Training Alert!

Franklin County Sites:  A rare occurrence is taking place.  One of our tax trainings in Franklin County is not filled!  Do you have anyone at your site that still needs training for this tax season?  Hurry and register them for TOMORROW (Tuesday, February, 15th from 9:30 am - 4:00 pm).  Please contact Heather Pennington to get a spot at 614.935.8401. 

The training is at our downton office, 51 N. High Street, Columbus 43215. The building is on the corner of High Street and Gay Street. The entrance is on the Gay Street side of the building on the corner directly across the street from the Diamond Exchange. Our receptionist will buzz you in and take you back to the computer lab. 

As always, our most current training schedule can be found by clicking on the calendar on the right hand sidebar of this blog.

New training site login

Tired of seeing "Authentication Failed" when you try to log on to the training site?  We now have a brand new way to login and practice with fake clients.

When you are at the training site (remember, it should have a red background), in the counselor login field type "oh" followed by any number between 1 and 500.  For example, the login field could read "oh249" The password field is still the same "tbb12345." 

Happy practicing!

Happy Birthday Alice Nelson!

Alice Nelson is no ordinary client.  Alice and her grandson, Cameron, are discussed and scruntinzed at least once a week here at our office in Columbus, and her life story has been told to thousands of people all  across the state of Ohio.  Alice has been immortalized (ahem, fictionalized) in the OBB training book that I know you all have sitting next to your computer at all times, as it is so valuable to you. Alice is so important that our office commemorated her birthday last week (December 1st)  with a very special, very yummy birthday cake!   If you feel the need to contribute food and/or sweets to help celebrate Alice's birthday, your Central Ohio OBB team will gladly accept these goodies on Alice's behalf.  Check it out!  (Apologies for the photo of a half eaten cake.  Please keep in mind our office contains numerous AmeriCorps VISTAs who are always hungry.  And who love cake.)

Tax training changes

The following changes have been made to tax training dates across the region.  You can always access up to date trainings in the calendar on the right side of the blog, or you can view this document.

Knox County : January 24th (Opportunity Knox)
Morrow County: January 13th (Morrow County JFS)
Madison/Union County: January 7th (Madison County JFS)

How to become and Ohio Benefit Bank counselor

Here is a presentation that explains the steps to becoming an OBB counselor. Just keep clicking the gray arrow at the bottom of the presentation box to navigate your way through the presentation. There is a text version of the presentation beneath the interactive box.

How to become an Ohio Benefit Bank counselor on Prezi

So you've always wanted to become an Ohio Benefit Bank counselor...

1. First, are you associated with an already established OBB site? If not:
1. Use our site finder to find an established site in your area, then contact the site to get approval to volunteer with them with the Ohio Benefit Bank.
2. "Wait!  I already work/go to church/volunteer/know of someplace that would be a great Benefit Bank site.  Can't I just do Benefit Bank there?"
3. Sure!  Check out our other post about how to become a new Benefit Bank site.

Once you're associated with a site, you then need to find a date you can attend training in your county.

1. Find the Google Training Calendar on the right hand side of this blog.  Click to open up the calendar and view upcoming training dates.
2. Register for the training by emailing an AmeriCorps*VISTA Community Trainer (contact information on the right sidebar of this blog as well).
1. Make sure you provide your full name, email, phone number in case we have to cancel due to inclement weather, and the site you are working with.

Remember:  All trainings are from 9:30 am - 4:00 pm.  You will receive an email a few days before the training with detailed location information.

 

Welcome new site: Lincoln Park Neighborhood Center

The Springfield Metropolitan Housing Authority was awarded a Housing and Urban Development-sponsored "Neighborhood Networks Center" grant, the result being a new Benefit Bank site in Clark County called Lincoln Park Neighborhood Center. The mission of this site is  to improve computer access for Lincoln Park and SMHA residents, advance technical literacy, prepare residents for employment placement and advancement, and help bridge the digital divide for youth. The Neighborhood Networks Center will provide SMHA residents with access to computers and the Internet, job training and educational courses, and an additional setting for civic engagement and recreational opportunities. The Neighborhood Network Center will also provide increased opportunities to participate in new technology initiatives that are being planned for the Springfield community. 

 

This new site was also the host of our most recent Clark County counselor training, so a big thank you to them for hosting!  

www.smha-lpnnc.org

They are located at 1900 Huron Avenue, Springfield, OH, 45505.  Their main phone is 937.398.0611 and their appointment phone is 937.398.0612 or 937.398.0613.  They are not open to the public, and use The Benefit Bank by appointment only.