Community Resource Sharing Newsletter

NE Child Care Tax Credits – Now is the time to act!

Share freely and widely about the NE Child Care Refundable Tax Credit that opened for application January 26, 2026. 

The time to act truly is now. If history repeats itself this funding will be accounted (or authorized) in a few short weeks. 

Are you the parent or guardian of a child in the home 5 years old or younger? You may apply to NDOR (Nebraska Department of Revenue) to receive a refundable tax credit if your total household income is $150,000 or less. To be eligible for the refundable tax credit, children must be enrolled in a Child Care Program Licensed under the Child Care Licensing Act, or have received care from a DHHS approved license-exempt provider enrolled in the Child Care Subsidy Program. Full disclosure folks, read the Child Care Refundable Tax Credit Application Required Information found on the website mentioned in this section for more information on what is required for this tax credit. To qualify, the child must be age 5 years or younger as of December 31 of the calendar year (i.e., under age 6) for which the tax credit is being requested and must be claimed by the parent or legal guardian as the dependent for federal income tax purposes. Example: Your child turned 6 on December 30, 2025, and is claimed as a dependent on your return. You cannot use the child to claim the child care refundable tax credit for 2025 because the child was not under age 6 at the end of 2025. (Taken directly off the NDOR website.) Read more about the tax credit here https://revenue.nebraska.gov/tax-credits/child-care-tax-credit-act/child-care-refundable-tax-credit

Application submission for tax year 2025 opened at 8:30 a.m. Central Time on Monday, January 26, 2026.

The credit will equal:

• $2,000 per child, if the total household income is no more than $75,000; or
• $1,000 per child, if the total household income is more than $75,000 but no more than $150,000.

If the total household income is more than $150,000, the parent or legal guardian is not eligible for the child care refundable tax credit.

It won’t take long and these funds will be gone.

Share this tax credit with families, friends, and co-workers!

Welcome, Lisa!

Hello, my name is Lisa Soto. I am the new Community Prevention Director with the Columbus Area United Way. I’ve been so fortunate to be able to work in the non-profit sector for many years. My background is in social services, and I’ve always had a passion for helping people.

I have been married to my wonderful husband for 20+ years, we enjoy spending time together and going on adventures. When we aren’t out exploring, I’m busy spending time with my shelter dog and my senior cat that I also adopted from a shelter out of state. I’m excited about becoming part of the Columbus community. I look forward to helping contribute to the mission and the valuable work that the Columbus Area United Way does.

January has been a month of goal setting and grant writing with a fresh start of a new year. Coaches sat down with providers from both introduction year and year three, to discuss what 2026 has in store for us and guide them through.

Relationships are BIG in our Rooted community, so we don’t miss a beat to sit down and gather with one another, even if it is a month of no training or collaborations to talk about.

We are planning our Week of the Young Child events for the month of April at our Feb 2^nd Collaboration. So, everyone was challenged this month to have their activity planned and ready to share, along with any supplies they will need for it. The event will start with a free movie at the Schuyler Theater for the whole family on Sunday April 12^th and then family engaging activities Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings that week on the 3^rd floor of the library. Some of the things to expect include stories, food, music, and art activities all lead by Rooted in Relationship providers. See flyer for more information!

PRAPARE Survey

We need your help. 

We are partnering with the East Central District Health Department to distribute a brief community survey. The results will help identify factors that impact the health of our community members, often referred to as social determinants of health. These surveys are vital to collect data in our communities.

The survey is available in both English and Spanish. It contains 11 questions and takes approximately 2 minutes to complete.

We ask you distribute the survey to:

• Those who volunteer within your organization
• Staff at your organization, if applicable
• Those served at your organization

These surveys can be completed online by scanning the QR code. You can also print them and get them back to our office by dropping off or mailing to 3214 25th Street.

Food Access Resources

One word that we like to use to describe ourselves is "connectors." We connect people to resources, to help, to others that can help. With the rising food insecurity needs, a food matrix was created that has resources, as well as information regarding 2-1-1 and Find Help to connect participants to the resources they need. Please find these items below.

Ready to be a changemaker for families? Join the Bring Up Nebraska Network! 

Bring Up Nebraska is a call to action to help families thrive and is supported by Nebraska Children and Families Foundation. Bring Up Nebraska is focused on prevention and strengthening families BEFORE crisis to empower them within their communities. It is about uniting those with shared agendas, implementing systems and providing evidence-based training to support meaningful opportunities and creating partnerships. 

Helping families thrive and focusing on preventive efforts is a priority area of Community and Family Partnership and more voices are needed. The more people involved in the shared mission of improving the quality of life for young people and families, the more impact we can have. Let’s do this together. See more information in the flyer below or visit BringUpNebraska.org.

Have you visited the Schuyler Community Book Garden??

Check it out!

LB304 is a bill that makes permanent the current income eligibility requirements for child care assistance. Without this bill, eligibility for child care assistance will be reduced in 2026, which will significantly impact thousands of families in Nebraska.

What can YOU do?

1) Learn more about the bill and stay informed

2) Share information about this bill - the more people who know about it, the better!

3) Reach out to your state senators and other government officials

Watch these informational videos on the importance of passing LB304

Like what you see? Want to share the news?

Download your own copies of these flyers by clicking on the picture!

Darkness to Light : Stewards of Children Training

February 10th, 9-11:30 AM

Microsoft Teams

*Free Registration with "FAITHREG" at checkout*