Getting People Out of the Rain: United Way of King County, Seattle

January, 2006

The King County EITC Campaign’s free tax preparation service has come a long way since its debut in 2002. In the first and second years of operation the tax service was limited to sites in White Center, a small community of 30,000 people south of Seattle, where it partnered with the Annie E. Casey Foundation Making Connections Initiative, and did 1,000 and 1,700 returns respectively. Last year the tax service expanded its reach and turned to a countywide effort. The Campaign did over 4,500 returns in 2005, nearly tripling the number from the preceding year. Clients received six million dollars in refunds, two million of which were from the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).

United Way of King County (UWKC) serves as the lead agency for the King County EITC Campaign, which includes partners such as the IRS, Seattle Jobs Initiative,Puget Sound Labor Agency, AARP,Annie E. Casey Foundation, and many others. The Campaign has about 225 volunteers who speak 28 languages. Dave Sieminski, Manager of Asset Development Programs for UWKC, reports that volunteers are recruited for language capacity in order to meet the need of the diverse clientele.

This year will be the King County Campaign’s fourth year of operation and it seems to be quite promising. Sieminski says that in 2006 the Campaign will provide free tax preparation at 13 sites and will offer public benefits outreach at six of the sites. The King County Campaign will also be one of seven locations around the country to offer split refunds to tax clients as part of a national pilot. Working with financial institutions, this initiative gives clients the opportunity to split their refunds between direct deposit to existing checking accounts and newly opened savings account, giving people a new opportunity to save. Split refunds were previously piloted in Tulsa and New York, and this year King County will join the initiative. Also new this year is the Americorps*NCCC (National Civilian Conservation Corps) team that will volunteer their time to assist in free tax preparation services.

UWKC is one of ten organizations to receive a three-year EITC grant from the Office of Community Services of the Federal Department of Health and Human Services. The grant will be used to expand the asset-building capacity of the Campaign. UWKC will focus on five pilot asset-building strategies including helping people with credit and debt issues, providing financial education, and an initiative to enhance resources for native Spanish speakers.

Free tax preparation and financial services are not the only resources UKWC brings to clients. The organization also invests in other asset-building strategies such as Individual Development Accounts (IDAs). IDAs are matched savings accounts that help low-income families build asset, and every dollar saved is matched by three dollars from the UWKC IDA program. Through October 2005, over 500 IDA investors had opened accounts and 124 had purchased assets. Sixty-five investors have purchased homes, 19 are paying for college education, and 39 have started small businesses. UWKC will enroll at least 150 new investors during 2006.

While the UWKC team is committed to empowering people through financial resources, they see their work in a larger context: the commitment to end homelessness. UWKC’s Out of the Rain Initiative is dedicated to creating poverty prevention strategies to reduce the risk of homelessness for low-income families. By giving people financial education and resources, UWKC is providing a valuable tool to help people get on their feet and stay “out of the rain.”

 

Story by Shaila Rahman, Center for Economic Progress