Tuesday November 16, 6 – 8 PM
LaSalle Branch Library, 3232 Ardmore Trail, SB
We'll combine business and pleasure at our 2010 Annual Meeting, including
– The election of new members to the CFED Board of Directors,
– The most recent information on CFED projects,
– A celebration of the successful community effort to save the LaSalle Branch Library, at least for awhile,
– A chance to socialize with many of the wonderful people who work to make our community a better place to live.
Although everyone is welcome to attend and participate, only current members will vote for our new Board of Directors. If you have not yet renewed your membership or if you wish to become a member, you can do so at the beginning of the meeting.
Please bring some refreshments to share — sandwiches, snacks, desserts, anything that fingers can manage. Beverages will be provided.
See you next Tuesday!
(Note: This meeting will begin an hour earlier than our previous meeting time.)
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A message from CFED member Troy Warner:
Members of the Electrical Workers Local 153 have been protesting on Angela Blvd for 8 weeks in front of the new Kilwin’s Chocolate and Ice Cream shop at Eddy Street Commons. The signs read “Local Jobs for Local Workers.”
The protest was organized following Kilwin’s use of contractors from the Indianapolis area to finish their retail space at Eddy Street. This follows the use of another Indianapolis contractor which performed all the electrical for the upper level condominiums of The Loft at Eddy Street. That contractor, Godby Mechanical and Electrical, brought workers from Indianapolis for a period of 10 months. Their workforce, over 20 for a large part of the time, shared a rental house in town.
Following the lack of response from Kite Realty and the City of South Bend over concern of out of town contractors and workers being used on a development in which one million local TIF dollars were invested, the Electrical Workers decided that the public needed to be aware of these situations and pressure needed to be applied to the businesses, developers, and city officials who were involved in this practice.
They strongly believe that the benefit to the community by using workers from the community that pay local taxes, spend at local stores, attend local churches and schools, and are local voters is too great to ignore.
Troy will be at the membership meeting next Tuesday; you'll have a chance to talk with him about how you could support this effort.
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A message from CFED members Teresa Marcy, John Hagen, Linda Wolfson, and others:
Plans are well underway for this year's VITA program. VITA stands for Volunteer Income Tax Assistance, a program of the Internal Revenue Service that provides free electronic income tax preparation for low to moderate income taxpayers. The United Way of St. Joseph County is the lead agency for the Tri-County Tax Team, a coalition of community organizations that includes the Community Forum for Economic Development.
Last year volunteers completed over 1400 returns, bringing to our community over $2.45 million in Federal Refunds, 32% of which were Earned Income Tax Credit dollars (approximately $883,333). We also estimate that we saved over $478,000 in preparation and Rapid Anticipation Loan (RAL) fees.
This year's locations for tax preparation include IUSB and Ivy Tech on Saturdays as well as a variety of locations during the week. Although some of these locations are still being confirmed, they include Goodwill Industries and the LaSalle Branch Library on the West Side of the County, the Battell Center and the United Way Office on the east side, St. Margaret's House and Stone Soup in Downtown South Bend, and Saturday sessions in Plymouth and at John Glenn High School.
Training sessions for tax preparers are held on Fridays, from 5:30 to 7:30 at the United Way office and on Saturday mornings from 10 to Noon in a computer lab at IUSB. Call Laura Stringfellow, at the United Way, for more information. PH: (574) 232-8201 ext 248
Teresa, John and Linda will be at the membership meeting next Tuesday; you'll have a chance to talk with them about how you can support this effort.
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Also at Tuesdays meeting you can discuss
– the SB Tax Abatement Ordinance revision,
– the next steps to save the LaSalle Branch Library,
– efforts to increase the use of minority contractors,
– community efforts to improve educational opportunities for all of our children, etc. etc. etc.
Or you can just share food, have fun, make new friends, and celebrate the past year.
We will not have a holiday party in December since our regular meeting date would be December 21 and too close to Christmas.