Helping Families Protect, Save and Grow Their Assets

Too many families in the Making Connections’ neighborhoods live one missed paycheck or a medical emergency away from being able to provide for their children and loved ones. Working through a citywide collaboration, Making Connections is building upon existing relationships with the city, local funders, community organizations, and others to help families protect, save and grow their financial assets. Following is a description of two areas where Making Connections provides significant support.

Hartford Asset Building Collaborative (HABC)
HABC leads the Hartford Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) Campaign and works with member organizations to start low-income families on a pathway to increasing their assets. The Hartford EITC Campaign is a broad-based, citywide campaign with partners from virtually every sector of the city. Mayor Eddie A. Perez has become an increasingly active champion of the campaign, and a number of neighborhood-based nonprofit organizations now host free tax preparation centers.

The Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, United Way of the Capital Area, and the Connecticut Association for Human Services also provide support. These partnerships have resulted in a significant increase in EITC refunds during the past several years. In 2006, Hartford had the highest percentage increase in taxpayers getting the EITC among all of the nation’s 122 large cities. The amount of tax preparation fees that residents saved in the 2006 tax season using the free tax centers reached roughly $364,000, an increase of $90,000 from 2005 and $250,000 from 2004. In addition, the campaign is generating substantial impact on the Making Connections ‘neighborhoods.

- A continuously growing number of neighborhood residents attend financial workshops to learn more about credit repair, IDAs (matched savings accounts), and budgeting.

- Approximately 150 resident volunteers were trained in 2007 to become certified tax preparers and to staff HABC’s free tax preparation centers.

- HABC works with the Hartford Federal Credit Union to create savings incentives for residents who claim the EITC.

Hartford Neighborhood Development Support Collaborative
Making Connections in Hartford supports this Collaborative which has provided nearly $6 million to Hartford community development corporations during the past decade, and has helped create more than 1,000 units of affordable housing within the city, with 500 more being built now. The Collaborative has created 34 new two-family homes in the Making Connections neighborhoods in 2005 and refurbished 74 rental-housing units.

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