OUR PURPOSE:

To convene individuals and organizations with the desire to leverage their talent, resources, and passion to improve the prosperity of Florida’s families.

OUR VISION:

That ALL Floridians have equal opportunities to attain financial stability.

OUR MISSION:

To engage, through a statewide collaboration of organizations that are holistically focused, in providing life-enhancing services to Floridians.

About Us

We invite you to view our 2012 Report to the Community!

The movement began in large urban communities across Florida.

City and county leaders recognized that despite their best efforts, almost 1 in 6 of their children went to bed hungry and thousands of their families worried about losing their homes if they missed even one paycheck.

So community by community, organizations from all sectors – non-profit, business, government, education, and religion – united to change this grim picture. Coalitions dedicated to helping families put money directly into their pockets and purses began by reaching out to lower income families who qualified for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), a tax credit available through the Internal Revenue Service since 1975. At its highest amount, EITC could mean an extra $5,600 to those who need it the most.

As working families began to claim this tax refund, coalition volunteers added more free services – financial education to promote good spending and saving plans, opportunities to open a no-or-low-cost bank account, and matches for any amounts saved, dollar for dollar.

Gradually, the Florida coalitions communicated, learning from one another and improving their processes based on other communities’ experiences. They began meeting, and finally, organizing into the Florida Prosperity Partnership (FPP), a collaboration that leverages the work done by each coalition into a single voice for educational outreach and policy improvements for Florida’s struggling families.

Stay tuned as the Florida Prosperity Partnership members work hand in hand and drive the difference to more financially stable Florida families.

Goals and Strategies:

The overarching FPP goal is to increase its members’ ability to improve the financial stability and well-being of Floridians by leveraging individual organizational outcomes and achieving economies of scale.

The FPP strengthens existing programs and promotes programs with proven success from other parts of the country. In addition, through its network of 600 individuals from more than 140 organizations throughout the state, the FPP increases its outreach and awareness efforts by:

§ Working not only in urban areas of Florida, but also the often-overlooked rural communities to provide needed services seldom available

§ Working to bring more awareness for free income tax preparation to all low-to-moderate income Floridians (including Schedule C for small business owners) for the FPP member organizations that provide free tax preparation through TaxWise, Virtual VITA, The Benefit Bank, Beehive, DeafTax.com, and other online programs

§ Partnering with financial institutions to deliver the message of the benefits of mainstream banking and rolling out the “Bank On” program throughout Florida

§ Partnering with Ways to Work and More Than Wheels, national transportation programs, to bring much needed, reasonably priced automobile loan programs to Florida communities to help people get and keep jobs

§ Partnering with the University of Florida, 211, and Florida Information and Referral Services Systems to create an online database of health and human services that is searchable at the county level; in this manner, all of the available partner services can be referred to any Floridian anywhere

§ Partnering with elected officials to effect policy changes that benefit low income working Floridians

§ Partnering with funders, the FDIC, the University of Florida and other organizations to bring financial training to Florida.

To download a PDF of the FPP Brochure, click here

	EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Janet Hamer, Chair Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
	Daniella Levine, Vice-Chair Human Services Coalition
	Sandra Bernard-Bastien, Secretary Children’s Services Council of Broward
	Ted Granger, Treasurer President, United Way of Florida Evan Goldman Children Services Council of Broward County George Owen Regions Bank Maureen Quinlan United Way of Marion County Mike Smith TD Bank

	BOARD OF DIRECTORS Ron Albert Internal Revenue Service Anika Coney Hillsborough County Dept. of HSS Dr. Michael Gutter University of Florida Valerie Hendriex Jenkins Wells Fargo Iris Jones BB&T Bank Mike Kennedy Suncoast Community Capital Roger Mercado Community Cooperative Ministries Incorporated Katie Metz National Disability Institute Rosa Morgan Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence (Retired) Joan Nelson Heart of Florida United Way Kasha Owers United Way of Palm Beach County Felipe Pinzon Hispanic Unity of Florida Ron Sharpe United Way of Northwest Florida Ellen Stoffer United Way Suncoast Barbara Travis Internal Revenue Service (Retired) Jeff Winkler Real$ense Prosperity Campaign - United Way of Northeast Florida

	Kaye Schmitz President and CEO Bill Mills Director of Strategic Initiatives Penny Zaphel Coordinator of Special Projects