Job Opportunity: US Census taker $17.50/hour

Hi. If you or someone you know is looking for work, you might want to consider becoming a US Census taker. Pay starts at $17.50 an hour, is part time and temporary (from 1 to 5 months) and starts in early spring. There are thousands of census taker positions in King County, that include good pay, flexible hours, paid training, and reimbursement for work-related expenses. Census takers work in their own communities/zip codes locating households, explaining the purpose of the census, conducting brief personal interviews, helping neighbors complete their 2010 Census questionnaire, and recording responses on paper forms. This means you will be required to work when most people are typically at home, which includes evening and weekend hours. Job offers depend on several factors, such as the availability of work in your community, test score, language skills, veterans' preference, and the number of hours you are available to work each week. It is easy to apply! Just call your local Census Office and schedule to attend a meeting where you will take the 30 minute employment test and fill out the job application. There are census offices in Seattle, Tukwila and Bellevue. The phone numbers for the local offices are:
Seattle office 206-501-4160
Tukwila office 253-449-1150
Bellevue office 425-749-5110
Or you can call the toll free job line at 1-866-861-2010 or visit their website http://2010.census.gov/2010censusjobs/. Good luck!

Help Pass The Fair Tenant Screening Act

This is an important message from Solid Ground:

You can take a minute to make a phone call to improve the rights of renters and low income people in Washington. Have you ever paid over and over for screening costs, only to be denied housing without being told why? Solid Ground is working to pass a law that will make tenant screening affordable, accurate and transparent. This law will ensure that tenants only pay once for screening costs and that all the information is accurate. Call your State Representatives and tell them to pass HB 2622, the Fair Tenant Screening Act. You can leave a message with your two state Representatives at the state legislative hotline number: 1-800-562-6000. Please call 1-800-562-6000 and ask your state reps to vote YES on HB 2622, Fair Tenant Screening Act.

Thank you. Only if people speak up will we be able to pass this important law.

Free Tax Preparation

You can get your income tax return prepared and filed for free at any one of 17 United Way sponsored tax sites throughout King County between now and April 15, 2010. The free tax preparation service will be provided by IRS trained multilingual volunteers. For a list of free tax preparation sites in King County, click this link:
http://www.uwkc.org/ourcommunity/endinghomelessness/eitc/where.asp
You can also find a free tax-preparation site in your area, by calling 2-1-1 from any phone in King County (this is a free call, even from payphones). Tell the 211 operator that you want information about free tax preparation services. Be sure to tell them you heard about this through Community Voice Mail.
Also, you may be eligible to receive a refund of up to $5,657 through the Earned Income Tax Credit, a refundable tax credit for working people with low and moderate incomes.

To receive the Earned Income Tax Credit on a 2009 tax return, you must:
• Have a valid Social Security number
• Have lived in the United States for more than half the year
• Made less than $ 3,100 from investment income
• Have earned income
• Be a U.S. citizen or resident alien
• Be between the ages of 25 and 65
or had dependent children under age 19 (under 24 for full time students or a permanently and totally disabled child of any age) living with you for more than half of 2009.

In addition, a taxpayer's earned income and adjusted gross income must each be less than:
• $48,279 ($43,279 for a single-parent household) with three or more qualifying children
• $45,295 ($40,295 for a single-parent household) with two or more qualifying children
• $40,463 ($35,463 for a single-parent household) with one qualifying child
• $18,440 ($13,440 for single individuals) with no qualifying children

The Maximum credit is
• $5,657 with three or more qualified children
• $5,028 with two qualified children
• $3,043 with one qualified child
• $457 if you have no qualified children
To estimate how much money you could receive, use this
Earned Income Tax Credit Estimator
http://www.cbpp.org/eic2009/calculator/

For more information see the United Way Tax Campaign website
http://www.uwkc.org/ourcommunity/endinghomelessness/eitc/default.asp

Good luck and get your taxes done!

Poverty Action MLK Day Summit & March 1/18

I want to encourage you to take action to end poverty this Martin Luther King Day! Come to Olympia with Statewide Poverty Action Network to Monday January 18th for the Ending Poverty, Creating Opportunity: People's Summit & March on the Capitol.

Free buses leave Seattle from Solid Ground (at 1501 N 45th St. in Wallingford) at 7:15am on Monday, Jan. 18, and return at around 5:30 pm the same day. The bus will also make a stop in Auburn if that is more convenient for you. You must sign up for the bus or carpool in advance, by calling Poverty Action Network at 206-694-6794—Ask for Kate.

Breakfast and lunch will be provided. Childcare will also be provided at the Capitol, and kids are welcome on the bus. Come to learn about policies that affect low-income people, network with people from across the state and share your story with lawmakers.

We hope you will turn out on January 18th, to call upon the state legislature and the Governor to make ending poverty a priority. For more information call Poverty Action at 206-694-6794.