For Immediate Release
Grant recipients are members of the San Diego County Community Health Worker Coalition that was created during COVID-19
The San Diego Foundation announced it has awarded $270,000 in grants to 13 local nonprofits to support federal Child Tax Credit application outreach. The 13 organizations are members of the San Diego County Community Health Worker Coalition created and coordinated through the County of San Diego’s Health and Human Services Agency.
“These nonprofit partners came together during COVID-19 to support health equity in under-resourced communities,” said Katie Rast, Director of Community Impact at The San Diego Foundation. “With their expertise as trusted community health workers and promotoras, we hope more families will access the Child Tax Credit to help them through the pandemic and beyond.”
Each organization received $20,000 to support outreach and enrollment efforts. Two grantees will receive an additional $5,000 award to increase their organization’s existing capacity for free tax preparation assistance.
Nonprofits that received funding include:
- Casa Familiar – $20,000
- Chicano Federation of San Diego County – $25,000
- Cooperative Housing Foundation/Global Communities – $20,000
- La Maestra Family Clinic Inc. – $20,000
- Mental Health America of San Diego County – $20,000
- Multicultural Health Foundation – $20,000
- North County Health Project Inc./TrueCare – $20,000
- San Diego American Indian Health Center – $20,000
- SBCS Corporation – $25,000
- Somali Family Service of San Diego – $20,000
- Union of Pan Asian Communities – $20,000
- United Women of East Africa Support Team with San Diego Refugee Communities Coalition – $20,000
- Vista Community Clinic – $20,000
Together, these 13 nonprofit grantees will support outreach and application assistance in more than 36 different languages and dialects to more than an estimated 16,000 local families. This grant will engage community partners that serve the hardest to reach members of the San Diego community, specifically under-resourced families that are not required to file a tax return, and immigrant families. To ensure equitable access to the Child Tax Credit, these funds are intended to support training, outreach, translation or language support, computer access and free tax preparation assistance.
The grant funding is focused on outreach related to the March 2021 increase in the federal Child Tax Credit to provide up to $300 per month per child under age 6, and up to $250 per month per child ages 6 to 17. Millions of families are eligible for thousands of dollars in Child Tax Credit and stimulus payments from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), but many won’t receive them because they haven’t recently filed taxes, or their information on file with the IRS is out of date.
According to the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, San Diego County has more than 25,000 children at risk of missing the expanded Child Tax Credit money. Additionally, the California Policy Lab estimates that up to $140 million in total Child Tax Credit dollars are at risk of not being received for San Diego County children.
San Diego families are encouraged to sign up and enroll for the Child Tax Credit at GetCTC.org/SanDiego. Families that didn’t file taxes in 2021 can apply for advance payments through Nov. 15; after that date families will need to file a tax return in 2022 to receive their payment.
Funding for this outreach was provided by a $200,000 grant from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, $50,000 grant from the EITC Funders Network and an additional $20,000 from The San Diego Foundation. The David and Lucile Packard Foundation works with partners around the world for social, cultural and environmental change designed to improve the lives of children, families and communities. The EITC Funders Network brings together funders interested in the Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit and other supports for low-income families, free- and low-cost tax preparation, and asset building.
