• 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

ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY

The Piton Foundation works to increase the financial security of economically disadvantaged individuals by connecting them to the educational opportunities needed to obtain well-paying jobs and to community resources to help them accumulate assets.

Piton has four major strategies to help adults achieve economic self-sufficiency.

1. Increase education levels. Research documents the significant impact that vocational skills and post-secondary education have on income. Piton currently is exploring ways it can most effectively use its resources to increase low-income Denver residents' access to and success in post-secondary education. The foundation is researching Colorado's higher education systems and building relationships with the individuals and organizations who seek to improve the educational outcomes of students being served by these systems.
2. Increase employment skills. Through its close partnership with Making Connections--Denver, Piton provides support to workforce agencies to help unemployed and underemployed individuals secure the entry-level jobs they need before they can advance in the workforce.
3. Accumulate assets. Piton helps economically disadvantaged adults to stretch their incomes today and build their savings for tomorrow by raising awareness of and access to tax credits such as the Earned Income Tax Credit. Also, working in collaboration with Making Connections-Denver, Piton provides support to financial and other institutions to deliver alternative, innovative products and services that help build positive financial habits that can help families accumulate assets.
4. Build social networks. Piton believes that people succeed when they are in meaningful, reciprocal relationships with significant numbers and varieties of people who can help guide and inspire them, as well as offer information, ideas and resources to help them achieve their self-sufficiency goals. Piton works to foster practices -- individual, community and institutional -- that promote environments in which these relationships can form and flourish.

Piton's Economic Opportunity Initiatives

ASSET BUILDING

The Piton Foundation considers tax credits, especially the Earned Income Tax Credit, an important tool for increasing the economic self-sufficiency of lower-wage workers and for, potentially, helping them build assets. Since 1991, Piton has sponsored an annual, statewide public education campaign to inform lower-wage workers about tax credits, disseminating more than a million printed materials annually through public and private service providers and employers. Read more

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

EMPLOYMENT SKILLS

The Piton Foundation works in conjunction with Making Connections--Denver to link residents of four low-income neighborhoods to family-supporting jobs. Making Connection's workforce strategy involves three key components: helping workforce agencies target and connect residents of these four neighborhoods to jobs in growing sectors of the economy; working with the community college system to improve access for neighborhood residents to degree and certification programs; and connecting residents to employment and housing benefits associated with the project to redevelop the site of the Gates Rubber Factory.

Read more

POST-SECONDARY EDUCATION

Historically, Piton has focused its educational resources on the front-end of the educational pipeline. As access to and quality of early childhood education improves, Piton is beginning to work at the other end of the pipeline to improve low-income Denver residents' access to and success in post-secondary education. Read more.

SOCIAL NETWORKS

"Social networks" are the interconnections between people who rely on each other for the exchange of information, resources and ideas. But low-income individuals often feel disconnected due to barriers created by poverty, language and cultural differences. The Piton Foundation and the other partners in the Denver Social Network Partnership are working to help low-income families get ahead by building their social networks. While at the same time, the organizations themselves are significantly changing the way they deliver their services in order to help create stronger social networks among the people they serve. Read more