NYC DCA

Mayor Bloomberg Kicks Off the City’s Annual Tax Campaign

katyusca Press Releases , ,

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 31, 2013
No. 45
www.nyc.gov

MAYOR BLOOMBERG, CONSUMER AFFAIRS COMMISSIONER MINTZ AND CENTER FOR ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR MORSE KICK OFF CITY’S ANNUAL TAX CAMPAIGN

H&R Block Partners to Waive Fee for Casualty Loss Tax Form for New Yorkers in Sandy-Affected Zip Codes

City Offers Free or Low Cost Tax Preparation for Low Income New Yorkers and Urges Them to File for Important Credits including the Earned Income Tax Credit

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) Commissioner Jonathan Mintz, and Center for Economic Opportunity (CEO) Executive Director Kristin Morse today launched New York City’s 11th Annual Tax Credit Campaign.  Tax season has begun and the IRS has now begun accepting 2012 returns. The City offers three different ways for eligible New Yorkers to file their taxes and claim their tax refunds for free or at very low cost, as well as a tax-time savings program called SaveUSA. The City’s online tax preparation and free tax sites are available now and the City-sponsored H&R Block coupon will be valid beginning Friday, February 1st.  The City has also partnered with H&R Block to allow New Yorkers who live in Hurricane Sandy-affected zip codes and suffered the loss of their homes, household items, or vehicles to be able to file the casualty loss form (Form 4684), which may reduce taxable income, for free at any H&R Block location in the City.  City partners have opened additional Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sites in Far Rockaway and Red Hook.

Read the full press release: Tax Season Launch – Mayoral

DCA Announces Lottery for 47 Previously-Issued Pedicab Registration Plates

katyusca Press Releases ,

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 15, 2013

DEPARTMENT OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS ANNOUNCES LOTTERY FOR 47 PREVIOUSLY-ISSUED PEDICAB REGISTRATION PLATES

February 13 Deadline for Lottery Submissions; Applications Available Online and through Requests to 311

The Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) today announced that it is currently accepting lottery applications for 47 pedicab registration plates. These registration plates, previously issued to companies that either surrendered them or had them revoked by DCA, are again made available per Local Law 34 of 2011’s requirements that DCA annually ensure the existence of all 850 registration plates authorized by law. Any person or company (including current pedicab drivers and pedicab business licensees who don’t already have the 30 pedicab legal maximum) can submit a lottery application for one of the available pedicab registration plates no later than close of business on February 13, 2013, with a limit of one plate request per applicant. DCA currently licenses 198 pedicab companies and 1,388 pedicab drivers.

Read the full press release: Pedicab Registration Plate Lottery News Alert

Professionalizing the Field of Financial Education & Counseling

katyusca Research Publications , ,

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Municipal Financial Empowerment: A Supervitamin for Public Programs
Strategy #2: Professionalizing the Field of Financial Education and Counseling

About the Report:

This Report, the second in a series about the “supervitamin effect” of improved social service outcomes when integrating financial empowerment and asset building strategies into public programs, details New York City’s efforts to provide high-quality, effective financial counseling at scale and professionalize the field itself. The Report further highlights the City’s understanding that to realize the supervitamin effect of integrating financial counseling, such counseling must be of consistent, demonstrable, and superior quality.

The need to professionalize this field is critical given widespread variability in the quality and consistency of current financial education and counseling programming, the importance to recipients of counseling services, and the supervitamin effect that financial empowerment programming can have when successfully integrated. Efforts toward professionalization undertaken by the Department of Consumer Affairs Office of Financial Empowerment (OFE) include establishing standardized client outcomes with a rigorous data tracking system, developing intensive financial counselor trainings, standardizing the approach to financial counseling, and developing a professional network of practitioners.

My Role:

As a Financial Education Associate at the OFE, I conducted background research to understand already existing trainings and courses for financial counselors in other municipalities around the nation. I was also a co-author of the report.

 

Read the full report: Supervitamin Report 2