In the fall of 1994, Robert Burke founded the Tax Assistance Program, recruiting 90 volunteers to serve as tax preparers for low-income families living on Chicago’s West Side. Since then, the Tax Assistance Program has mobilized hundreds of volunteers each year to provide critical financial services to the working poor, steadily increasing the number of clients served and volunteers recruited, as well as economic benefits generated, each year. Recognizing the breadth of services now offered, including financial aid form and banking assistance, the Tax Assistance Program is now Ladder Up and has returned $197 million to 100,000 clients since its founding.