Earn It Keep It Save It Program

The Earn It! Keep It! Save It! Contra Costa campaign (EKS) is a free income tax preparation service that has helped 13,000 low-income workers file tax returns and receive over $17.2 million in refunds. We are currently recruiting volunteers to serve in a variety of positions.

Last year several cities sent a letters to their City Staff about the volunteer opportunities with the Earn It! Keep It! Save It! Contra Costa campaign. As a result staff persons of those cities volunteered at a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance site near them. We hope that you can send a similar request to employees of your city to help with this important campaign. Attached is the letter that was sent out last year by the City of San Pablo that can be updated with the new information (below).

Last year 213 volunteers served at 18 Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sites throughout Contra Costa County. The volunteers assisted about 2,600 low income individuals and families file their income tax returns which brought over $3.9 million in federal tax credits and refunds back into their hands and helped stimulate our local community. We are hoping to greatly increase the number of volunteers in the campaign so that we can serve more low-income tax payers.

At the recent “Left on the Table in Contra Costa County conference we learned that every year millions of federal Earned Income Tax Credit dollars go unclaimed by eligible residents in our county. In 2007, nearly $20 million went unclaimed by eligible tax payers in Contra Costa County (see attached report). Our EKS campaign goal is to ensure that all eligible tax payers learn about this important work incentive and are able to claim their full tax returns to benefit their households and our local community.

For more information, please contact:

Earn It! Keep It! Save It! Contra Costa
Community Housing Development Corporation
1535 Third Street, Suite A
Richmond, CA 94801
(510) 412-9290 x36
 

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