ReServe is an innovative nonprofit that matches continuing professionals age 55+ (ReServists) with organizations that need their expertise.

Do you want to give back to your community?

Are you looking for an opportunity to re-enter the workforce part-time?

Well, then you should check out ReServe.  ReServe  is a nonprofit that puts adults age 55 and up to work in schools, government offices, and community organizations.  It has been featured in the Boston Globe.

As a potential ReServist, you can be matched with an organization that needs your expertise. Most positions are between 10 and 20 hours a week and last for at least three months.  ReServists get paid a $10 per hour stipend for their efforts.

Organizations who have gaps in their staff can register with ReServe to get the talent they need, through the Give Back, Fill the Gap program.  Or through the Impact Initiatives program ReServists can tackle issues with the community and work one on one with clients who need your skills.

The Boston chapter, launched earlier this year, is operated by JVS Boston in collaboration with Discovering What’s Next.

JVS Boston specializes helping individuals find jobs and get the skills they need to become successful in the workplace and their communities.  Discovering What’s Next provides individuals over 50 with resources and programming and promotes community engagement.

Upcoming Classes and Programs

Neighbors Helping Neighbors meets every Wednesday at 7pm in the Kirstein Business Library.  FYI:  On April 3rd NHN will move up one hour to a 6pm start time.

Stop by the training lab on Tuesday, March 12 at 2:30 to learn about Job Searching Online.

Or you can swing by the training lab on Tuesday, March 26 at 2:30 to learn how to Create a Resume Online.

Cheers!

Are you getting ready to hunker down for Winter Storm Q this afternoon? While the storm is predicted to be less severe than Nemo, it’s always good to be prepared.

The SBA  has assembled worksheets and resources to help you prepare your business for the next disaster.  Along with clean up, recovery, and disaster planning, the SBA has disaster specific information too, including:

• Hurricanes
• Winter Weather
• Earthquakes
• Tornadoes
• Wildfires
• Floods
• Cyber Security
• Workplace Hazards & First Aid

It never hurts to prepare your home for a disaster, as well.  Ready.gov has guides to help prepare you and your family for emergencies.

The site also showcases a unique map of historical storms and disasters. When you click on each state you can see what was happening the day before an incident as compared to the aftermath. If you have been putting off distaster planning for your home or business, this map might make you think twice.

Cheers and stay safe!

We’re glad to hear the passengers aboard the Carnival Triumph are back on land.  Cruising is big business.  Did you know that the cruise line industry generated more than $40 billion in total economic activity to the US economy in 2011, creating 350,000 jobs, and that 20 million global passengers went on a cruise in 2011?  Check out market research, issues, and statistical reports  from the Cruise Lines International Association.

For additional information on the cruise industry, the BPL has a number of resources to help you learn even more:

• Deep Sea Passenger Transportion industry overview from Business Insights: Essentials
• Search by cruise company name for financials and competitor data using Mergent
• Search for industry trade publication news with General Business File ASAP (Gale Group)
• Print titles from our catalog
• eBooks
• e-Journal titles

Renters:  Concerned your rent might increase for your next rental period?

Check the assessment for your apartment, building, or property. Each year an assessor calculates the value of a property.  That value, along with the tax rate, determines the amount of taxes owed. Renters, your landlord may raise the rent if the property’s assessment value has increased significantly.

Are you concerned that your property may be overvalued relative to your neighbors? If  you think your property was valued too high, you may file for an abatement.  Learn how to do it here.

To view the assessment for your Boston property click here and follow these instructions:

• Enter at least a street name in the search form. Hit Enter.
• Find your building or unit in the search results
• Click view details

The valuation history will be on the right hand side of the page.

• At the bottom of the page click View Quarterly Tax Bill and Payment Information for this parcel for FY2012 and FY2013.

This will show you the total amount you or your landlord owes.

NOTE: If you rent, your apartment may have its own assessment.  For example, if you live in a multifamily home your apartment could be classified as a condo instead.  Likewise a multi-unit building  building may be assessed as one property rather than as multiple units.

Many cities and towns have their assessment information online.  Here are other tax assessor databases from towns in the area:

• Brookline
• Cambridge
• Chelsea
• Quincy
• Somerville
• Watertown

Looking to network with other female entrepreneurs?  Look no further than Project Eve.

The Project Eve community prides itself on promoting female entrepreneurship through mentoring and communication rather than swinging around “sharp elbows.” The goal is to provide a a nurturing atmosphere, where ladies can get practical advice and access to resources for starting their own businesses.  The 1,000 members who call themselves Eves and have access to:

• Mentors
• Forums
• Directories
• Job listings
• Events
• Tailored groups
• Guest bloggers

Other nifty stuff

Project Eve has a local Boston group too which has 20 members. With the number of women who come into Kirstein it should be so much higher! Check it out Ladies.

Remember Ladies, and Gentlemen too, if you need help with your business we host SCORE mentors every Friday from 10-1.  Call 617-859-2142 to make an appointment or ask one of the library staff.

We have a variety of other business programs too.  Our popular Getting Started in Business Program is coming up on Jan 29.

Cheers Dears!

When looking for historical foreign exchange rates try using the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System website.  This site offers daily,  monthly, and yearly rates for various countries.

• G.5A Annual -  yearly average rates of exchange 2012-2009
• G.5 Monthly – monthly average rates of exchange back to 1996
• H.10 – daily rates back to July 1996
• H.10 individual Country Data – daily rates back to January 1971

If  you are looking for economic data, FRED is a great place to start.  Put out by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis,  it’s an online database consisting of more than 61,000 economic data time series from 48 national, international, public, and private sources.

A sampling of the types of data available:

• Selected Interest Rates
• Gross Domestic Product 1947-Present
• Consumer Price Index 1947-Present
• Bank Prime Loan Rate 1949-Present
• Resident Population in Massachusetts 1900-Present

This resource also offers a set of data tools that will enable you to create your own graphs, access archival data, and download data with an Excel Add-in.

The Small Business Administration has taken the time to create several tutorials and videos on a wide variety of topics.

Tutorials

If you go the the SBA learning center page you can view a variety of courses for free on topics such as:

• Disaster recovery
• Government Contracting
• Marketing
• Business Technology
• Introduction to Accounting
• Loan preparation
• And more

Each of the 29 courses is about a half hour long and is intended to give you the basics as well as to point out SBA programs that can help you. Users can toggle between the presentation outline and slide notes using the tabs in the pane on the left hand side. One note: they are presented using Flash so you can’t view them on any iOS devices, but you can view the text based versions as PDFs.

Videos

The Learning Center’s videos are also valuable.  Some videos are a great way of seeing how other small business owns came up with solutions to problems. If you go to the SBA’s Youtube account you can see more videos too. This video from their Youtube channel explains SBA issued  Loans:

Other videos include more niche topics such as:

• Establishing an Online Presence
• Team Building
• Record Keeping
• OSHA compliance

If you still need help please take advantage of our SCORE Business Fridays.  You can ask a librarian at the Kirstein reference desk or call 617-859-2142 to make an appointment.  Each appointment lasts an hour on Fridays between 10am and 1pm.

Careerleaf is a great portal for managing your job hunt.  Setup is easy. When you create your account you can import your resume or data from your LinkedIn  account. Your account includes a profile, an email account, and three powerful tools– the job search function, Application Manager, and the Tracklet.

Job Search

The job search function makes it simple to search across multiple job boards quickly. Career leaf pulls from multiple sources including SimplyHired, USA Jobs, Career Builder, Mashable and more. Just type in the job title and your zip code into the search bar and you’re in business.

The Tracklet

Once you find a job posting to your liking, Careerleaf makes it easy for you to apply to openings  and keep track of the postings.  All you have to do is install the Tracklet into your browser. Clicking on it will launch the app and you’re ready to rock.

You can use the tracklet to:

• Autofill an application
• Send emails via your Careerleaf account
• Download your resume
• Add jobs to the Application Mananger

Application Manager
Careerleaf’s Application Manager allows you to keep track opportunities and add notes. The notes can be especially helpful when you are prepping for an interview. Moreover, you can add contact infomation and set the stage you are in the hiring process.  It also makes it easy to add your correspondence to the Application Manager when you use your Careerleaf email.

Two more things…

Take the tour of the website and look at the FAQs   Here you can learn about privacy settings and a little bit more about the features CareerLeaf has to offer. Check out their blog too.

And two, if you next extra support, Neighbors Helping Neighbors is going to be meeting every Wednesday at 7pm here in the Kirstein Library.

Cheers and good luck!

Start plotting out your financial goals for next year by using  Planwise. Planwise is a tool to help you organize and manage your  finances. The best part about it is that it’s free. You don’t  have to include any personal information.

Planwise encourages you to really think about your monthly spending and saving. If you enter your basic financial information (monthly income, loan payments, bills, rent, etc), the tool plots your expenses on a graph. Then you can plan for one time expensive purchases, buying a home, job loss and more.  You can see how your savings or your debt to income ratio are affected.

It’s very easy to learn.

• Go to www.planwise.com
• Take the tour
• Sign up with your email address
• And start planning your future!

Just a note this is just a tool and not a substitute for actual financial advice. If your really need help managing your finances we suggest contacting a certified financial planner.