GSO is sharing the information people need to claim their money by the October 15 tax filing deadline and partnering with Senator Alex Padilla to spread the word. On the ground, we’ve worked with partners across California to distribute 11,350 backpacks full of information about the CalEITC and Child Tax Credit.

Our next step is critical: we must fight at the state and federal level to keep these benefits, including making them permanent, because, in the richest country in the world, no one should struggle to afford life’s basic needs.

Say it with us: Poverty is a policy choice.

Temporary policies put in place in 2020 and 2021  prove how we could end poverty with different policy decisions. Because of the historic expansion of our safety net in response to the pandemic, the Urban Institute projects that there will be 20 million fewer people living in poverty in 2021 than in 2018. This is a record drop in poverty, especially for children. Thanks to pandemic policies like the expanded Child Tax Credit, the projected poverty rate in 2021 is 5.6%. Without these benefits, the projected poverty rate would have been 30.1%. This is huge! Now, however, our country faces a moral choice. Will we allow these benefits to expire, as they are currently slated to do, or will we stand with low-income families and refuse to go backward? Whether there is a pandemic or not, poverty is not an option.

We don’t want anyone to leave their money on the table. Tax Day may be over, but GSO is continuing to push people to file their taxes until the last day to claim 2020 tax credits: October 15. People who do not have to file their taxes because they earn less than $12,000 a year can still qualify for tax credits like the Child Tax Credit as well as receive federal and state stimulus checks like the Golden State Stimulus. Free tax preparation is still available through GetYourRefund.org. Some VITA and Tax Counseling for the Elderly locations are also offering free in-person tax prep until October. We are working in collaboration with partners across the state to spread the word about tax credits and the coming October 15 deadline through both webinars and in-person events.

Child checks are already having a major impact on poverty in California. In July alone, four million California families received more than $1.6 billion to help 6.5 million children thrive. Online, people used #MyChildTaxCredit to share how this money helped pay for diapers, new clothes, and bills. For most people, including those that have filed their taxes or previously received federal stimulus checks, the Child Tax Credit payments arrive automatically on the 15th of every month.The Child Tax Credit is available to any child who has a SSN, even if their parents don’t. Parents with ITINs can receive up to  $300 per child.  The next round of child checks arrives on September 15, and people who have not yet signed up are eligible to receive back payments. Families who still need to sign up can file a simplified tax return using the IRS Non-filer Sign Up tool.

On June 21, California Senator Alex Padilla joined GSO President Amy Everitt for a Child Tax Credit Awareness Day webinar. During the webinar, Senator Padilla commemorated the historic nature of the child checks and encouraged people to sign up. Amy explained the mechanics of how the credit works and how to claim the credit of up to $300 per child (filing taxes or using the IRS Non-filer tool). Learn more about the Child Tax Credit here.

Outreach and education are critical to the success of poverty-fighting efforts like the expanded Child Tax Credit and CalEITC. People who qualify for the first time and live in hard-to-reach communities need extra support to learn about tax credits and enroll. So, we were thrilled to see the California legislature, led by champions Assemblymembers Wendy Carrillo and Phil Ting, expand the budget for outreach and education efforts from $5 million to $15 million. With more funding, organizations like GSO and the United Ways of California can continue working with partners across the state to connect even more people with the resources they need to achieve financial well-being and build a better future.

Earlier this year, the California legislature expanded the Golden State Stimulus to include residents who earned between $0 and $75,000 in 2020. That means two-thirds of Californians are now eligible to receive between $600 and $1,200 beginning in September. Governor Gavin Newsom calls it “the largest state tax rebate in American history.” People who filed their taxes don’t have to do anything else to receive the stimulus. Millions of Californians have already received the first round of the Golden State Stimulus, which was limited to people who qualified for the CalEITC or filed taxes with an ITIN.

Getting children ready for a new school year can be expensive. That’s why GSO collaborated with organizations across the state to let parents know how the CalEITC and Child Tax Credit can help. In San Bernardino, we partnered with the Young Visionaries Youth and Leadership Academy and Desert Mountain Children’s Center to distribute 6,500 backpacks containing flyers about tax credits. We also partnered with the Stanislaus County Police Activities League in Modesto to distribute 4,000 backpacks. The Bresee Community Center in Los Angeles distributed 400 backpacks, with plans to give away more backpacks at another event this month. In total, more than 11,350 children received new backpacks and thousands of families received information to help them afford back-to-school essentials.

The Foundation for California Community Colleges is the official nonprofit for the California Community Colleges system, the largest higher education system in the country. Based in Sacramento, their work reaches more than 2.1 million students across all 116 community colleges. This year, GSO partnered with the FCCC to spread the word about the CalEITC and other tax credits on its campuses in Los Angeles, Riverside, and the Bay Area. To reach qualifying students, they emailed and posted social media, provided class presentations, sent mailers to current and former CalWORKS recipients, and shared flyers at public events. FCCC campuses also shared information at grocery stores and laundromats to reach people where they are. At Palo Verde College in Riverside, a student reported that they could now afford to take their four children on a family vacation – something they had never done before! GSO also co-hosted a webinar with FCCC geared toward community college students.