NAYA E-News: The Online Source for News about the NAYA Family Center

NAYA celebrates a New Homeowner!

Lisa Archuleta (Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde) was tired of paying rent and wanted the safety and stability of homeownership. Lisa and her son Miguel decided to move in with family members to cut costs and save money. Working with NAYA Family Center's Homeownership program, Lisa attended homebuyer education classes and opened a match savings account with NAYA's Individual Development Account program.

Lisa was looking for a home in the neighborhood she wanted and at a price that she could afford. Through NAYA's partnership with Proud Ground, Lisa found the home that she was looking for. The formerly foreclosed home was renovated and weatherized by NAYA Construction Services, a construction trades training program. Lisa was also able to use a down payment assistance grant from her Tribe to increase affordability.

Lisa shared, "Everyone on my home buying team was very helpful. My Realtor, Bev Mayorga (Chickasaw) was exceptional; she took me step by step through the home buying process. I could call her any time day or night and this was very reassuring to me."

Lisa and her son Miguel love their new home, "It has everything we planned for. I am so blessed and thankful for what the Creator has provided us and thankful for the people and resources that have helped us. I feel a great sense of security; we now have an investment for the future. This is quite an accomplishment!"

NAYA offers Free Tax Filing to Community

The NAYA Family Center tax site is now in it's fifth filing season and we are honored to have served so many community members. Last year, the tax site prepared and filed 510 tax returns, refunding just about $780,000 in federal and state refunds directly to the community. For low and moderate income families, the tax preparation fees at commercial tax prep can cost $80 - $200 or more. In fact, if the 510 families that came here for free tax prep had used commercial preparers, we estimate that over $57,000 would have gone to tax prep fees alone. In addition, many lower income families are unfairly targeted for high interest predatory refund loans costing even more money.

This year we are greatly increasing the capacity of the site to serve even more families and individuals with free tax services, helping to increase our community’s stability and security even more!

The site is open February 1st – April 14th, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 3:30-7:30 pm and Saturdays 9 am – noon. The site is “appointment preferred,” but there will be a limited amount of walk-in availability each day on a first-come, first served basis. We are also offering an option for “self-prep”, where people can prepare their own returns using regular, commercial tax software and e-file their state and federal returns for free; for incomes less than $58,000. This service is walk-in only and no appointment is required.

For more information, including what to bring to your appointment, please visit http://www.nayapdx.org/taxes. To schedule an appointment, call 503-288-8177 x319.

Join us for the next Native Professionals and Friends Night