Rural Family Economic Success Action Network
Helping low-income rural families earn more, keep more of what they earn, and grow what they keep into assets.
The Basic Idea: Reduce the cost of child care by encouraging businesses to support child care for their workers – or the broader community. How it works: Businesses provide supports such as: Tax-free Flexible Spending Accounts for their employees to set aside pre-tax dollars for dependent care Cash support or in-kind subsidies to child care […]
The Basic Idea: Develop a pool of loan resources used to finance construction of affordable housing units and their purchase. As owners repay the loans, the payments revolve back into the fund to support additional housing development. How it works—The Essentials: A Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) or other lead organization assembles a pool of […]
The Basic Idea: Help low-income families with the down payment they need to purchase a home. How it works—The Essentials: State, federal and/or local funds are pooled to provide help with down payments for low- to moderate-income families, using a variety of approaches. Typically, a local administrative entity accepts applications, screens applicants and administers the […]
The Basic Idea: Work with health care institutions and community groups to decrease the cost of health care and improve access for low-income families. How it works—The Essentials: Many models exist including: State Children’s Health Insurance Programs—which increase access to insurance for a state’s children. Cost reduction initiatives whereby a community group negotiates with health care […]
(Jan – March 2014 Only) The Basic Idea: From January to March 2014 offer health insurance enrollment assistance as a part of your Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) efforts. How it works: Train VITA volunteers to be Certified Application Counselors (CACs) or identify CACs/Navigators to offer health insurance enrollment support at VITA sites. Provide tax […]
The Basic Idea: Increase the opportunities for promising “at-risk” students to go to college and increase their lifetime earning potential. How it works: Identify low-income students who show the academic promise to go to college, but face formidable economic and social barriers. Help students with school achievement through tutoring and counseling. Provide guidance with the […]
The Basic Idea: Provide youth entering the job market with the opportunity to learn a job skill—on the job—while completing their education. How it works: A school or other organization partners with industry to train youth for the skills in a specific job, while they are in high school or just after graduation—often in conjunction […]
The Basic Idea: Provide individuals with one-on-one coaching – before and after they get a job – to help them meet employers’ expectations. How it works: The Job Coach assesses the worker’s basic skills and helps address any skill deficit that reduces employability, especially by helping the worker learn appropriate workplace behavior and communications skills, […]
The Basic Idea: Map out paths families can follow to advance in a career and gain better jobs in their area. How it works: Identify fields in your region offering good jobs with advancement opportunities. Figure out the specific progression of jobs for each field, starting at the most basic and progressing to the most […]
The Basic Idea: Pull out all the stops to let families know they may qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and other tax credits, like the Child Tax Credit (CTC). How it works: A community coalition gathers to plan a campaign. Media are enlisted to run Public Service Announcements or paid ads. Ad content […]
Rural Family Economic Success Action Network 