Your Tax Dollars at Work

The only difference between death and taxes is that death doesn’t get worse every time Congress meets.  Will Rogers

As the headlines threaten a government shut down because of the few politicians enamored with their 15 minutes rather than the citizens they were elected to represent, I thought you might like a different story.  It’s about that check you write every April and its recent impact on me.

Last Tuesday we learned that we were the recipients of an $867,000 grant from the CDFI Fund, part of the U.S. Treasury Department.  Who is ‘we’ and what’s that Fund?  We is Accion Chicago, the nonprofit where I work, and the CDFI Fund (stands for Community Development Financial Institution) invests in organizations whose mission is economic development in distressed neighborhoods.  Collectively the 5 U.S. based Accions covering regions from coast to coast received more than $7.1 million.

What will we do with that money?  Continue to help entrepreneurs make their dreams come true, thereby creating jobs and stabilizing neighborhoods while providing for themselves and their families and for the next generation.  We serve the historically marginalized – women, minorities, low- and moderate-income residents, immigrants, the formerly incarcerated – small business men and women unable to secure financing from traditional sources. We serve those with no or troubled credit histories OR as the economy tanked, those with ok credit and a solid business plan but who banks won’t talk to because their need is too small. 

Our loans, ranging from $500 to $50,000, enable a ‘microentrepreneur’ to launch or grow a business.  It could be the new boutique, doggie day care, pastry shop, food truck, jewelry retailer, salon, barber shop, contractor who remodeled your kitchen, or the new restaurant in your neighborhood.  These funds could be behind a product you buy at Macy’s or the mobile dentist who parks outside your local elementary school. 

If you’re in the Chicago area and available on Tuesday, November 5^th, come and meet some of these enterprising people and my Accion colleagues at our annual Taste of Accion.  Tickets are only $100 ($50 is tax deductible) and available at www.accionchicago.org.  Our clients in the food and beverage industry cater the event, others fill the silent auction table with their product or service, and others will share their story at the podium.  That’s 3 kinds of ‘tastes’ for you to experience and see evidence of your tax dollars at work.

So this week’s blog isn’t a musing, and while it is a promo, I hope it also helped to offset all of the frustrating headlines out of Washington.  Sometimes those political folks do good.

Marilyn