Business Financial Services
TAP Financial Services is a programmatic component of TAP focusing on financial products and educational services that lead to financial empowerment and self-sufficiency. TAP Business Seed Loan Program
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Business Seed Capital, Inc. (BSCI)
TAP's Business Seed Loan Program is a micro enterprise development program. The program offers educational classes to entrepreneurs on how to start and manage a small business. The program also offers individual technical assistance for new and experienced small business owners. Business Seed also offers specialized classes in accounting and eBay business development. Business Seed Capital, Inc. (BSCI), offers financing to micro enterprises which may not be able to obtain a loan from a conventional bank. Loans range up to $35,000.
TAP Individual Development Account (IDA) Program
The TAP IDA Program is a self-sufficiency project that teaches adults how to manage their personal finances and develop savings. The program features IDA accounts, which are special bank accounts that participants can open and save money for one of three purposes: purchasing a home, capitalizing a small business, or pursuing higher education. When a participant has completed a required money management course, asset-specific training and saved a designated amount of money, the program matches their savings at a rate of 2:1. The maximum allowed savings in the program is $1,300, which the program matches with $2,600.
TAP's IDA Program benefits from the leadership of the Roanoke Valley IDA Partnership, a steering committee composed of local funders, community and government partners, bank and credit union representatives, and TAP staff. This steering committee reviews every application into the program, and volunteers from this group help teach the money management classes that are part of the program. The Roanoke Valley IDA Partnership has control of the program design and reviews all major programmatic design decisions and funding requests.
The TAP Community Tax Project educates the general public about the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), a tax credit that is available to low-income working families with children. This tax credit, worth as much as $4,400 per family, is the largest anti-poverty program in the nation. Not all eligible taxpayers know about the credit, or know how to claim it. During tax season the Community Tax Project operates a free tax clinic for low-income people, where trained volunteers help people to file their taxes for free on the internet.
