Community Action Partnership helps low-income families file tax returns and claim needed refunds
California State controller John Chiang thanked California Baptist University (CBU) accounting students for volunteering their time and talents to assist low-income families in Riverside with much-needed tax preparation services provided as part of the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program in Riverside. Chiang was the featured speaker at EITC Awareness Day, an annual event sponsored by the Community Action Partnership of Riverside County which was held this year at CBU.
“Our state is still in for difficult times for the foreseeable future,” Chiang told the attendees gathered in the Copenbarger Presidential Dining Room to mark the occasion. For the balance of his remarks, however, the state’s highest ranking fiscal officer spoke optimistically of the contributions his office and programs like the VITA service provide to help citizens in the state of California improve their quality of life.
“My office is the second highest volume tax preparation site in the state,” Chiang noted in his comments, explaining that all staff persons who work for the State Controller’s office are required to receive training to deliver such vital community assistance services. The VITA program deploys volunteer tax preparers to more than 1,000 sites throughout the state, as do similar programs that provide free income tax consulting and preparation for the disabled and the elderly.
“The meaning of value is when you are sitting across from that person you are helping, and helping to make them—and you—a better person,” Chiang told the more than 30 CBU students in attendance.
National EITC Awareness Day is organized by the Internal Revenue Service and its stakeholders to educate the public about the Earned Income Tax Credit and requirements to claim the credit. A publicity campaign that follows the kick-off event helps ensure that citizens most in need of the service know where to go to find help.
The CBU volunteers were recognized for more than 1,480 community service hours donated through the students’ participation in the local VITA program, which is provided by the Community Action Partnership (CAP) of Riverside County. Lois Carson, Executive Director for CAP, talked about the “army of volunteers” marshaled on behalf of the local organization’s efforts to “chart a pathway out of poverty” for those the quasi-public agency is chartered to serve.
Chiang speaks at EITC kick-off event in Copenbarger Presidential Dining Room at CBU. |
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CBU accounting students are applauded for volunteer efforts as VITA tax preparers. |
Dr. Ronald L. Ellis, President of CBU, and Ron Loveridge, Riverside’s Mayor, also spoke at the EITC event. Jenice Haskin, Chair of the Community Action Commission in Riverside, welcomed attendees, and Professor Christopher Aaron, Assistant Professor of Business at the CBU School of Business who supervises the volunteer accounting students, concluded the event remarks. Various local elected officials, CAP staff, and IRS representatives also attended the event.
Left to right: State Controller John Chiang with Professor Aaron Christopher of CBU’s School of Business, Mark Hildebrandt, a senior accounting major at CBU and VITA coordinator for the University’s student Accounting Society, and Lois Carson, Executive Director for the Community Action Partnership. |
John Chiang is at center, and is accompanied by various local dignitaries and CAP staff, including Executive Director Lois Carson, far right. Dr. Ellis and Mayor Ron Loveridge are at Carson’s right. |
The EITC is a refundable credit designed to help families stay above the poverty line. The IRS estimates that approximately 25 percent of all eligible taxpayers fail to file a return claiming the credit each year. CAP’s local efforts encourage more eligible families to file tax returns claiming the credit.
The CAP Mobile, an office-equipped motorcoach that travels to meet client families in their neighborhoods, was parked on campus for tours following the EITC kick-off event. Several local community members were on hand to try out the tax preparation services offered by trained volunteers.
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| CAP Mobile parked in A.J. Staples Courtyard attracts tours following the EITC kick-off event. |
Marilu Reyes, a Norco resident, meets with Linda Levin, a VITA volunteer from Hemet and retired investment advisor, to review her taxes during the CAP Mobile’s visit to CBU. |
Photos by Bradley Winter