Building Economic Futures for Americans with Disabilities
Real Economic Impact Tour
REI Tour Successes
The Real Economic Impact Tour continues to expand and build upon its success to provide financial independence for thousands with disabilities. The REI Tour’s accomplishments for the 2006 tax filing season includes:
- increased utilization of favorable tax credits and financial service knowledge 72% in four cities;
- prepared 17,223 tax returns in 30 cities for persons with disabilities or families with a dependent who is a person with a disability
- disseminated over 342,554 EITC and other asset building contacts regarding IDAs, home-ownership, education, assistive technology, and small business ownerships to persons with disabilities
- engaged 200 disability partners to participate with the REI Tour
- identified 1,588 accessible free tax preparation sites for taxpayers with disabilities
- impacted 1,781 persons with disabilities directly by specific financial literacy and/or asset building opportunities provided by the REIT Tour
- $12 million in total refunds received by customers with disabilities
- $5.7 million EITC refunds received by customers with disabilities
- Identified 16% of 20,227 tax filers surveyed as individuals or members of households with a disability
Accomplishments for the 2007 Filing Season:
October 2006 - More than 150 disability advocates, government officials and consumers attended a national kick-off event at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. IRS Commissioner Mark Everson joined with other REI Tour sponsors to include NDI, Ford Foundation, NCB Capital Impact, NCB and five national disability groups to unveil results of the TAXfacts+ Campaign (currently, the Real Economic Impact Tour) that provided tools and resources towards financial independence for underserved Americans with disabilities. Commissioner Everson encouraged strong support for the REI Tour to improve long-term economic independence for Americans with disabilities.
November 2006 - Mayors’ Offices and members of their senior staff attended the Mayor’s Leadership Academy on Asset Development for Persons with Disabilities and Their Families held in New York City. The first stop of the Real Economic Impact Tour was at an event hosted by Commissioner Matthew Sapolin of the New York City Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities - the Mayor’s Leadership Academy on Asset Development for Persons with Disabilities. During the two-day meeting, Sapolin and 70 leaders from government, the disability and asset-building communities from 13 cities began the process of designing a road map that will support entry into the economic mainstream for Americans with disabilities and their families nationwide. Other key partners included, NDI, the IRS Stakeholder Partnerships, Education and Communication (SPEC) Division, the Burton Blatt Institute at Syracuse University, the Law, Health Policy and Disability Center of the University of Iowa College of Law, and City University of New York. This event established an expanded peer support system that compliments and expands community-based initiatives that provide asset building outreach and technical assistance to working Americans with disabilities.