How CRCD’s VITA Program Helped a Former Foster Youth Overcome IRS Debt and Focus on Education
Joseph Mariscal participated in CRCD’s first VITA Site Tax Preparation Pilot Program. The VITA Tax preparation program is an IRS-certified income Tax assistance program in which Volunteer tax preparers assist our current and former foster youth with preparing and filing their taxes for free.
The program focuses on ensuring they get the refund they deserve, including the Federal and State Earned Income Tax Credits and on seeing if they can file/correct previous years’ returns.
Being a young adult out of the child welfare system, he was grateful to meet Alexis Obinna. one of our Volunteer Tax preparers, who stated, “I loved the VITA program. It was very empowering explaining people’s refunds and supporting my community. I enjoyed being a part of the positive change I was able to contribute.”
And that is what Joseph Mariscal received. He was not advised that certain income received needed to be claimed. When Financial Coach Veronica Vitela was conducting the quality review for Joseph, she noticed that he owed the state some funds close to $500. Veronica reached out to Joseph and asked if he was able to pay those funds by his deadline. He then explained that he is currently working part-time and is a full-time student but is struggling to make ends meet.
CRCD VITA Site was able to help Joseph pay his debt to the IRS so he could focus on starting his new school semester at California State University Los Angeles without the burden of dealing with the IRS debt.
Joseph and Veronica worked on establishing a budget to find strategies for ensuring all his priorities are met and he has funds to pay for his education expenses.
Veronica looks forward to continuing to work alongside Joseph to provide the support and tools so that he can accomplish all his goals.
