Mayor Chris Coleman Visits Hiway Sponsored V.I.T.A Site at Mt. Airy
(St. Paul, MN) February 25, 2006 – Newly elected St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman held a press conference at the Mt. Airy Community Center, to speak out against predatory lending practices on high interest tax refund loans. During the press conference the mayor commended the Voluntary Income Tax Assistance (V.I.T.A.) sites for their work with low-income families.
V.I.T.A is a free tax-preparation program for low-income families and is run by the Minnesota Department of Revenue. V.I.T.A. is hosted in various locations throughout the Twin Cities.
The Mt. Airy Community Center is the largest and most successful V.I.T.A. site. It has provided free tax preparation for over 1,500 low-income, disabled, English and non-English speaking and elderly families. Hiway Federal Credit Union (Hiway) is proud to have contributed to this success by being the sole fiscal sponsor of Mt. Airy 's V.I.T.A site for three years. Hiway provides resources including computers and bilingual staff who are onsite throughout the program to translate and coordinate documents.
"This success would not have been possible without the continued support of Hiway and its strong value and mission of giving back to the community," says Richard Som of the Minnesota Department of Revenue.
The Mt. Airy V.I.T.A site will be available every Wednesday evening from 5:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. and every Saturday from 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. through April 15th.
