News

Earned Income Tax Awareness Day · Celebrating 50 years of VITA

Today the Massachusetts Association for Community Action (MASSCAP) along with the Cambridge Economic Opportunity Committee (CEOC) and the Community Action Agency of Somerville (CAAS) were joined by Senator Sal DiDomenico, Representative Marjorie Decker, Cambridge Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui, Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone, and the Deputy Treasurer Alayna Van Tassel among others in kicking off this year’s tax season by launching the annual Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program (VITA) and celebrating 50 years of this critical program as well as recognizing the importance of accessing the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).

A Focus on Fuel Assistance and Weatherization

MASSCAP, along with LEO Inc., the network of Community Action Agencies in Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Energy Directors Association (MEDA), will launch its annual statewide awareness campaign to ensure that vulnerable Massachusetts families are able to keep safe, warm and healthy this winter. 

Effective programs that help families to make ends meet, like the Earned Income Tax Credit, SNAP, fuel assistance, school lunches, Head Start, and Social Security cut the number of people in Massachusetts living in poverty by almost half and reduce the number of children living in poverty by more than half, according to a new report on poverty called “Obstacles on the Road to Opportunity: Finding a Way Forward Together.” The report was commissioned by the Massachusetts Association for Community Action (MASSCAP) and written by Nancy Wagman, Kids Count Director of the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center (MassBudget).

One Holyoke family is now finally able to make the down payment on their first home. This family with 2 young children and 2 working parents who have been saving for some time left the Valley Opportunity Council (VOC) Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) site smiling.

We very much appreciate and are grateful to our elected officials – our legislators and the governor – for being so responsive and sensitive to the needs of our vulnerable friends and neighbors living with low-incomes and struggling with high energy burdens which are a drain on their limited resources and threaten their health and safety.

As Reported by Crystal Haynes, Boston 25 News:

BOSTON – Families living on tight budgets are facing another tough week with brutal wind chills and snow in the forecast.

As Reported by Kaitlyn Budoin and Michael P. Norton/ State House News Service:

Community action groups often associated with getting heating assistance to people who need it want the Legislature to give them a broader mission that reflects their efforts in areas like food assistance and financial literacy.

Thousands of Households Have Run Out of Home Heating Oil

Advocates have urged the Governor to provide $30M in supplemental Fuel Assistance Resources to meet the immediate need of vulnerable households across the Commonwealth to stay safe and warm this winter.

Thousands of Households Have Run Out of Home Heating Oil

 With bitter temperatures gripping the nation including New England, there is serious concern for the health and well-bring of low-income households – especially those that heat with oil.