While Austin is a city brimming with opportunities, many families find simply affording our city a growing challenge, this is particularly true for families raising children. One critical provision preventing many of Austin’s low- and moderate-income families with children from sliding into poverty are tax returns bolstered by the refundable credits – the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit. It can be a relatively substantial infusion of cash for families making ends meet with low or unpredictable incomes and may be the only opportunity a family has to purchase a vehicle, pay a large security deposit, or address a pressing repair. Foundation Communities is a long-time partner of United Way for Greater Austin and has been a cornerstone of this family-sustaining work. In addition to ensuring hard-working families can access their full tax returns for free, they offer a service designed to be convenient, trustworthy, and available year-round. “I’m grateful to all of our volunteers and community partners, including United Way, who make it possible for us to provide free, high-quality tax preparation services each year,” shared Kori Hattemer, Director of Financial Programs at Foundation Communities. “We couldn’t offer this vital community service without their time, commitment and energy. Our tax centers save hard-working families thousands in tax preparation fees and, this year, returned nearly $34 million in refunds to the local economy.” More than 600 volunteers dedicated their time to assisting families, coming together to achieve an incredibly tangible impact. People relying on private tax preparation […]
Read MoreGet Tax Prep Help for FREE
It’s the beginning of that time of the year again — tax season. Filing your taxes is not always a fun, but no need to worry, there are tax prep and filling services for qualifying (if you make less than $50,000 a year) individuals and families, available at no cost. United Way for Greater Austin’s vision is to create a thriving community for all, so with the help of Foundation Communities, we have complied a list of FREE tax preparation and filing services around town that can help make filing your taxes less stressful: South Austin Community Financial Center – 2600 West Stassney Lane, Austin, TX 78745 (corner of Stassney and West Gate) – 1st floor. Services available January 14th through April 18th. IDEA Allan – 1701 Vargas Road, Austin, TX 78741. Services available January 26th through April 18th. East Austin Lifeworks East Office – 835 N. Pleasant Valley Rd., Austin, TX 78702 – 1st floor. Services available January 19th through April 18th. Round Rock Round Rock Public Library – 216 E. Main Street, Round Rock, TX 78664 – Computer Lab. Services available January 20th through April 18th. North Austin Community Financial Center – 5900 Airport Blvd., Austin, TX, 78752. Services available January 16th through April 18th. Asian American Resource Center – 8401 Cameron Road, Austin, TX, 78754. Services available January 27th through April 18th. How to schedule an appointment? You will soon be able to schedule an appointment for tax preparation – stay updated by visiting the Foundation Communities tax prep page. […]
Read MoreFall Day of Caring 2015
Our annual Fall Day of Caring took place last week on September 11th, in conjunction with the National Day of Service and Remembrance. We could not think of a better way to remember this day than by giving back to our community, and neither could the hundreds of volunteers who joined us. This year, volunteers gave back what equates to more than $80,000 worth of work in just one day! More than 1,000 volunteers spent the day giving back at 40 projects across the city, including gardening projects, clean ups, assembling materials for our programs and sprucing up afterschool and Pre-K sites. Many of the volunteers came from our corporate partners, who utilized the day to not only give back but as a great opportunity for team-building. Team members from GM and UPS assembled materials for our Play To Learn program and loaded tablets for low-income families with educational apps and parent resources. Austin Coca-Cola assisted our funded partner BookSpring with sorting books. Rockwell Automation, PBK Architects, Aspen Heights, Build-a-Sign and Liquidation Channel teamed up to prep Creative Action for their variety of youth programs. Freescale employees worked on a variety of projects at Girlstart, the Empty Bowl Project and the Capital Area Food Bank. Farmers Insurance worked at Blackland Community Development Corporation. UWATX’s Women’s Leadership Council, a group of our most invested women donors dedicated to our early childhood education work, spent the day at El Buen Pastor organizing the resource room. JE Dunn and Advisory Board Company worked on improving the playground […]
Read MoreFree or Low-Cost Afterschool Programs
Afterschool programs not only provide a safe and supervised space for adolescents, which can prevent them from engaging in risky behaviors, but also provide learning outside of the classroom. Studies show that students participating in high-quality afterschool programs display improved behavior and lower levels of absenteeism, earn higher grades, and perform better on tests compared to non-participating students. These types of programs can be expensive, but local nonprofit organizations (including many of our funded partners!) provide all types of extracurricular activities to students for free or a low cost. Breakthrough Austin Breakthrough provides afterschool and weekend programs, and provides programming for students all the way through high school. They work to meet all of the needs of each child by providing a case manager and extended learning times. Their programs encourage STEM learning, community service and college prep. Learn more on Breakthrough Austin’s website. Foundation Communities Foundation Communities hosts more than 700 children at their free afterschool and summer learning programs at seven Learning Centers around Austin. Their programs promote academic success as well as health and fitness education. Locate the Learning Center near you for more information. ACE-Austin Afterschool Programs ACE-Austin is Austin ISD’s network of 20 before and afterschool programs that are free of charge. These programs range from tutoring to filming to STEM education to character education. Learn more by speaking to your child’s counselor. Extend-a-Care EAC offers infant, toddler, pre-K and afterschool childcare for kids up to age 12 onsite at various school campuses. There are […]
Read MoreIt’s Tax Return Season!
For some people, it”s the most wonderful time of the year–tax return season! What could be better than the government paying YOU?! The actual process of preparing your taxes–not so wonderful. Whether you”re just out of college and filing for the first time on your own, or have multiple jobs and are having trouble keeping track of it all, we have some great resources to make it easier for you. The deadline to file taxes with the IRS is April 15th. United Way for Greater Austin partners with Foundation Communities to provide tax preparation services through Community Tax Centers. If you earn $50,000 or less annually (slightly higher for households of more than five people), you qualify for free tax preparation! Last year, these Community Tax Centers (CTC) filed 20,000 returns for local individuals and families and generated $36 million in refunds. You can either make casino online an appointment with a CTC volunteer or walk-in, or even drop off your documents to be prepared and pick them up a few days later. Call 2-1-1 today to find the nearest tax preparation location to you or visit the Foundation Communities for more details. Prepare for your appointment by using this checklist to make sure you have all of the documents you will need in order to file. Already received your return? Use our Bank Locator tool to locate a bank close to you to make the most of your return. Feeling generous with all of your newfound cash? Consider making a donation so we can continue to support services like the Community Tax Centers!
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