The Annual Report for both organizations is available as of 2/17/10. Since the two organizations are formally tied together, the two reports cite the same accomplishments. The entire report is one page long to make it easier for readers to learn of our organizations quickly. Those interested in receiving a report can contact John Hoffmire at hoffmire@wisc.edu.

Helaman Barrios of the Educated Investor University, a product of Precision Information, Inc., decribed to the directors of Progress just how it educates Credit Union employees on-line and on financial matters. The 10 courses available to employees cover budgeting to marco economics and everything in between.

Don Graves, CEO of Progress Through Business, participated on January 13th in the Education and Training Subcommittee of the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board (PERAB) meeting in Washington, DC. The Subcommittee is looking at a variety of initiatives related to tax and tax preparation policy and other policies that will aid in the financial stability of American workers struggling in the current economy.

Every one of us at PTB is excited for the opportunities 2010 promises to bring and we're eager to make improvements in both our personal and professional lives.

From exercising and Saxophone lessons, helping with PTA committees, to creating a website on the philosophy of kite-flying, we have many things to occupy our time.

We are eager to increase our efforts to strengthen and expand tax preparation programs and sites (expecially in light of the changes in tax laws and brackets this year).

We will also continue working with credit unions, businesses, and other organizations to provide financial education to more people.

And, among many other things, we'll be dedicating our time and energy to employee ownership programs and domestic as well as overseas entrepreneurship support projects.

2010 will be great!

With the passing of John Logue, Executive Director of the Ohio Employee Ownership Center and a board of advisor member of Progress Through Business, there is now a huge hole in the economic development world.

John had just started working with us, as well, on the new Alliance Holdings SES Advisors Legacy Fund. It was a pleasure to be with him whenever we could.
And we miss him already.

Our best go out to John's family. And we look forward to picking up a small part of the work that John was not able to complete.

Paul Hammeke, a VISTA volunteer with Progress through Business attended the 2010 VITA Grant Orientation Conference on how to administer the $3,725 grant from the IRS, which will provide help to low income people in completing
their income tax forms.
The Dec 1-3 conference, held in Atlanta and attended by about 150 people covered a range of technical issues including how to report expenses,
allowable uses of the grant money, and how to complete the required quarterly reports.

Progress Through Business is teaming up with the University of Wisconsin Credit Union to provide free tax preparation to low-income employees from the UW-Hospital. We are very excited about this unique collaboration and the difference it will make for Madison residents.

Len Janeski of Progress Through Business is working with Al Barsema in Rockford, Illinois
to help gather clients for income tax help, a long standing effort by
Progress to ensure that low income people are able to get the tax credits
they are eligible for.
He is working with faith-based organizations in the Rockford area to get
people to go to a tax preparation site operated by the Center for Economic
Progress, a Chicago-based non-profit organization.

Up to 4000 Wisconsin credit union employees will be taking part in an online investment education program that is being managed in part by Progress Through Business through the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Center on Business and Poverty.
The program is being funded by a $200,000
grant from the Investor Protection Trust.
The 18 month program will offer 30,000 hours of investment education, provided by Precision Information, including investment basics, managing IRAs, 401(k)s, managing risk, and diversifying portfolios, to name but a few
of the more than a dozen topics.

Conferences co-sponsored by Progress Through Business brought together diverse groups of individuals to learn how to tap into the federal government's stimulus package. The conferences were held on October 13th and October 15th at two California universities.

Hello this is Helaman. I'm looking forward to participating in this effort.

Welcome to the Progress Through Business blog.
We welcome comments relevant to our mission.

Here’s a plan that could solve the toxic-asset pricing problem voluntarily—without requiring Uncle Sam to nationalize the whole industry—and make (pretty much) everyone a winner.

FEBRUARY 2009 • Lowell Bryan and Toos Daruvala, Consultants in Financial Services

CARMEN M. REINHART and KENNETH S. ROGOFF; FEBRUARY 3, 2009, 8:45 A.M.

Perhaps the Obama administration will be able to bring a surprisingly early end to the ongoing U.S. financial crisis. We hope so, but it is not going to be easy. Until now, the U.S. economy has been driving straight down the tracks of past severe financial crises, at least according to a variety of standard macroeconomic indicators we evaluated in a study for the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) last December.

Double renewable energy capacity in three years, creating enough additional capacity to power 6 million homes.

Leverage $100 billion to finance private-sector clean-energy initiatives.

Expand the child tax credit, which would provide a new tax cut to the families of more than 6 million children and increase the existing credit for the families of more than 10 million children.

Expand COBRA, the temporary healthcare program that newly unemployed workers can get when they lose their health insurance.

Published: January 25, 2009

If you have a 401(k) retirement plan at work, you don’t need us to tell you that you’ve taken a hit in the past year. The really bad news is that the damage to your retirement security is likely worse than what the numbers say on your statement.

Many Americans didn’t have enough savings coming into the downturn. And employers are increasingly cutting back or suspending their 401(k) match. FedEx, Eastman Kodak, Motorola, General Motors and Ford, among others, have announced such moves.

Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) Day

Each year the Internal Revenue Service designates January 30, as Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) day. The awareness day is held annually to increase participation in the EITC program, and encourage the use of Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sites, and similar tax preparation services that are absolutely free to the public.

Earned Income Tax Credits (EITC) was established in 1975 to offset higher Social Security taxes, and increase the incentive to work.

The first of the Bush administration's major financial takeovers, the seizure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, is poised to get more expensive and some analysts are warning that it may ultimately cost more than the government has suggested.

Mounting troubles in the financial and housing markets have further undermined the health of the companies in the months since the government seized them in September, making it likely the Treasury will be required to pump billions of dollars into the mortgage-finance giants.

After the bank bail-out, it is now Detroit’s carmakers who are pleading for help

If nothing else, the revelation by General Motors (GM) on November 7th that it is in danger of running out of cash before the end of the year has concentrated minds. The reaction within the embattled car industry, and in Washington, DC, has been the same: we knew it was bad, but we did not know it was that bad. Ford is in a similar position, although its cash should hold out for a few months longer.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson signaled a significant shift on Nov. 12 in how the Bush Administration aims to apply the remaining $400 billion available under the federal government's bailout plan, saying the department would focus increasingly on consumer debt, nonbank financial companies, and homeowners facing foreclosure.

Paulson made clear he no longer plans large-scale purchases of questionable mortgage-related securities, the original model for the $700 billion financial-rescue plan.