Each fall, we prepare for the coming tax season with our annual Real Economic Impact Tour (REI Tour) October Kick-Off and Celebration at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.

The 2009 Kick-Off included an unveiling of an unprecedented expansion  of the 2010 Tour to what is now 100 cities.

The Kick-Off and Celebration included many honored guests: Guest Speakers Brad Emmerson (AT&T-sponsored USA Team Paralympian), Erika Bogan (Ms. Wheelchair America) and Robert David Hall (a.k.a. Dr. Robbins on CBS' CSI: Crime Scene Investigation); our partners, Internal Revenue Service, Bank of America, AT&T, Darden Restaurants Foundation, Acorda Therapeutics Inc., Walmart, 54Freedom, Visa Inc., and Sealund & Associates Corporation; and our first ever Building Economic Strength Together (BEST) Fellow, Joshua Beal. The goal of the BEST Fellowship will be to create innovative economic empowerment strategies to be tested and piloted with government and private sector support.

The 2009 Kick-Off and Celebration celebrated another first, the launch of our new online disability version of Visa Inc.'s critically acclaimed Financial Soccer game; an educational tool used to expand financial literacy and the interaction of finances and public benefits. In addition to this financial literacy tool, Sealund & Associates Corporation announced the donation of its Alaris Financial Literacy e-learning products. Both will be promoted throughout the 2010 100 REI Tour cities.

We honored a number of REI Tour cities and partners to highlight outstanding participation from the previous year:  

REI Tour City Awards: Rochester, NY, Las Vegas, NV, Denver, CO and Atlanta, GA

REI Tour Deaf Tax Awards: The Independent Living Center, Harlem, NY and Lexington Vocational Services Center, New York, NY

Federal Employee Award: Lee Bowman, FDIC

Outstanding Leadership Award: Brian Moynihan, President, Consumer Banking Division, Bank of America

REI Tour Outstanding Achievement Award: Maria V. Reina, Executive Director, Global Partnership for Disability and Development Secretariat, Burton Blatt Institute at Syracuse University.