Section I: Organization Information

Name/Title of Contact:  Megan Kiesel, Director of Impact and Outreach

Address:  1207 Chestnut Street, 5th Floor, Philadelphia,  PA 19107
     
Phone Number: (215) 851-1756

Email Address:  mkiesel@gpuac.org
     
Web Address:  www.phillyfreetaxes.org

Total Number of Staff Members: 6
     
Total Agency Budget:   Campaign: $ 924,877    GPUAC:  $ 32.8 million

Agency Mission:
The Campaign for Working Families seeks practical ways of improving the economic status of the working poor in Philadelphia, so that hard working families have the opportunity to increase their income, wisely manage their limited finances, protect themselves from dubious and expensive tax preparation and financial services and begin to gather assets.

Fellow’s Job Title:  Coordinator of Program Impact


Section II: The Nitty Gritty

1. Will fellow be working at the same address listed above? If not, please list the address for the fellow’s worksite.

Same as above.

2.  Will the fellow have:   

A. ___Own Office?              __x__Shared Office?            ____No Office?  

B. _x__Own Desk?               ____Shared Desk?              ____No Desk?

C. __x_Own Computer?       ____Shared Computer?      ____No Computer?

3. Please state name and title of fellow’s immediate supervisor.
Megan Kiesel, Director of Impact and Outreach

4. Please approximate the percentage of time fellow will work:

60  Independently      30  As a team member in a group setting   

10  As a team leader in a group setting

5. Will fellow be expected to travel as part of his/her position?

Yes.
If so, will travel be: __x__Within Philadelphia?  ____Outside Philadelphia?

How often will they need to travel?

Our travel depends on the time of year.  During tax season, the fellow will probably travel several times a week.  Outside of tax season, travel is less common.
Will fellow need: ____a car?   __X__a transpass?  __x__occasional tokens?   (Campaign
will provide)


Will the agency provide or reimburse for these expenses?  

Yes.  In addition to the transpass and tokens we will provide, the agency pays for staff to use PhillyCarShare for meetings and site visits.  For this reason, fellows should have a clean driving record for at least the past two years.  


Section III:  Community Need
Please submit a one paragraph response for each question.

1. Please state in measurable and quantifiable terms the specific community need that the Philly Fellow will address, including the number of people in the community directly affected by the problem.

     For low-wage workers, every day is a financial battle in which they must make and protect as much money as they can for the livelihood of their families, rarely leaving the opportunity to save money or plan for future financial stability.  This constant strife hinders working families on the road to the middle class; a road that often requires the accumulation of assets such as the accrual of savings and purchase of a home.  It is difficult to say exactly how many families are facing these daunting challenges in Philadelphia, but it is clear that the problem is pervasive.  According to the 2006 American Community Survey conducted by the United States Census Bureau, fully 25% of Philadelphians are living below the federal poverty level.  As dire as this statistic may sound, there is evidence that it grossly underestimates the depth and breadth of the problem.  Utilizing real costs for basic necessities including housing, food and child care, the nonprofit agency PathwaysPA sought to determine the annual income at which a
family can meet its essential needs.  Using this measure, called the self-sufficiency standard, a single working parent with two children in Philadelphia would need to make $42,000 per year to meet the family’s most basic needs.  This income is far higher than the Pennsylvania minimum wage, which annualizes to less than $15,000 for a full-time worker or the median annual household income in Philadelphia, which was $33,229 in 2006.   Finding the additional resources necessary to build assets when living with constant financial shortfalls is a challenge.  

2. Describe how your agency addresses this need, and how the new capacity created by this fellow will help alleviate the problem.

     The Campaign for Working Families views federal and state tax credits as economic development tools that can bolster families’ incomes and revitalize communities.  As such, we provide free tax sites in neighborhoods throughout the city to ensure low wage families take advantage of all the credits to which they are entitled while avoiding predatory tax preparation services.  Traditionally, tax payers could only receive their funds by direct deposit to one account or by check, offering no opportunity to allocate a portion for savings and a portion for current expenses.  However, beginning with the 2007 tax season, the IRS created a form whereby citizens could “split” their refunds between several accounts.  This change has created a perfect opportunity for the Campaign to help families leverage tax returns into assets.  To take advantage of this situation, the campaign implemented a “cash coach” program which provides paid staff at several tax sites to meet with clients and promote savings by offering affordable banking products.   Unfortunately, like our cohorts around the nation, we found little success in helping individuals save.  This year, with the help of a new staff person, we are trying to adjust the program and training in the hopes having better outcomes.  A fellow next year will help our staff person evaluate the program, organize data and make adjustments so that it will improve the savings rate among our customers.

3. Describe the level of community involvement in the fellow’s project.

This fellow will be involved in the implementation of a program that employs neighborhood residents in community-based tax sites.  In this capacity, they will recruit in community- based settings and spend time regularly at the tax sites to oversee the program implementation.  


Section IV:  Job Description

1.        Please outline in list form the fellow’s duties and responsibilities.
Cooperate with the Director of Impact and Outreach to:
•        Evaluate the previous year’s cash coach program
•        Gather information about asset development at EITC programs around the country
•        Create programmatic changes to improve outcomes for the 2009 tax season
•        Develop and implement a quantitative measure of the cash coach program’s
effectiveness
•        Recruit and interview cash coaches
•        Design curriculum and provide training to cash coaches that will help them
successfully build assets among clients
•        Collect and evaluate data about the cash coach program on an ongoing basis
•        Facilitate ongoing sessions whereby cash coaches exchange experiences and techniques
•        Consolidate and organize data at the end of tax season
•        Evaluate the program and make suggestions for the following year

2. Please outline in list form the skills/qualifications a fellow should have to succeed in this position.
•        Excellent communication skills, including succinct writing style and experience public speaking (or willingness to hone public speaking skills)
•        High energy, ability to instill passion in others
•        Understanding of poverty-reduction strategies; interest in asset development
•        Self-directed and flexible personality able to adjust to multiple demands; a good sense of humor really helps
•        Effective problem-solving skills
•        Good people skills, including sensitivity to and comfort with diversity
•        Strong commitment to our mission and program
•        Experience with program evaluation and/or research methodology a plus

3. Please outline your agency’s plan to orient and train the fellow.
The agency will orient and train the fellow in two ways.  First, the fellow will be provided with research and literature around the issues of asset development, the context in which working poor individuals function, the background of EITC campaigns and the success of asset building within ETIC campaigns.  Second, meetings will be set up for the fellow with key staff members and representatives at partner agencies to discuss the Campaign generally and our asset-building efforts specifically.  The fellow will be involved in all appropriate planning and partner meetings and will work closely with the Director of Impact and Outreach in order to become oriented to the program.


Section V:  Supervision/Resources

1. Please briefly describe plans for supervision of fellow.
The fellow will be supervised primarily by the Director of Impact and Outreach.  Working closely with the fellow, the Director will ensure that work completed in support of the cash coach program is appropriate to meet the fellow’s learning and skill-building needs.  The Director and fellow will meet regularly to evaluate progress and program implementation.   They will also agree upon the frequency of these sessions on an ongoing basis; we imagine supervision will take place on a weekly or bi-weekly basis depending upon the workload.  In general, the Director intends to work closely with him/her and will be readily available to support the fellow whenever needed.

2. What methods, information, or data will you use to evaluate the fellow’s success in their position?

The fellow will be evaluated qualitatively based on the prompt completion of assignments, ability to engage cash coaches, energy and determination in facing challenging projects and overall competency  All staff at the Campaign for Working Families are provided on- going feed back on the quality of their work by their supervisors.  This feed back is designed to engage staff in self-assessment, as well as evaluation from their supervisor.   Staff are evaluated on the basis of the deliverables listed in their job description, as well as qualitative appraisals of the quality of their work.


Section VI: Project Plan

Please outline goals and results you expect the fellow to achieve and the measures you will use to evaluate performance. These goals must address the community need stated above.

1. Please describe the proposed project goal you expect the fellow to achieve.
We expect the fellow to serve as a productive, energetic and effective team member in strategizing about, implementing and evaluating the cash coach program in the 2009 tax season.

2. Please list significant milestones for this project and dates by which they will be accomplished:

Evaluate data and feedback from 2008 tax season:                August 31
Create list of changes to be implemented for 2009 season:        September 30
Recruit and Hire Cash Coaches:                                        November 30
Create Curriculum and Train:                                        January 10
Conduct periodic feedback and info sharing sessions:                ongoing
Collect data to measure impact:                                        ongoing
Tax season ends:                                                        April 15
Evaluation of data and plan for following season:                        July 30