Rita M. Eygabroad Garretson

C.A.S.H. Director

Rita is the Director of the C.A.S.H. (Creating Assets, Savings and Hope) Coalition, part of the Consumer, Housing C.A.S.H. and Community Development Unit in Empire Justice Center's Rochester Office.  As Director, she is responsible for the overall management and operations of C.A.S.H.

C.A.S.H. was established in 2002 with the mission of creating opportunities for workers with low incomes to obtain, maintain and build economic assets. This community collaborative of human service organizations, banks, credit unions, academia and local government, is led by the Empire Justice Center and the United Way of Greater Rochester. In addition to EITC outreach and free income tax return preparation, C.A.S.H. volunteers along with community professionals, link interested clients to community resources such as food stamps, affordable health care and insurance, child care subsidies, bank and credit union services, home buying programs, money management education, and credit counseling.

Before joining C.A.S.H. in 2004, Ms. Eygabroad had more than 15 years of management experience in the areas of economic and accounting analysis, gas and electric utility systems operations, strategic planning, purchasing, materials management, and call center operations. She also had two years of experience as a self employed licensed financial advisor.

By invitation, Ms. Eygabroad has been a presenter at NCTC National Conferences, the 2007 NY State EITC/Asset Building Conference hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank and UW of NY State, the 2007 EITC/Asset Building Workshop hosted by NY State Community Action Agencies, a 2007 Annie E. Casey Foundation sponsored workshop regarding financial coaching, and meetings of various EITC/Asset Building Coalitions within New York State. Topics covered have included coalition governance, establishing and operating an EITC/Asset Building Initiative, opening bank accounts at VITA sites, asset building, and financial coaching models.

Rita is a member of the National Community Tax Coalition [NCTC] Steering Committee; Co-Chair of NCTC Asset Building Working Group; Co-Facilitator of Rochester FDIC Alliance for Economic Inclusion [AIE] Asset Building Products and Services Working Group; and Recipient of IRS Valuable Partner Award.

Rita received a B.S. in Mathematics from Clarkson University; M.S. in Applied Statistics from the Rochester Institute of Technology; MBA in Economics & Finance from the University of Rochester.

Practice Area(s):
Community Development, Consumer