# Presentation: 880204

## Seedco

*Innovations in Community Development*

***Earn*****Benefits:  Linking IDAs to a comprehensive benefits strategy**
***AFI Conference Call***
***June 14 & 15, 2005***

## Background

- Founded in 1986, Seedco, a national community development
- intermediary, creates opportunities for low-wage workers and
- their families by engaging with community partners and anchor
- institutions to develop, operate and learn from model programs that:
- help people join the workforce and achieve economic self-sufficiency
- assist small businesses
- promote asset building for residents and businesses in economically distressed communities.

## Seedco’s AFI IDA Program

- Originally launched in 2000 through our Non-Profit Assistance Corporation (N-PAC)
- Seedco/N-PAC is the central administrator (e.g. partnership w/ Citibank, policies and procedures, matching, reporting)
- CBO partners (members of our *EarnFair* Alliance) provide outreach, screen potential clients for eligibility, and conduct follow up
- 330 accounts opened to date
- Primary savings goal is educational expenses

## Program Challenges

**Outreach is difficult:**
- Lack of knowledge about IDA and other benefits
- Perceived as difficult to access
- Negative experiences with government benefits
- Savings goals are limited
**Back-end administration is resource intensive:**
- Difficult to balance need for upfront outreach with complex “back-end” administrative requirements
- Need for intensive follow up

## EarnBenefitssm Services

**CBOs**

**Businesses**

**One Stops**

**Community Colleges**

## EarnBenefits

**Examples of benefits and work supports included:**
**Financial services** – IDA, low-interest loan program, free checking and savings accounts, financial education
**Tax credits** – EITC, child and dependent care credit
**Childcare** – transitional childcare, childcare vouchers for working families
**Money Savers** – Food Stamps, WIC, Home Energy Assistance, School Lunch Program
**Healthcare** – Medicaid, Child Health Plus, Family Health Plus

**Notes:**
Some of these Programs are directly operated by Seedco, or Seedco facilitates enrollment to the program.  In other cases, Seedco or our community partners make referrals to the gov’t agency that administers the program, particularly when a face-to-face interview is required (e.g. Food Stamps, Home Energy Assistance)

## Part I: Marketing and Outreach

**Objective :** Educate low-wage families about benefits that promote job retention and self-sufficiency
**	****www.earnbenefits.org –**  provides comprehensive, user-	friendly information on eligibility guidelines and application 	processes
**	****marketing campaign** – provides low-wage workers with 	the information they need to make choices that improve 	their bottom line.

## Part II:  Eligibility Screening & Facilitated Access

**Objective:**  To centralize and streamline access to multiple benefits
- Use technology to screen for multiple benefits and store personal profile
- Work with government agencies to facilitate access to benefits (e.g. online completion of applications, e-filing, data sharing)
- Innovate new benefits to meet needs of low-wage working families

## Part III: Benefits Management

**Objective:** To engage low-wage families over time and ensure that benefit access leads to continuous employment and economic well being:

- Follow-up and ongoing screening for benefits to meet changing needs
- Trouble shoot application problems
- Assistance with re-certification
- Facilitate career and training opportunities
- Track outcomes

## EarnBenefits NYCAccomplishments to Date

**January 2004 through May 2005:**
- Screened 2,805 people
- 697 have received benefits totaling approximately $1.69M
- Average benefit amount of $2,425
**May 2005 highlights:**
- 1625 people received facilitated access

## EarnBenefits and IDA integration

- By integrating our IDA program into *Earn*Benefits, we have been able to:
- _Engage workers who aren’t eligible for other gov’t benefits_ but need help working toward self-sufficiency (e.g. working people whose income is slightly above eligibility limit, single men)
- _Broaden our marketing and outreach_, which has resulted in significant increase in IDA accounts opened (76 accounts opened – 25% of total – in last six months alone)
- _Improve the efficiency_ of our eligibility determination and application process
- _Streamline post-purchase follow up_

## For More Information

**Contact:**
- Rebecca Ross, Program Manager
- 	(646) 843-6514, reross@seedco.org
**Check out our websites:**
- www.seedco.org
- www.earnbenefits.org