Tameshia Bridges

By Tameshia Bridges, Michigan Senior Workforce Advocate

This tax year, PHI’s Michigan office launched the Earn, Keep, Save MORE outreach campaign, an effort to increase income for direct-care workers. The campaign equipped employers with information and resources they could use to educate their staff about federal and state earned income tax credits (EITC) and free tax preparation services available in the community.

The EITC provides an important opportunity for low-wage workers to build economic assets. Through the EITC, direct-care workers in Michigan can receive tax credits ranging from a few hundred dollars — to over $5000. Yet many workers don’t apply because they are unaware that they are eligible for these state and federal benefits.

Working with 14 employers in 7 counties across Michigan, PHI’s Michigan office provided information to more than 2,200 workers about the EITC and volunteer income tax assistance (VITA) services through paycheck stuffers, brochures, and posters in their workplaces.

In addition, these resources were made available through the  Earn, Keep, Save, MORE website to eldercare and disability services employers that did not work with PHI directly.

Earn, Keep, Save MORE provides an example of how employers can help link their staff to available community resources — a service that is one of the elements of a quality job.

New Passages, a provider of community-based behavioral health services, including adult foster care homes, partnered with PHI on this project.  Jamie Bragg-Lovejoy, vice president of quality, compliance, and risk management, felt Earn, Keep, Save MORE was timely for her organization. “Our chance to collaborate with PHI regarding free employee income tax preparation provided a wonderful opportunity for our organization to demonstrate our on-going efforts to enhance the employee benefit program for our direct-care workforce,” she said. “This was especially important given the economic conditions we have faced over the past year.”

In addition to educating the eldercare and disability services community about the availability of important asset-building resources, this effort also helped raise awareness within the asset-building and EITC community that the direct-care workforce, which is one of the fastest-growing employment sectors in Michigan, should be a target for education and outreach regarding the services they offer.

We look forward to continuing this work next tax season, while recognizing that getting people to use free tax services as opposed to employing a commercial preparer takes time and continued education on the benefits of these services.