Suyapa is the Executive Director of Prepare + Prosper, the largest tax clinic in the region. The organization offers two main programs to the community: a free tax preparation service and a financial capability service to educate and strengthen the financial security of the community.
Transcript
Suyapa Miranda, the executive director of Prepare and Prosper. So we're actually one of the largest tax clinics in the State of Minnesota, free tax preparation. We've actually got two programs. One is our tax preparation program. The other one is financial capability. And in the tax preparation program, because it's been around for 50 years, I mean, it's definitely like your great grandpa maybe have gone to Prepare and Prosper at this point. Where normally, people would just come into the centers, our VITA centers. So we have quite a few different VITA centers that are within their city. So we can contract with several community organizations at that time too. So now it's more of a process that looks like somebody's making a phone call or registering online for an appointment. And we've got drop-off centers. And then we can also do virtual as well. I think that there is something really empowering about an organization that works on economic justice, especially for the financial capability pieces of what we do too as an organization, and understanding some of the need for our community to have a place that's reputable, a place that's trustworthy. We have one of our programs, Money Mentors, that's literally a judgment-free zone, where people can have a conversation, which is kind of taboo about money, and being able to be with another group of cohorts to other women in those programs and having conversations about it. And then they also have the extended version of having a mentor associated with them too. So in Fair Banking, we get our community signed up for it, and we've got... It's completely open. There's no overdraft fees. There's no minimum deposits in any of those accounts we have with Sunrise Banks. And in that, we're just trying to get everybody signed up. And that also helps to build credit, which is extremely important for community members 'cause we know that has the ability to hinder someone from housing, from transportation, anything that might be needed too with credit scores as well.
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