Hamilton College volunteers with the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program calculated tax refunds for low-income residents of Oneida County totaling more than three times the dollar amount refunded in 2004, the year the program began.
For the first time this year, bilingual Hamilton students joined volunteers from the Mohawk Valley Latino Association, Inc. as interpreters, providing free Spanish interpretation services to taxpayers at Martin Luther King, Jr. School. They also staffed Oneida County's first rural tax site, the Harding Nursing Home in Waterville.
Students, staff and faculty volunteered at three additional tax sites, spending time each week at Martin Luther King, Jr. School and the Mohawk Valley Perinatal Network in Utica and GPO Federal Credit Union in New Hartford as well as the Harding Nursing Home. The volunteers completed more than 90 returns from February to April and saved taxpayers an average of $100 each in tax preparation fees. Taxpayers received more than $178,100 in combined state and federal refunds, $79,500 of which came from the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), a credit that specifically benefits low-income working families. A major focus of the VITA program in Oneida County is to provide EITC-eligible taxpayers with free tax-preparation and financial literacy training, particularly those previously unaware of this credit or had not filed taxes before.
Hamilton's contribution to the VITA program has continually increased since it began in 2004, when volunteers completed an estimated 54 returns, generating more than $51,425 in tax returns to the community. This year, Hamilton volunteers were responsible for almost 15% of the 1.3 million dollars in returns generated by the VITA program in Oneida County.
This semester, eight student volunteers participated in a class, "Poverty, Policy and Practice," taught by Stephen Owen. As part of the course, each student spent 10 to 15 hours in the community preparing taxes. Owen, economics professor Jeffery Pliskin and staff members from the Arthur Levitt Public Affairs Center volunteered as well, providing assistance to student volunteers. Judy Owens-Manley, associate director for community research at the Levitt Center, and Christie Seaver, community-based research coordinator at the Levitt Center facilitated the volunteer experience.
The Mohawk Valley Asset-Building Coalition, a coalition of human service agencies, runs the VITA program in Oneida County. The coalition is developed in partnership with the Resource Center for Independent Living and Cornell Cooperative Extension of Oneida County with financial support from the United Way of the Greater Utica Area and the Internal Revenue Service.
For additional information, please contact Christie Seaver at cseaver@hamilton.edu.
For the first time this year, bilingual Hamilton students joined volunteers from the Mohawk Valley Latino Association, Inc. as interpreters, providing free Spanish interpretation services to taxpayers at Martin Luther King, Jr. School. They also staffed Oneida County's first rural tax site, the Harding Nursing Home in Waterville.
Students, staff and faculty volunteered at three additional tax sites, spending time each week at Martin Luther King, Jr. School and the Mohawk Valley Perinatal Network in Utica and GPO Federal Credit Union in New Hartford as well as the Harding Nursing Home. The volunteers completed more than 90 returns from February to April and saved taxpayers an average of $100 each in tax preparation fees. Taxpayers received more than $178,100 in combined state and federal refunds, $79,500 of which came from the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), a credit that specifically benefits low-income working families. A major focus of the VITA program in Oneida County is to provide EITC-eligible taxpayers with free tax-preparation and financial literacy training, particularly those previously unaware of this credit or had not filed taxes before.
Hamilton's contribution to the VITA program has continually increased since it began in 2004, when volunteers completed an estimated 54 returns, generating more than $51,425 in tax returns to the community. This year, Hamilton volunteers were responsible for almost 15% of the 1.3 million dollars in returns generated by the VITA program in Oneida County.
This semester, eight student volunteers participated in a class, "Poverty, Policy and Practice," taught by Stephen Owen. As part of the course, each student spent 10 to 15 hours in the community preparing taxes. Owen, economics professor Jeffery Pliskin and staff members from the Arthur Levitt Public Affairs Center volunteered as well, providing assistance to student volunteers. Judy Owens-Manley, associate director for community research at the Levitt Center, and Christie Seaver, community-based research coordinator at the Levitt Center facilitated the volunteer experience.
The Mohawk Valley Asset-Building Coalition, a coalition of human service agencies, runs the VITA program in Oneida County. The coalition is developed in partnership with the Resource Center for Independent Living and Cornell Cooperative Extension of Oneida County with financial support from the United Way of the Greater Utica Area and the Internal Revenue Service.
For additional information, please contact Christie Seaver at cseaver@hamilton.edu.
