Community College Students Strengthen the Volunteer Tax Assistance Program

2019 NACo Achievement Award Winner

Placer County, Calif., CA

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About the Program

Category: Human Services (Best in Category)

Year: 2019

During the 2018 tax season, the Human Services Division partnered with Sierra College, a California community college, and the Roseville Rotary Club to develop an internship program for community college students. Students in the Sierra College School of Business earn credit for volunteering their time to help other students and the community to prepare their tax returns through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program. VITA helps by allowing low-income community members to access the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and California Earned Income Tax Credit (CalEITC), both of which can result in larger returns for tax filers. While VITA is implemented in many other communities, Placer County’s unique approach produced many benefits. First, the partnership created an internship program, which helped ensure that Placer County had enough volunteers to administer the VITA program. Second, VITA created a path for 12 students who served as volunteers to earn course credits. And most importantly, the VITA program transmitted 329 returns, resulting in an average return of $1,604 and generating a cumulative total of $527,714 to the local economy

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