EITC Funders Network eNewsletter
Issue 38 I March 2018 
A Note From the Coordinator
Dear EITC Funders Network and friends of the Network,

In the wake of federal tax cuts that largely benefit those at the top of the economic ladder, many eyes are turning to the states in 2018. The implications for states are still unfolding, but as Lauren Pescatore of Tax Credits for Workers and Their Families (TCWF) recently wrote: "tax credit advocates may have an unforeseen window of opportunity for progress in 2018, as states across the country look for ways to protect their residents from tax hikes brought on by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act."
 
Last year, Hawaii, Montana, and South Carolina enacted new state-level EITCs and California, Illinois, and Minnesota improved their existing tax credits. In addition, Massachusetts expanded EITC access to domestic violence survivors and Oregon passed an employer notification requirement to increase the state's low uptake rate.
 
Tomorrow, March 8th, we'll host our annual EITC policy webinar. This year's look at federal and state tax credit policies will provide an overview of last year's legislation and will focus on ways states have and can protect low-income residents through tax credit advocacy. Thursday's webinar will feature speakers from the state campaigns in both Massachusetts and Oregon and we'll also welcome back Erica Williams of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities to talk about this year's momentum in the states.
 
We hope you'll be able to join us tomorrow  for this important conversation about what's ahead in 2018 for tax credit advocacy.

Sincerely,
Ami Nagle, Coordinator
EITC Funders Network
919-493-4393

Inside This Issue
    • Isabel Barrios, Program Officer at the Greater New Orleans Foundation (GNOF)
    • State EITC Policies Can Impact Recidivism Rates
    • Tax Refunds Enable Healthcare Spending
    • Coming Together for Children in Immigrant Families
    • The Wealth Gap by Gender and Race
    • EITC Funders Network Webinar: Tax Credits After Federal Tax Reform: What's Ahead for the Federal EITC and State Tax Credits
      (March 8, 2018 at 12pm EST - tomorrow!)
    • Asset Funders Network: Advancing Economic Opportunity for Immigrants and Refugees (March 21, 2018 at 1pm ET)
    • GIST Annual Budget and Tax Briefing: Navigating the Challenges Ahead Together (March 22-23, 2018)
 
    • EITC Funders Network Webinar: Volunteers Matter: Philanthropic Strategies to Ensure VITA's Success (February 15, 2018)
    • National Immigration Law Center, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and Unidos US Webinar: Tax Filing Issues for Immigrants: 2018 Update (February 8, 2018)
    • TCWF and Prosperity Now Briefing: The EITC in 2018 (February 1, 2018)
    • Prosperity Now Webinar: Innovations in VITA Program Design: Strategies from the Common Cents Lab (December 18, 2017)
interviewInterview with a Funder
Isabel Barrios, Program Officer
Greater New Orleans Foundation


What topic or issue would you be interested to talk with your funder colleagues about?

I am interested in talking with funder colleagues about the need to invest more in organizations with deep roots in community, especially those founded by and serving people of color. To paraphrase our friends from the Family Independence Initiative, people know the solutions to their own problems, and what they need to support those problems is access to resources. Most of the grantees we have worked with over the years in our Economic Opportunity Community of Practice have an intimate understanding of the challenges faced by clients, some have lived through similar challenges, and all have a passion for the work that motivates them to think outside of individual organizations and programs, and to see what really works for the people that they are serving.


fieldnewsNews from the Field / Research News
EITC POLICY
State EITC Policies Can Impact Recidivism Rates

New research from Rutgers Professor Amanda Agan and Clemson Professor Michael Makowsky - The Minimum Wage, EITC, and Criminal Recidivism - finds that minimum wage policies and the availability of state EITCs can have an impact on recidivism rates. Examining administrative prison release records from almost six million offenders released over 14 years, the researchers found that both policies can influence the ability of formerly incarcerated individuals to find employment as well as their legal wages relative to illegal sources of income, thereby having an effect on recidivism. One of the findings states that the availability of state EITCs reduced the probability of returning to prison, though only for women. The researchers note that this finding is not surprising considering the EITC's focus on custodial parents of minor children. Download the full paper here.

OUTREACH & FREE TAX PREP:
Tax Refunds Enable Healthcare Spending

It's tax season and many households are waiting on their tax refund to pay down debt or for spending on necessities. A recent report from the JPMorgan Chase Institute  investigates how tax refunds, as a specific cash infusion, impact the timing of out-of-pocket healthcare spending. Drawing on the JPMC Institute Healthcare Out-of-Pocket Spending Panel data set, researchers analyzed average out-of-pocket healthcare expenditures in the 100 days before and after a tax refund payment. They found that cash flow dynamics are a driver for this type of spending and note that these findings could help insurers, health care providers, and financial intermediaries assist consumers with accessing care when it's needed rather than when cash is on hand. Download the full report here and watch a recording of the   Asset Funders Network Ask the Author webinar with Fiona Greig, Director of Consumer Research at JPMorgan Chase.

BENEFITS ACCESS:
Coming Together for Children in Immigrant Families

Children of immigrants face a range of risks and unique vulnerabilities,  exacerbated by recent policy changes, executive actions, and rhetoric. Two new reports issued by CLASP focus on the immediate and long-term consequences on young children in immigrant families and provide recommendations for supporting immigrant families and placing children's health and well-being front and center.  CLASP will be hosting a webinar on Tuesday, March 13th to discuss the report's findings. Philanthropy also has a role to play. Last year, the Annie E. Casey Foundation and Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants (GCIR), in partnership with Grantmakers Income Security Taskforce (GIST) and the Early Childhood Funders Collaborative (ECFC), hosted a roundtable session: "Advancing Opportunity for Children of Color in Immigrant Families: A Cross Sector Approach." Recommendations for collaborative philanthropic strategies that emerged from the discussions are enumerated and available in the fact sheet: What Can Philanthropy Do? Coming Together for Children in Immigrant Families in a Changing Policy Landscape.

FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT:
The Wealth Gap by Gender and Race

A research brief from the Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity and Insight Center for Community Economic Development - Women, Race & Wealth - examines the wealth inequality gap across both gender and race. The data shows that single young women (under 40), regardless of race and education, begin adulthood with very little wealth. However, looking at women's wealth at an older age (60 plus) shows a stark contrast in outcomes. Older, single black women with a college degree have only $11,000 in median wealth as opposed to the $384,000 in median wealth of similarly situated white women. As the authors note, "black and white women are positioned differently from one another largely because white women benefit more from wealth being passed down from their families...Given past and present barriers that have kept black families from building wealth, private action and market forces alone cannot be expected to address wide-scale racial wealth inequality that is gendered."  Download the full report here.
Upcoming Network and Sister Affinity Group Events affinitygroup
EITC Funders Network Webinar:
Tax Credits after Federal Tax Reform: What's Ahead for the Federal EITC and State Tax Credits?
Tomorrow! March 8th, 2018 at 12pm ET, 11am CT, 10am MT, 9am PT 
 
 
Last year, three states enacted new EITCs and a number of states expanded existing credits. In addition, Massachusetts took an important step in expanding EITC access to domestic violence survivors and Oregon passed an employer notification requirement to increase the state's low uptake rate. This year, several states have already introduced tax credit legislation and states may see additional opportunities to push tax credits in response to federal tax reform.

Join us on March 8th at 12pm ET to talk about last year's progress in the states, novel state approaches to creating more access to the EITC, and what's ahead for the federal and state tax credits in the wake of changes to the federal tax code.
 
Speakers include:
  • Erica Williams, Director of State Policy Initiatives, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
  • Allison Bovell-Ammon, Deputy Director of Policy Strategy, Children's HealthWatch
  • Janet Bauer, Policy Analyst, Oregon Center for Public Policy
 
Asset Funders Network Webinar:
Advancing Economic Opportunity for Immigrants and Refugees
March 21st, 2018 at 1pm ET, 12pm CT, 11am MT, 10am PT

Across the country, immigrants and refugees serve as a catalyst for community revitalization and an engine of economic growth. While newcomers possess an entrepreneurial spirit, they often have limited access to asset building products and services, and many first and second-generation Americans struggle to achieve long-term financial stability.

Join AFN on Wednesday, March 21st at 1pm ET to hear from the author of the soon to be released brief,  Advancing Economic Opportunity for Immigrants and Refugees, Dr. Manuel Pastor, Director of University of Southern California's Program for Environmental and Regional Equity and the Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration, as he shares key findings and promising practices from the research. Participants will explore the unique role that funders can play in advancing economic opportunity for immigrants and refugees.


GIST Annual Budget and Tax Briefing:
Navigating the Challenges Ahead Together
March 22-23, 2018
Washington, DC
 
The Grantmakers Income Security Taskforce (GIST) will host its annual Budget and Tax Briefing on March 22nd and 23rd to provide funders and philanthropic advisors with a unique opportunity to learn about and discuss pressing political developments, federal and state budget and tax issues, and emerging advocacy and communications strategies for protecting programs and policies that support low-income families, workers and communities. 
 
President Trump and Congressional proposals call for massive cuts and harmful changes to federal healthcare and anti-poverty programs.  And higher deficits - in large part due to a sweeping tax cuts bill that benefits wealthy households and profitable corporations - will be used to justify cuts and changes to health care, nutrition assistance and other supports that help everyday Americans make ends meet. Please join us for a funders conversation about why federal budget and tax work matters to national, state and local funders and how philanthropy can respond to meet this moment. This meeting is free of charge and open to foundation representatives and philanthropic advisors only.
icymi
ICYMI: Recent Network Events and Events from the Field
EITC Funders Network Webinar:
Volunteers Matter - Philanthropic Strategies to Ensure VITA's Success
February 15, 2018

The EITC Funders Network hosted a webinar to raise awareness of volunteer management challenges and opportunities specific to VITA and to provide information about best practices in supporting volunteer management.

  Speakers included:
  • Jane Justis, President of the Board of Directors, The Leighty Foundation
  • Gwen Moore, Community Tax Centers Volunteer Coordinator, Foundation Communities
  • Rebecca Thompson, Project Director, Taxpayer Opportunity Network

**March 14th is VITA Awareness Day! Check out Prosperity Now's 2018 VITA Awareness Day Toolkit.

The National Immigration Law Center, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and Unidos US Webinar:
Immigrant Tax Issues 2018: ITIN Renewals and Filings, DACA, Tax Reform, and the Child Tax Credit (CTC)
February 8, 2018

The National Immigration Law Center joined the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and Unidos US to cover such topics as i mmigrant concerns about filing taxes,  Individual Tax Payer Identification Number (ITIN) renewals,  DACA Tax Issues, and n ew tax law updates, including new Child Tax Credit (CTC) restrictions for immigrant children.


TCWF and Prosperity Now Briefing:
The EITC in 2018
February 1, 2018

Tax Credits for Workers and Their Families joined  Prosperity Now  on Capitol Hill to host a policy briefing on the future of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and other vital safety net programs in the wake of federal tax reform.
 
The panel discussion featured:
 
  • Francesca Jean Baptiste, Director of Tax Partnerships, The CASH Campaign of Maryland
  • Chye-Ching Huang, Deputy Director of Federal Tax Policy, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
  • Aparna Mathur, Resident Scholar of Economic Policy, American Enterprise Institute
  • David Newville, Director of Federal Policy, Prosperity Now
  • Daniel Turrentine, Vice President & Chief Government Affairs Officer, H&R Block
 

Prosperity Now Webinar:
Innovations in VITA Program Design: Strategies from the Common Cents Lab

On December 18, Prosperity Now discussed behavioral economics and tax-time interventions with the  Common Cents Lab , part of the  Center for Advanced Hindsight  at Duke University. Researchers from the Common Cents Lab and the VITA programs they partnered with shared findings from two recent studies on innovations in VITA program design.


About the EITC Funders Network

The EITC Funders Network brings together funders interested in the Earned Income Tax Credit, free- and low-cost tax preparation, and asset building. The Network seeks to increase awareness of EITC-related projects, foster collaboration, share information about the current status of EITC-related work, and help shape the future of the field. 

The EITC Funders Network is generously funded by:
The Annie E. Casey Foundation
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation

www.eitcfunders.org