For those struggling to make ends meet, anxiety is a constant companion. Will there be enough money to cover the rent this month? To buy needed food or medicine? To pay for a child’s school supplies or shoes?

It’s a paycheck-to-paycheck existence that can seem impossible to escape, and it is one that the United Way of Snohomish County is tackling through its latest initiative, the Financial Stability Partnership.

Announced in September, the partnership takes a proactive approach to poverty through programs that help low- and middle-income people and families gain solid financial footing and know-how, said Carl Zapora, president and chief executive of the local United Way.

“It’s a huge step forward for United Ways around the country,” Zapora said of the national initiative, which was launched earlier this year in Washington, D.C. “Handouts aren’t going to solve the basic problem we have in our country and county. Housing in Snohomish County is a big issue. We know that.”

According to a report released in September by the Corporation for Enterprise Development, Washington state ranked near the bottom (42nd) nationally in homeownership, 47th in homeownership by income and 40th in affordability of homes.

The nonprofit group’s report, “Assets and Opportunity Scorecard,” noted that while Washington state ranked high (12th) in families’ net worth, it also was home to a great deal of debt, with the state ranking 43rd nationally in credit-card debt, 44th in installment debt and 43rd in mortgage debt.

Such debt creates a high hurdle for achieving financial security, Zapora said. “We believe that people cannot spend their way out of poverty.”

There has to be more financial literacy, and the United Way will be working with other partners in the community to help educate families on saving and managing their funds, he said.

The September announcement does not mark the organization’s first foray into the world of personal finance, however. In 2003, United Way of Snohomish County launched its Individual Development Accounts Initiative, an incentive-based, market-oriented program to encourage savings and financial responsibility.

Through the program, participants take classes on managing finances while saving funds that are eligible for a savings match.

“That match is only payable when the savings goal is met, and the funds must be spent to purchase a home, start a business or begin education,” Zapora said.

More than 90 families are benefiting from the IDA program, whose community partners include the Workforce Development Council, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Everett Community College, Volunteers of America Western Washington, Cascade Bank, Washington Mutual Bank, and other nonprofit organizations, businesses and governmental entities.

“Snohomish County continues to have extraordinary levels of cooperation,” Zapora said. “… It’s just a community that works very well together.”

Another financial initiative undertaken earlier this year by United Way of Snohomish County was free tax preparation to help low-income families apply for the earned income tax credit — helping them earn a greater tax refund.

“Free tax preparation came out of the (United Way’s) Families Matter Vision Council, which decided that food and security were the number-one issues facing families,” Zapora said, adding that “more food banks are not the solution — getting money into the hands of families is.”

According to the Internal Revenue Service, an estimated $10 million in earned income credits goes unclaimed each year in the county, he said. For the 2007 tax season, United Way set a goal of helping 300 families with their tax preparation.

“We actually processed 500 returns,” Zapora said of the site, which was staffed with 49 volunteers and located at the Boys &Girls Club in north Everett, an area where the average annual gross income of families is $19,000.

The results of the initiative’s $20,000 initial investment were staggering, he said. Participants claimed a total of $767,000 in refunds; $330,000 of that was in earned income tax credits.

“We surveyed all 500 participants. The feedback we got read like a success story,” Zapora said, noting that one mother paid for car insurance so that she could drive to work. Another couple, who received a $1,500 refund, said that they could now buy a bed.

“We knew nationally that 68 percent of families spent their refunds on basic needs. Locally, 83 percent spent their refunds on basic needs,” said Deborah Squires, United Way’s vice president of impact, marketing and communications.

Two to three free tax-preparation sites are planned for the 2008 tax season, he said. Bank of America, among the sponsors of the 2007 pilot program, already has given United Way a $20,000 grant for that expansion effort.

“For us, this was another great lesson: There are different ways United Way can help the community,” Zapora said.

Now he and United Way will expand upon what they have learned from these successful programs with the Financial Stability Partnership.

“We have the IDA program, the free-tax preparation program,” Zapora said. “We’re taking a look at that work … and looking at other strategies to help families become more financially stable.”