteer  resources to better serve persons with disabilities who use their services. This pilot project is a collaborative partnership with the DBTAC:  Southeast ADA Center (Southeast Disability and Business Technical Assistance Center (DBTAC)) that is the regional resource center on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).  The Southeast DBTAC, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute at Syracuse University, is one of ten regional resource centers funded by the National Institute on Disability (NDI) and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) of the U.S. Department of Education. Our purpose is to provide accurate ADA information, informal technical assistance and training on the ADA to business, government and persons with disabilities. This pilot project is creating a one stop shop for resources that tax coalitions can access for more information on how to make their VITA sites more accessible.  The TaxAccess pilot project is embracing differences and creating a safe zone for individuals to ask those questions that they might be afraid to ask otherwise.

Change Lives…

REI Tour staff and partners are changing lives as they work to build a better economic future for persons with disabilities.  In 2010, NDI hosted the first nationwide American Dream Video Contest.  This contest gave persons with disabilities the opportunity to share their personal stories on how they are working to achieve their American Dream.  The winner of the 2010 American Dream Video Contest was Kenzi Robi from San Francisco, California (video from Kenzi Robi http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-dkWJZpV6A).   Kenzi’s story on how he is working to sell his artwork is truly inspiring.  Kenzi traveled outside of San Francisco for the first time in his life when he was given a trip to Washington, DC to accept the award and for his video to be played at the National Press Club in October 2010.  Since winning the video contest, Kenzi has been working to start his business.  In addition to Kenzi, Yvonne Coodwin, a guest blogger from Mobile, Alabama shared her story of using VITA for the first time and the extra money she saved. These are just two examples of the many individuals whose lives have been changed because of the work of our Real Economic Impact Tour partners. 

Be Bold, Embrace Difference and Change Lives by joining the Real Economic Impact Tour network that is working to build a better economic future for persons with disabilities. 

Join us at: www.reitour.org

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