Thursday, May 2, 2024
5/2/2024
Project Abstract Summary Numerous low- and moderate households in Shelby County are eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) but an estimated 20% or more are either not receiving this important financial benefit, or are paying a significant percentage of their refund in interest and fees to predatory tax preparation businesses to process their filing. Additionally, these same households, particularly those in African American and other racial and ethnic minority communities, are known to be at increased risk for Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). This risk for ACEs arises in large part from high levels of economic insecurity and poverty which contribute to poor health and mental health outcomes across the lifespan. To address these problems the project partners will establish the Shelby County EITC Impact Project with the goal of increasing minority households receiving free Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) services and benefiting from the EITC in Memphis/Shelby County communities that disproportionately experience or are at heightened risk for ACEs. The project will be implemented by the EITC Impact Coalition. The lead applicant for the coalition is Methodist Le Bonheur Community Outreach (MLCO). Other collaborating partners are United Way of the Mid-South (UWMS) and the Early Success Coalition. UWMS’s role in this project is to: 1) serve as the provider of free VITA and financial counseling services for the EITC Coalition, 2) provide project staff to manage and implement VITA services as well as expanded VITA marketing in target communities; and 3) to develop and implement a referral portal for potential VITA clients in the UWMS Driving the Dream client data system. MCLO’s and the ESC’s roles are to: 1) provide core staff support to support project implementation; 2) participate by making EITC referrals for VITA services from ESC and Porter-Leath programs, including client referrals for psycho-social services; 3) to actively inform and engage ESC agencies in the project; and 4) participate as a member of the EITC committee and support the project in other ways. Some of the major objectives and outcomes of the project are to: increase the number of unduplicated households receiving EITC refunds annually through United Way’s VITA program by 2,000 over three years; to increase the number of partner agency programs that make direct client referrals to the VITA program through Driving the Dream by 12 new agency programs and in doing so establish a new model for inter-agency collaboration; and to conduct a retrospective statistical analysis to see if there is a significant difference in pre/post responses that shows a change in protective and risk factors for ACEs as a result of EITC receipt.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).
