A Note from the Coordinator |
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Dear EITC Funders Network, |
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Tax Season is in full swing! This year, the field is working together to maximize the impact of the expansions to the federal CTC & EITC tax credits. Additionally, several states have expanded their state EITCs. It is an incredibly important time in the world of tax credits and we are so excited about all of the momentum happening around the country at this time.
The theme of this newsletter is All About Tax Season. In this edition of the newsletter, we are sharing information and resources for you to review and share with your grantee partners. We will continue to share information via the CTC/EITC Resources page on our website and in our Google Group. Information on how to join the group can be found towards the end of this newsletter.
Ensuring that every eligible family applies for and receives the tax credits helps to set the stage for continued public and private investment and continued tax credit expansions and modernizations. As we move towards the end of tax season, we want to remind you that our work continues. We encourage our members to support these medium and long-term strategies:
- Support communications and narrative change work that underscores the importance of flexible resources for families. For example, providing funds to collect the stories of how families use the tax credits in ways that stabilize and support economic well-being.
- Build advocacy capacity to promote public investment in outreach for existing tax credits.
- Build advocacy capacity to promote state and federal expansions and modernizations of tax credits.
Our progress as a field has been made possible by the work that you do each day. Thank you all for your continued commitment to expanding access to tax credits across the country and for your membership in the EITC Funders Network. We are so excited to be "rowing in the same direction" with all of you!
Sincerely,
Ami & Deneisha
EITC Funders Network
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Join the EITC Funders Network for our annual look at federal and state Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit. Learn more about the opportunities and challenges ahead in 2022. We will also have an opportunity to discuss implications for philanthropy.
Speakers
Esther Turcios, Deputy Director, Colorado Fiscal Institute
Samantha Waxman, Policy Analyst, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
This webinar will be open to staff of philanthropic organizations and philanthropic advisors.
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Interview with a Field Leader |
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Dogwood Health Trust works to dramatically improve the health and wellbeing of all people and communities of Western North Carolina.
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The research is clear about the connection between the EITC and positive health outcomes. Health Foundations play an important role in supporting efforts across the country that connect more low income families with access to tax credits. We are very excited that Brian Myer, the former Senior Vice President of Impact at Dogwood agreed to be our featured guest for this edition of Interview with a Funder.
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Question #1
As a health funder, why is Dogwood Health interested in tax credits? How does it advance the Dogwood mission?
Before I talk about our work at Dogwood, it may be helpful to add a bit about my background in this work. I have been working in philanthropy for 15 and doing work related to the EITC for some years in Washington State
At Dogwood, we are deeply focused on improving health in Western North Carolina and always looking for new ways to approach health equity. As health funders, we know that housing, education and the workforce are huge drivers of health; and, there are natural intersections for partners doing some or all of this work. This is true across the country including in North Carolina. Given my experience in Washington, I was a big champion of building a health improvement strategy that included access to tax credits.
In North Carolina, our work on tax credits built on pilots we ran to test strategies for increasing health insurance enrollment. We worked with Pisgah Legal to answer the questions “How do we make improvements in enrollments for health care? '' and “What are the best practices on enrollment?” . In North Carolina, we were able to build a 14-county coalition of partners to focus primarily enrollment for folks who had never had insurance and show them how to get them enrolled in healthcare. The partnership was super successful. So, I was familiar with tax credits work and their potential impact.
Based on the success of the pilot, we began thinking about how doing other screenings could also help. We initially began with legal and eviction assistance. At the same time, I was hearing about the EITC but not much work was being done in this area even though there was a lot of research about the connection between tax credits and health. We started doing work on tax credits and our efforts were incredibly successful.
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Helpful Information & Resources |
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Please share this information about the EITC with your grantee partners and networks. |
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EITC Funders Network Resources |
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The EITC Funders Network has updated the Resource pages on our website. Take a look at these pages to find helpful information and resources that you can use or share with your grantee partners. |
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Newly Eligible Populations |
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Changes to tax credits for low-income households in the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) are estimated to decrease child poverty by almost 50%.
The ARPA provides a substantial expansion of the EITC for low-wage workers who are not raising children in their home, which nearly triples the maximum benefit for those workers from $543 to $1,502. The bill also allows workers without children who are ages 19 to 24, and those who are over age 64, to claim the EITC, among other improvements.
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Finding Young Adults Eligible for the EITC- A new report & research by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) was released recently. The report's tables use ITEP’s microsimulation tax model to demonstrate how many young adults aged 19-24 would benefit from making permanent the federal ARP enhancements in each state."
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EOF hosts an annual Budget and Tax Briefing to provide funders and philanthropic advisors with a unique opportunity to learn about and discuss why federal and state budget and tax work matters to national, state and local philanthropy.
This year’s Budget Briefing will be a no contact, high engagement virtual series of events that will include four funder learning webinars on Wednesdays in April.
PART ONE: Federal Policy, Budget, and Revenue Outlook
April 6, 2022, 3:00-4:00 PM ET
PART TWO: State Policy, Budget, and Revenue Outlook: A Focus on the South
April 13, 2022, 3:00-4:00 PM ET
PART THREE: 10 Years of the EITC Pooled Fund: Looking Back, Looking Forward
April 20, 2022, 1:00-2:00pm ET
PART FOUR: Meet the 2022 Law & Social Policy Legacy Award Winner
April 27, 2022, 1:00-1:30pm ET
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Join Our Google Group
In addition to the resources page on our website, the EITC Funders Network will continue to share information and resources through our Google Group. The Google Group is the place where we can share information with each other, ask questions of colleagues and keep important conversations moving forward across the network. You can join the google group by completing this form.
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The EITC FN Roadshow
The EITC Funders Network is hosting our Roadshows all over the country to share information about the CTC & EITC with funders interested in work related to tax credits. We are happy to put together state-specific information for any organization or funder network who would like more information about how tax credits intersect with their grant-making priorities.
You can now request an EITC FN Roadshow. Invite your guests and let us put together a presentation for you! For more information, contact Ami Nagle at ami@eitcfunders.org.
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About the EITC Funders Network
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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 Piton Foundation
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation
Anonymous
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