Financial Help for Headstones and Monuments for Children

In response to a question in the comments, I went looking for places that offer financial help in purchasing a headstone for an infant.  While most states legally spell out the level of government which is responsible for burying those too poor to afford their own burial, tombstones and memorials are outside the barest necessities, and not covered.  But private organizations in some localities attempt to fill this void.

In Georgia, Children's Burial Assistance will help some expenses for children's funerals in the state, and sometimes outside of it IF--and that's a big if--there are the funds.  In central Florida, the Bradley Summersill Foundation offers financial help for children's headstones.  Their contact information is:

2460 Peterson Road, Apopka, FL 32703,phone: (407) 733-1062.  The Josh Rojas Foundation works to give children in the Rochester, New York area headstones.  The Conner Kirby Infant Memorial Foundation provides help for infants in the states of Pennsylvania and Maryland.

The Northern New York Community Foundation has a fund for gravestones for children in their service area, via the "Forget Me Not" program.     

For more on the program, contact the NNYCF.

On the national level, there is one organization I found that does not seem to have a geographic limit, and that's the Dempsey Burdick Memorial Foundation.  A few families per year are chosen to receive a memorial stone for their loved one.  Again, this is dependent on availability of funds.

Some Free/Low Cost Prom Dress Events in 2014

It's the midst of the prom dress hunting season.  While some events have passed already, there are still some events in the future.  I'm still waiting for the annual Raising Awareness event (we hope) at Owens Community College, which is generally in early April.  Here's a roundup of some events and opportunities around the country:

Check out this national listing of stores for donated prom dresses at Donate My Dress.  Another regional operation, Operation Prom, which operates events in New York, Connecticut, Georgia, Tennessee, New Jersey and Philadelphia, has prom dresses and tuxedo vouchers for low-income students.

Project G.L.A.M. has a listing of a couple of pop-up events in New York City.  In other local events, there's a prom dress resale event in the downriver suburbs of Detroit on March 22nd and 23rd.  The Macomb County Michigan Department of Human Services is hosting a Dress to Remember Event on April 2nd, 2014.

In northeast Massachusetts, there are some Priceless Prom events for dresses in late March and early April.

The States and the Feds Make Finding Benefits Easier Than Ever

This fall, the state of Ohio decided to make searching for all its benefits for individuals more centralized.  Despite what you may have read from frauds and ignoramuses, "free money" and "grants" by the government are just benefits, like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, plus other helpful stuff like child care for the working poor, heating assistance, job training, etc.  So if you need cash help with your life, you are in fact looking for "benefits." 

In Ohio, you need to start with the benefits page.  It directly links you to medicaid (which Ohio decided to expand in the last few months), but also heating assistance, employment, cash assistance, WIC, and unemployment insurance, and links to more types of assistance, too.  In New York state, the bennies page is mybenefits.  However, if your state does not have a one-stop shop for benefits of all kinds, try the federal benefit page, and the state-by-state benefit page set up for easy browsing. If you wish to search for benefits within your state, a good strategy might be to go to google and simply type: benefits (name of your state) and site:.gov.That last bit is important--it limits your search to ONLY sites with the .gov designation.

However, don't forget to check for community action agencies in your area.  These are nonprofit rather than government agencies. Often, states contract out benefits like job training and energy assistance to them, and the people working there are knowledgeable about programs that you could qualify for.  Find the community action agency that covers your area here.

ONE (Ohio's New Entrepreneur) Fund, and other Accelerators for New Business

The Ohio Third Frontier program, part of the Ohio Development Agency's effort to grow new high tech firms in the state, has opened up applications for its ONE (Ohio's New Entrepreneurs) Accelerator program.  This is a seed accelerator program like many in the private sector for new and developing Ohio high tech businesses.  They choose the most promising high-tech applicants, give them a "boot camp" in entrepreneurship and fund raising, then let them make their pitch to potential investors.  Applications for this go-round of training and mentorship will be taken through February 7th.  Since the program was created to develop high-tech in Ohio, firms are limited to those in the state.

However, ONE is not unique.  Other states, like Wisconsin and New York, have similar programs.In the private and nonprofit sectors, similar programs exist.  In the for-profit sector, promising firms are mentored and groomed to get financing in exchange for equity in the firm.  Government and nonprofit firms operate to foster economic development in their states and communities.  If you are looking for a seed accelerator outfit, here's one list from Seed-DB.  Here's another list, from those accelerators that participated in last year's national accelerator's Demo Day.  Accelerators often specialize high-tech or information tech firms, but they may have other types of specialization.  You can also check your own state's economic development office to see if they run a program, or have a list of those operating in your area.  Before you check into it, read this article in Entrepreneur on how to see if a seed accelerator may be for you and your firm.

Places to Find Free Tattoo Removal (Ex-Gang and Ex-Offenders)

I ran across a program in the Detroit area via Julie's List, the font of many good things, that offers free tattoo removal to ex-gang members in the Detroit area in exchange for community service.  It got me thinking about where else this may be offered. 

In metropolitan Los Angeles, there's Homeboy Industries, which offers tattoo removal along with its other outreach to former gang members.  The Central Texas Tattoo Project offers tattoo removal to minors for free, and asks those over 18 to contribute $60 to cover costs.  In the New York City area, former prisoners and gang members can get free tattoo removal via the Fresh Start program.  In Oxnard, California, the Chuck Muncie Foundation performs free tattoo removal for former gang members on the third Saturday of the month.  In the Denver area, GRASP provides free tattoo removal for those between 14 and 24.  Finally, in the Chicago area, the village of Hanover Park offers free tattoo removal to former gang members.  Contact police officer Jodie Wise of the Lisle Police Department at (630) 271-4218.

Some more sources of help from the website Jails to Jobs.

If You Live in Certain States, Your Unemployment Checks Can Work Towards Starting a Business

All states have some form of unemployment insurance, but in five states--New York, New Jersey, Washington, Pennsylvania, and Oregon (and apparently from their inclusion in this document, Delaware)--the unemployed have another option.  In the other 45 states, the unemployed have to show that they are working towards another job by training and/or pounding the pavement.  But in these five states, there is a self-employment assistance program.  Unemployed workers in these states can earn their check by proving that they are working to become self-employed--that they are training to set up a workable business, writing a business plan, or other concrete steps to start a business, and the usual job hunting requirements are waived.

What are the requirements for this?  Each state has different regulations that you can find here.  While this page is set up for policy makers in other states, it lets you know what is expected. 
The U.S. Department of Labor is trying to expand this program to other states, and has given money to states across the country to set up their own programs.  If you (sadly) become eligible for unemployment insurance in your state, ask if your state has a self-employment assistance program, and what you need to go to become eligible.

Free/Cheap Dresses for the Prom--the 2013 Season has Started!

Because of the mechanical problems that happen when cups of tea collide with keyboards, I've been offline for a couple of days.  However, it seems the 2013 prom dress season has begun, at least in Toledo.  Prom for Paws, the annual fundraiser for Toledo's Planned Pethood, will hold a sale of donated prom dresses--none above $25--to benefit Planned Pethood, a nonprofit that provides spaying and neutering to dogs and cats in the metro area.  The sale is at Salvatore Capelli Salon, 114 S. Boundary Street in Perrysburg from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, March 2nd.

*****pdate for Toledo and northwest Ohio************
The northwest Ohio low-cost prom dress event of the year is Owens College's, and parents and students will have their crack at gowns going from $5 to $20, and accessories from 50 cents to $5 on April 6th from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Student Health and Activities Center.  For more information, call  (800) GO-OWENS, ext. 2569.

Outside of Toledo, the national network of volunteers involved with Cinderella's Closet has begun to roll out its schedule of prom dress sales.  There's also the Princess Project in California.  In Ankeny, Iowa, there will be a prom dress giveaway on March 4-8 from 4 to 7 p.m. via Project Fresh Start at Arkeny High School.    Lone Star College is sponsoring a prom gown giveaway at the CyFair Branch Library on March 15-17th, and April 19th and 20th in Cypress, Texas.  Call Elise at 281-290-5248 for more information.  And for prom dress giveaways in New York City, Dutchess County, New York, Atlanta and Baconton, Georgia, see the website here, for graduating seniors only.

****Update from Detroit:

The fourth annual Deja vu Prom Dress Resale will take place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday Feb. 23, Sunday Feb. 24, Saturday March 2, Sunday March 3, at Grosse Ile Golf and Country Club, 9339 Bellevue Rd., Grosse Ile, Mich.

A Detroit event on April 14th: https://www.facebook.com/#!/permalink.php?story_fbid=509009009167029&id=128098500591417

 


 

Entrepreneurship Training for Ex Offenders--Starting Your Own Business

An obvious way to help ex-offenders become legitimate earners is to teach them how to start a business.  Many employers aren't crazy about hiring them, and starting a business is a risky thing, while lots of ex-offenders are O.K. with risk taking.  So where are programs to help them do this?

In looking it over, I found some common threads: 1) many programs start right in prison, among active prisoners, rather than people out on the street. However, some work with released people and 2) yep, there's no grants or money giveaways.  At best, some offer the chance to get a microloan on favorable terms.  But the training in entrepreneural skills, especially writing business plans that you can present to institutions that loan money, is important in being able to get access to money.

Where to look?  Probably the most well-known is PEP (Prison Entrepreneurship Program) in Texas, in which inmates are chosen from across the Texas penal system to participate, after which they are transferred to the Cleveland (TX) facility and given an intensive course in business startup skills like marketing, finance and business plan writing.  The inmates have to be within 18 months of the end of their sentences, with at least 6 more months to serve, and must read and do math on at least the 10th grade level. Likewise, the Oklahoma Ex Offender Entrepreneural Training and Support Services are for inmates with GEDs or high school diplomas who are close to release. For women prisoners in Washington State and Oregon, there is the LIFE Prison Re-entry program that teaches entrepreneural skills to prisoners at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility in Wilsonville, OR, and the Washington Correctional Center for Women.

But what's out there once you're out?  There are a few things around the country.  One is Defy Ventures in metropolitan New York, which offers business training.  JVSChicago runs all sorts of business and job training, but has in the recent past offered the B.E.S.T program especially for ex-offenders. Project ReMade in the San Franciso area run by the Stanford Law School provides business training for women ex-offenders that have been out at least a year, but less than five years who have a high school diploma or a GED.  WIBO (Workshop in Business Opportunities) in New York that does all sorts of business training has workshops for ex-offenders.  Most interestingly, in the San Francisco area, the Springmeyer Law Firm offers pro bono services for ex-offenders who are starting up their businesses.

For more information on ex-offender business training opportunities, see this Inc magazine article, which is a few years old, but still has good information.

Finding Free Legal Assistance for New and Small Businesses

As I've said before, everybody is so intent on finding "free money" that they turn up their nose at stuff that's free and may be even better than money.  For small and new business owners, that could definitely be free legal advice.  So where do you find it?  As we discussed, there are pro se clinics, where people can get help in filling out legal forms correctly and preventing crucial mistakes.  And there are legal clinics where entrepreneurs can sit down with a law student (under professional supervision) or volunteer lawyers for advice on business formation,forms and other issues (but generally NOT litigation). 

In the Toledo area, ABLE, a nonprofit group, has created the Microenterprise Legal Assistance Project to assist new and small businesses, and offers one half hour free with volunteer attorneys once a month.  For more information, call  (888) 534-1432. 

The University of Akron SEED program is pretty typical, and describes its program thusly:

"Under the supervision of a licensed attorney, second and third year law students provide non-litigation, transactional legal and business advice including business planning, employment, contract/lease, tax and entity formation information. The SEED provides advice and counsel to new or emerging businesses that would otherwise be unable to hire outside counsel and that have been in operation less than five (5) years and with gross annual revenues less than $100,000, with a special emphasis on women and minorities."

In New York, the City Bar Justice Center runs the Neighborhood Entrepreneur Law Project, runs small business legal clinics in partnership with other community institutions like the Brooklyn Public Library, the South Bronx Economic Development Corporation, and the  Queens Economic Development Corporation.  Owners of small business can speak one-on-one with attorneys.  Likewise, WIBO (Workshop in Business Opportunities) in Harlem has a small business legal clinic, too.  In the District of Columbia, the D.C. Bar Association runs its own legal clinic for small businesses six times a year.

Where can you find such clinics near you?  Here's some ways to find them: simply put the words business law clinic and the name of your town--or the nearest big town--in Google.  Or check your nearest law libary, or small business development center to find out if you have one in your town (put your zip code in the box on the right side of the page, and find all the resources in your area.)

Get Your Culture Vulture On--Free Museum Passes

I realize that not many are lucky enough to have a wonderful museum like the Toledo Museum of Art free to them every day (except for special exhibits).  So we in Toledo like to bask/brag a bit.  In fact TMA is also letting active military personnel and their immediate families in free for one special exhibit, the Egypt Experience till September 4th. 

But lots of free opportunities await you at museums around the country.  On September 24, 2011, the Smithonian Museum in Washington, which is always free, sponsors a free museum day at various locations around the country.  Send them an application for a free ticket for two, and the holder can get in for free.

But many other museums have "free days" too.  The website Free Museum Day lists the free days for museums in Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, and San Diego.  They also list museums in those cities that are free all the time.

For military personnel and their families, museums in the Blue Star initiative (of which there are over 1500 in the U.S. and territories) are given free admission (up to five family members) between Memorial Day and Labor Day. 

Finally, holders of a Bank of America credit card are given free admission to over 150 museums around the country on certain days each month.  See the website for days in your area musuems.

Property Tax Breaks

When people think about "tax breaks," they are usually considering income taxes.  But have you considered your property taxes?  There may be a chance to cut down on your present or future property taxes.

One is property tax breaks for the aged or disabled.  In many states, like Ohio, Alabama, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Montana, etc., there are property tax exemptions that reduce the property tax burden on those two groups.  For more information, see the Retirement Living page on taxes for each state.  They will provide further links to each state's tax information.  In some states, elderly or disabled veterans may be eligible for tax breaks, too. Here's the rundown for various states.

Another possibility is  tax abatements on property that you are considering buying.  This usually happens when a city decides that it wants to fire up development and home ownership in some depressed area of the city, and that the best way to do this is to let property owners fix up the building, adding improvements without increasing taxes on the property, usually for some fixed time, like 10 or 15 years, or to allow commercial developers to build on it in the first place.  Some big cities where it is available include Cleveland, Toledo, and New York, but it's available in different cities all over the U.S.  This is usually limited to specific areas of the city, so check to see if the property you are considering is included.  Note that this is something that is usually possible at the time of purchase, rather than for existing property with no new improvements.  When considering a property purchase, contact the Housing Department or Development Department of the city in which you are thinking of purchasing property and see if a property tax abatement is possible.

Microfinancing in New York City and Elsewhere

I'm always on the prowl for business grant money, for the same reason people track down two-headed animals--it's a real rarity.  I have come across an article in the Utne Reader this year that piqued my interest--and should pique yours, if you are an aspiring microenterprise person (a "microenterprise" being a business that takes less than $35,000 to start, with fewer than 5 employees).  In Turning Hustlers into Entrepreneurs, Kai Wright looks at the efforts of differnt groups in turning people with a small business dream into small businesspeople.  Many of these people don't have access to banks and traditional business finance sources, and microenterprise lenders are trying to level the playing field for them. 

One organization they focused on is the Business Outreach Center Network, which offers business training and small loans to clients who are largely immigrants in New York City and recently, in Newark, New Jersey.  Those going through the training are eligible to apply for $1,000 grants.  Acorrding to the article, the BOC Network has given away more than $170,000 in grants in seven years. 

But there is also information on ACCION USA, a microlender that lends all across the United States, with loans of up to $50,000.  In most places in the US, you can apply to them online, and in a few places, in person.  They also give business training.