Center on Business and Poverty

Durham, NC -- Volunteers from Duke Law School will prepare tax returns for Duke employees free of charge. To be eligible for the Volunteer Income Tax Service, known as VITA, employees must earn less than $30,000 annually.

Among the locations, Duke Law students, faculty and staff will be at the Duke University Federal Credit Union, 2200 West Main St. Appointments can be scheduled from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Feb. 8, 15, 22 and 29, and on April 4. To make an appointment at the credit union, clients must visit the Erwin Square Plaza branch.

By JOHN MARKOFF
Palo Alto, Calif.

STEVE WOZNIAK built the original Apple I to share with his friends at the Homebrew Computer Club, but it was his business partner Steve Jobs who had the insight that there might be a market for such a contraption. Indeed, for decades, Silicon Valley has been defined by the tension between the technologist’s urge to share information and the industrialist’s incentive to profit.

Now a new style of “hybrid” technology organization is emerging that is trying to define a path between the nonprofit world and traditional for-profit ventures.

By Emily Sachs
Community Dividend
2008 Issue No. 1
Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis
http://www.minneapolisfed.org/pubs/cd/08-1/eitc.cfm?js=0%20%3C/noscript%

Since the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) was added to the U.S. tax code 32 years ago, it has become the leading federal program for boosting the incomes of the working poor. Traditional cash aid, like that of the former welfare system, did little to encourage recipients to join the workforce and change their socioeconomic status. But by virtue of being directly tied to earnings, the EITC essentially subsidizes work.

Despite underfunding, they help small firms
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
By JOHN SCHMID
Posted: Dec. 2, 2007

Paulette Smith didn't choose to be a business owner. But when her 34-year-old son, Stacey Currie, was killed in a inner city shooting three years ago, Smith took over his auto-detailing business, determined to keep it going despite her admitted lack of experience.