PROGRAM HISTORY

In 2003, Family Economic Success (FES) Program began the Volunteer Income tax Assistance (VITA) Program.  Northeast Canton inner city residents were devastated by floods which damaged homes, leaving many homeless,  without electricity, food, water, clean clothing and in many cases residents had little or no insurance.   We all began to witness the strain and the effects the storms had on the Northeast inner city resident.  It was evident that people were going to need a tremendous amount of help in putting their lives back together.

In its inception as a pilot program, we focused on free tax service and opening bank accounts for those clients served.  This program was an attempt to ensure that those needing to file taxes would have access to free tax preparation so that their refund dollars could help get them on their feet.   The program was offered once per week for five weeks at one location preparing 50 returns.

In 2004, as we continued working with local agencies, programs and churches, we began to understand the level of financial literacy among the low to moderate income population of Stark County residents. Most of which are the working poor individuals and families.   We agreed that we had to continue the free tax preparation and to bring financial literacy to the community. 

It was at this time we joined with Stark Metropolitan Housing Authority (SMHA) and SMHA Credit Union to offer our services three times per week at multiple locations preparing 74 returns. 

Our program spread across Canton, Massillon, and Alliance in 2005. We offered services three days each week from 9:00 AM until 5:00 PM at three SMHA Rental Offices.  A survey was implemented for the participants to identify areas of interest as well as interest in a workshop to bring additional information to them.  This produced tremendous results.  The survey results suggested the need for a one-day workshop. We invited representatives from the desired areas of interest to meet this need.  We prepared 323 returns.  

For our 2006 fiscal year, FES Program partnered with Stark County Out of Poverty Partnership (SCOPP), Inc. a recognized non profit 501(C)(3) as our fiscal sponsor. SCOPP began operating in 1991.   They provide affordable housing, first time homebuyers, down payment assistance, home ownership counseling, family and economic development, small business development, education, neighborhood revitalization and youth development.

FES also established the FES Program Stark County Coalition which, at this time consists of 19 members.  We continue traveling to SMHA VITA site locations in addition, to developing traveling sites at various locations throughout Canton, Massillon and Alliance. 

Through the use of SCOPP’s Visible House we set up the main VITA office and established the Neighborhood Resource Center which also houses public access computers, telephones, training space, as well as self help resources throughout Stark County.  In addition, we successfully built a volunteer base of 20 individuals preparing tax returns for 643 clients.  

2007 brought new changes.  We increased participation in the FES Stark County Coalition to 23 members and 9 Sponsors.  The coalition members participated in action planning instructed by Ms. Nancy Leach of Character Counts.  The action planning allowed for coalition members and sponsors to work together on a plan to further develop the FES Program and expand the FES Stark County Coalition (a copy of results available upon request).

To assist with outreach and education, we partnered with local service providers, schools, social service agencies, financial institutions and neighborhood groups to promote the availability as well as provide free income tax preparation services and financial literacy.

At this time the IRS reported that there was over $2 billion of unclaimed refunds owed to Ohio residents which, prompted FES Program to launch an aggressive outreach to review previous year tax returns for clients, expand our services to include City Income Tax preparation, and file for the Stimulus Refund. 
FES partnered with local colleges and businesses which helped us recruit 60 plus volunteers all of whom were trained and certified. As of August 2008 we have filed over 1400 Income Tax, Stimulus and telephone tax returns.  (Source: Cleveland IRS SPEC office and Tax Wise reports off program computers)

In 2008, Stark County Out Of Poverty Partnership and its Board of Directors unanimously approved to adopt the FES Program as a SCOPP program.  We shared the same mission to assist motivated individuals and families by combining public and private resources with their effort to achieve economic independence.  SCOPP and its program initiatives are guided by the following philosophy.  We care about the individuals, families and the communities we serve and the partners with whom we work are guided by these beliefs:

• We recognized the potential of the people we serve to achieve economic independence and direct programs to encourage their efforts.
• We are dedicated to providing our services in the most cost effective, cost efficient manner.  Providing only those programs that we feel will have a long-term effect on the families and individuals we serve.
• We value the relationships of trust and reciprocity that make up our public/private partnership and understand the shared vision and mutual interest we have to improve our community.

Finally, in 2008 SCOPP Inc. received a grant in the first round of funding of the VITA Grant, an award for the operation of the FES Program.

In 2009, FES would experience additional growth.  We would also face some obstacles which caused the coalition members, sponsors and partners to decide that it was time for FES to become an independent tax exempt nonprofit program.

At this time we established an advisory board made up of community and coalition members.  We met with Stark County Out Of Poverty (SCOPP) and its Board of Directors and it was mutually agreed that we would begin the process of establishing FES as an independent program.  We continued to provide free tax services. We had another great tax filing season preparing over 1,497 tax returns with the assistance of 50 volunteers.  At this time FES currently has 34 members. Along with our sponsors we are working together to spread the word about our services and offer tax preparation sites throughout Stark County. 

The Executive Director of Legal Aid, Sara Strattan joined the advisory board and began the legal work to register FES with the Secretary of State and file our 1023 tax exempt status.

We relocated our administrative offices to downtown Canton. We chose a centrally located building which had stood vacant for more than ten years.  This brought life to another downtown block which would later this same year have two more large buildings demolished. 

FES entered 2010 as a nonprofit. On June 25, 2010, FES Program received our own tax exempt status from the IRS.  We completed our 7th year of filing taxes for more than 1,962 clients.  The coalition is steadily growing with 45 partners and together we hosted 25 traveling site days this filing season in addition to our three permanent site locations.

It has always been the goal of the FES Program to be located in communities where there are low to moderate income individuals and families that may not be aware of the work supports available to assist individuals and families.   All of our permanent and traveling sites are near public transportation routes.  We offer flexible hours throughout the filing season to accommodate various schedules.  When conducting outreach we target businesses, employees, senior housing developments and areas which have low to moderate income participants.   

FES Program is the only VITA Program in Stark County.  Since our program’s inception in 2003 we have prepared over 5,849 returns for Stark County’s is low to moderate income individuals and families.  (Source:  Cleveland IRS SPEC office and Tax Wise reports) 

Volunteers are trained and recertified annually in Tax Law, Tax Wise and Quality Control.  All program sites focus on accuracy through the IRS required quality review which, is implemented through our onsite quality reviews conducted by the Site Manager and Site Coordinator.

When conducting outreach, we focus on educating individuals and families about the available tax credits and deductions.  We place extra emphasis in areas concerning the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credits that so many have not claimed.