• Education

  • Early Excellence
  • Denver Preschool Program
  • K-12 Education
  • The Charter Fund

• Economic Opportunity

  • Post-Secondary Education
  • Employment Skills
  • Asset Building

• Strengthening Communities

  • Support to Community Organizing
  • Social Networks

• Earned Income Tax Credit

  • American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
  • Tax Sites
  • The Piton Foundation's Tax Credits for Working Families Campaign
  • Tax Help Colorado
  • Low Income Taxpayer Help
  • 2010 Tax Year Promotional Materials
  • Filing Options Available
  • The Earned Income Tax Credit in Colorado
  • Learn More about the Earned Income Tax Credit
  • Employers: Help Your Workers Get Their Tax Credits
  • More Tax Credits
  • Non-Profits: Help Your Clients Get Their Tax Credits
  • Still Another Tax Benefit for Families! The Child and Dependent Care Credit
  • The Child Tax Credit: Extra Credit for Many Working Families!
  • Education Tax Credits for Families: The Hope Credit
  • Education Tax Credits for Families: The Lifetime Learning Credit
  • Saver's Tax Credit: Workers Can Save for Retirement and Reduce Income Taxes

Asset Building

The Piton Foundation and Making Connections-Denver worked with Denver Community Credit Union to open the first credit union in Denver's Sun Valley neighborhood.

The Piton Foundation collaborates with Making Connections--Denver on two asset-building strategies: increasing access to affordable and high quality financial education and services, and funding matched saving accounts for residents who want to purchase a home, start a business, or pay for post-secondary education.

Denver Community Credit Union

In 2003, The Piton Foundation and Making Connections--Denver collaborated with Denver Community Credit Union to begin planning for a new branch of the credit union in Sun Valley, Denver's poorest neighborhood. As part of the planning efforts for the new branch, Making Connections conducted focus groups with neighborhood residents to get their input on the credit union's products and services. Piton also helped connect the credit union to important local organizations, such as the neighborhood school and key community groups.

The Sun Valley branch, which opened in February 2005, offers check-cashing products and services side-by-side with traditional credit union products and services. Customers who prefer to use check cashers for their financial business can do so at the credit union at more affordable prices than at the competition, while customers who are most comfortable conducting their financial transactions through mainstream financial institutions can also do so at the credit union.

To encourage check-cashing customers to become credit union members, Denver Community offers what are called "transition products." These products, such as check-less checking, holiday club accounts, and stored value cards, enable check-cashing customers to start building new money management skills and become more comfortable doing business with a mainstream financial institution. These products also are accompanied by incentives to make them financially appealing to check-cashing customers. This strategy for transitioning "unbanked" customers to "banked" ones has been successfully tested by Union Bank of California's Cash & Save business. Staff from The Piton Foundation and Denver Community Credit Union visited with the founders of that business in 2002. Recognizing that many of their low-income members have poor credit, the Credit Union also is introducing a variety of new credit building and repair products. Once pilot tested, they will be rolled out credit union-wide.

This Denver resident is attending Metro State College with money she saved through an Individual Development Account (IDA), sponsored by The Piton Foundation.

Individual Development Accounts

An Individual Development Account (IDA) is a matched saving account that provides both the means for asset accumulation and appropriate incentives to encourage savings. The Piton Foundation created an IDA program in 2002 specifically for residents of the four Making Connections-Denver neighborhoods, Baker, Cole, La Alma/Lincoln Park and Sun Valley.

IDA savers choose a specific goal -- buying a first home, starting or expanding a business, or getting a post-secondary education. They must save a minimum of $25 per month for a period of six to 30 months and Piton matches their savings at $4 for every $1 they save. The maximum amount participants can save for matching is $1,000, thereby getting a match of $4,000 and turning their $1,000 into $5,000. Participants also are required to take financial management classes. More than 50 residents of the targeted neighborhoods have succeeded in purchasing assets since the program's inception. More than 30 more are currently saving in the IDA program.

RELATED LINKS

Denver Community Credit Union

Making Connections - Denver

Mile High United Way