Progress Through Business is planning a new and exciting program to improve the finances of battered women and their children who are temporarily living in a downtown Detroit shelter, by offering free tax preparation, financial coaching, and completion of FAFSA applications.

For a single parent with three children,(data shows that the average battered woman living in the Detroit shelter has either 3 or 4 children), the financial return to 14 clients for the first year is $124,000. The second year, we will expand the program to serve two more sites in cities near Detroit. The expected financial return to battered women served during the first two years is $496,000.

This week we will investigate the possibility of organizing a similar program in Wisconsin.
Mary Lou Black