West Central Minnesota Communities Action, Inc. is dedicated to reducing the effects of poverty and helping people to achieve self-sufficiency, and improving the quality of rural life. In keeping with this mission, WCMCA continues to provide free tax preparation to low-income individuals/families at sites in Elbow Lake and Alexandria, Minnesota. A major goal of the project is to assist people in accessing the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). One out of four families in WCMCA's five county service area of west central Minnesota, do not file for the EITC. The average EITC return of $1,440 per family could mean a total increase of $1,834,908 annually to families in Douglas, Grant, Pope, Stevens and Traverse Counties (West Central Initiative figure). In fact, in 2011 WCMCA was able to help 547 individuals/families, which generated a total of $983,000 refunds back to taxpayers that utilized WCMCA's free tax preparation program. This figure has made a tremendous impact on the local rural economies. When surveyed, participants indicated that they will spend their refund by paying utility or medical bills, closely followed by making their rent payment. This program has multiple key partners such as the IRS, MN Department of Revenue, AccountAbility MN & the Minnesota Children’s Defense Fund, but truly couldn't happen without the time and talent from a highly skilled and passionate group of certified tax preparers that are RSVP volunteers. These RSVP volunteers serve our nation as greeters, tax screeners, preparers, reviewers and Bridge to Benefits screeners. Bridge to Benefits is a tool that helps taxpayers identify if they may be eligible for any public benefits and then directs them to contact that referral resource. According to the MN Children’s Defense Fund, the average household of five people that WCMCA has helped during the 2011 tax season earns $17,050 annually. The 2012 federal poverty guidelines for a family of five is $27,010. This dollar amount is at 100% of the federal poverty guidelines and so you can see that we are working with the poorest of the poor.
WCMCA's free tax preparation program is guided by principles of economic justice and fairness. The community impact that this program has made, can be measured in many ways such as: total people served, total refunds generated, total partners, total volunteers and other hard numbers. One form of measurement that is always more difficult to share is the human quotient. The number of single moms that expressed overwhelming relief through tears or the laughter from people with special needs whether they are one or many speaks volumes for WCMCA’s free tax preparation success and innovation. This program also offers a pre-paid debit card for those that are unbanked to have their refund loaded onto this card through a partner called Community Financial Resources out of California. This option gave hope to one participant as he stated " There are so many things that prevent me from going from 'getting by' to 'getting ahead' and this pre-paid debit card gives me some choices now! Thank you!”.