Here's a surprising statistic: a family of four needs an income of over $60,000 a year to survive in the city of Philadelphia, according to United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania. That leaves 20 percent of the city's households without adequate earnings to pay for basic necessities like food, housing, health care and child care. That's where The
United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania's Asset and Workforce Development Initiative offers a hand. United Way's goal is to educate, increase literacy, and help promote low income earners to higher paying jobs, not with handouts, but with financial self-reliance training, adult literacy programs, and assistance with tax preparation. In the past three years, United Way has provided nearly $2 million in funding and garnered over $50 million in tax refunds for local families.
To maintain and grow the Asset and Workforce Development Initiative in 2011, The United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania has just received a $100,000 grant from
PNC Community Development Banking, a division of PNC Bank. Jill Michal, CEO of United Way Southeastern Pennsylvania, says in a news release: "
PNC's grant will help us reach our goal of finding jobs for more than 900 out-of-school youth and homeless veterans, and (help) some 500 individuals obtain an academic or vocational credential."
The Asset and Workforce Development Initiative is responsible for providing thousands of area residents with increased savings, leading to the potential for new home purchases and avoidance of foreclosure on existing mortgages.
Source: United Way
Writer: Sue Spolan