Earned Income Tax Credit Outreach Campaign

About the Program

Category: Civic Education and Public Information (Best in Category)

Year: 2016

The multi-media Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) outreach campaign is an initiative of the Montgomery County, Maryland Community Action Agency and its local, regional and national non-profit and government partners. The campaign was expanded to use multimedia platforms and integrate resources to build awareness of the Earned Income Tax Credit and increase the number of low-income residents filing for this credit. In addition to providing critical resources to low-income residents regarding free tax preparation services and various tax credits, the campaign links residents with information about financial education, consumer protection, and critical health and human services. The outreach campaign included the creation of a new informational website called CASHBACK and a large-scale marketing campaign to promote awareness of the site. The primary goal of this initiative is to reduce poverty in Montgomery County among vulnerable members of the community by increasing the number of eligible residents filing for the Earned Income Tax Credit and other important tax credits. Outcomes to be tracked will be measured through Brookings.edu EITC Interactive, following release of IRS 2015 tax data.