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This
page offers insights into Innovative Initiatives that are preventing
and ending homelessness. Here you will find a far-ranging set of replicable
efforts focused on our common mission to eliminate homelessness with
especial attention to this Administration's goal of eliminating chronic
homelessness in the next decade.
Whether collaborations between the business community and homeless
providers, housing initiatives supported by managed care organizations,
new housing technologies, research that impacts our country's streets,
or borrowed service methodologies, this page offers the reader innovative
ideas that support our common objective, ending homelessness.
And we won't limit ourselves to these shores. Whenever we discover
an initiative that supports the goal, we'll make that new "technology"
available to you, wherever its origin.
The focus will, of course, be on those initiatives that have documented
outcomes that result in ending homelessness. Independent corroboration
is an important element in any such determination, as are results.
Presenting “20 in 20”. . .
Twenty replicable innovations that are achieving results in preventing or ending homelessness presented one per day throughout the month of May 2008,
beginning May 5.
 Innovation Number 5:
Federal-State Partnership to create the Prince Home as new permanent supported housing for homeless veterans with disabilities
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Federal-State investment partnership creates new permanent supported housing for homeless and disabled veterans in Illinois at the Prince Home on the Manteno State Veterans' Home campus
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Illinois' Governor's initiative partners state and federal agencies to maximize use of State Veterans' Home campus and further Governor's commitment to homeless and veterans populations and housing preservation
What is the Innovation and How Does It Work?
Creating new permanent supported housing for homeless and disabled veterans in a Federal-State partnership on State Veterans Home campus in Illinois
The Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs Prince Home at Manteno is a permanent supported housing program for homeless and disabled veterans located at the State Veterans' Home in Manteno, Illinois and is a "first" for the state. In 2006, Governor Blagojevich announced his vision for a new pilot program to give homeless Illinois veterans housing and assistance at the State's Manteno Veterans' Home. The newly renovated Prince Home at Manteno provides housing and supportive services for 15 disabled, homeless Illinois veterans, providing a model for how to overcome challenges in financing housing for disabled veterans, including veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The Manteno campus is located in rural Kankakee County, Illinois, 40 miles south of Chicago.
The new Illinois resource opens its doors to male and female veterans just as more than 200 new permanent housing vouchers targeted to homeless veterans were also awarded to Illinois communities through the 2008 HUD-VASH program, which is making more than 10,000 newly- funded vouchers available across the country.
Work on the Prince Home began in 2006, and the new site opened in November 2007 to provide permanent housing, advocacy, therapeutic and supportive services for 15 veterans. The new housing facility is wheelchair accessible and provides residential housing for eligible men and women veterans. It offers a community environment within its therapeutic milieu, one of structure, interdependence and care and concern. Volunteer work, employment and treatment are components of the Prince Home model.
New residents are now moving in. The Prince Home is staffed by a program director, a caseworker, two addiction counselors, and one psychiatric nurse. Seventy-five percent of the veterans in the program are homeless individuals referred by federal VA medical centers and Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs. The additional 25 percent of residents are homeless veterans referred by the Veterans' Assistance Commission and community providers.
Who Benefits from the Innovation?
Illinois veterans who are homeless and living with disabilities benefit from the new single permanent housing units that provide stable housing with services, including semi-private bathrooms, kitchenettes, new carpet, and on-site laundry facilities.
The State of Illinois government benefits by partnering state and federal housing resources in a renovation initiative that maximizes use of a state veterans campus.
The community benefits by ending the homelessness of individuals who have served their country and are living with mental and physical disabilities, making them vulnerable and expensive to community infrastructure and veterans programs.
The community benefits from advancing the implementation of Governor Blagojevich's housing goals for homeless and veterans populations, as called for in the 2007 Annual Comprehensive Housing Plan, which is based on three principles: affordability and choice; creation and preservation; and leadership.
Notes the Housing Plan, which focuses on the needs of both persons who are homeless and veterans: " . . . it is critical for policymakers at all levels of government and in all types of communities to guide and promote housing as fundamental to community and economic health. Leadership requires accountability through identifying priorities, setting goals for the use of resources that reflect these priorities, and reporting on production."
What Results are being Achieved and Reported From the Innovation?
Fifteen formerly homeless veterans living with disabilities are now moving into permanent supported housing at the Prince Home. The housing initiative costs the State less than $7,000 per year, per veteran in operating and supportive service expenses.
The Prince Home tapped into state and federal resources to create new permanent supported housing, renovating and improving a site on the State Veterans Home campus. The new housing adds capacity to state veterans initiatives in health care, income, and employment.
"The Prince Home is an example of the political will and leadership of a Governor who is focused on housing solutions for homeless people and veterans, and state agencies with leaders such as Department of Veterans Affairs Director Tammy Duckworth and Housing Development Authority Director Dibble who are partnered to end the homelessness of their poorest and most vulnerable neighbors," indicated United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano. "Combining state resources with federal investment to create new housing is good for everyone, housed and homeless alike."
Who is the Innovator?
Governor Ron Blagojevich and Illinois state agencies for housing and veterans affairs successfully coupled $1.3 million from state and federal investment for the renovation of the Prince Home. Federal investment included resources awarded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs Director L. Tammy Duckworth and Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA) Executive Director Kelly King Dibble partnered to create the new housing. The Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA) allocated $816,000 from the State Affordable Housing Trust Fund following on Gov. Blagojevich's 2005 Building for Success: Illinois Comprehensive Housing Plan which identified the homeless community, including homeless war veterans, as one of the priority populations targeted for affordable housing spending. The Illinois Veterans Foundation provided pre- development capital for the initiative.
Where Can I Learn More About the Innovation?
To learn more about the Prince Home, contact the Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs, Homeless and Disabled Program Director Deanna Mackey
Phone: 815- 468-6581
To learn more about Veterans Care, the state's program to provide comprehensive, affordable healthcare to Illinois' uninsured veterans who have the least access to reliable healthcare, cannot currently access Veterans Health Administration's benefits, and who meet specific income requirements, visit their site.
To learn more about Governor Ron Blagojevich's initiatives for veterans, including Veterans Cash, an Illinois lottery ticket where 100 percent of proceeds ($4 million as of Nov. 2007) go to support Illinois veterans, visit their site.
To read the 2007 Illinois Comprehensive Housing Plan, visit the Illinois Housing Development Authority.
To learn more about the federal HUD-VASH permanent housing voucher program for homeless veterans, visit the HUD Veteran Resource Center (HUDVET) or the Department of Veterans Affairs.
To learn more about The State Home Program partnership between the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the States to construct or acquire nursing home, domiciliary and/or adult day health care facilities, visit www.va.gov.
Innovation Number 4:
Measuring Local Results in Ending Homelessness
through a State Plan:
Washington State's Intergovernmental Partnership
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Washington's Counties report their results in ending homelessness from County 10 Year Plans to the Washington State Interagency Council for an Annual Report to the Governor and Legislature on progress in ending homelessness in the state
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Counties identify to the State Interagency Council recommended state level policy changes that could improve 10 Year Plan outcomes
What is the Innovation and How Does It Work?
A formal structure for reporting progress, measuring results, and recommending policy change in legislatively-mandated County 10 Year Plans across Washington State was established through the Washington Department of Community, Trade, and Economic Development (CTED) as one step in the implementation of Washington's Homeless Housing and Assistance Act passed in 2005. The Act required counties to develop 10 Year Plans and made available targeted new state budget resources to end homelessness. Washington's action is one example of state political will and resources coupled with intergovernmental partnership informed by local strategies.
The Washington State Legislature's action, intended to guide the state's plan and initiatives to end homelessness, charged CTED - which also chairs the State Interagency Council - with the responsibility of establishing a progress report for local governments regarding their 10 Year Plans.
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CTED created an Annual County Report Form in which counties identify state level changes in policy and law necessary to reduce and end homelessness.
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Recommendations are categorized as: Policy Changes Only; State Law Changes (no funding increases); and New State Funding.
Counties are also required to report progress to the State in areas including both quantified primary performance measures (such as expenditures for housing and services dedicated to reducing homelessness) and plan implementation measures (such as state, federal and local operating and services costs per homeless person served).
Who Benefits from the Innovation?
Washington State's 10 Year Plan, supported by both the Legislative and Executive branches, benefits from the aggregate identification of issues and challenges faced by counties as they develop and implement their 10 Year Plans.
The State of Washington benefits from local jurisdictional planning and performance reporting that draws on each county's utilization of targeted resources available that are focused on measurable reductions in homelessness; demonstrate government cost savings over time; employ evidence- based models or promising approaches; could be supported after the state's project funding ends using criminal justice, social services, health, and other system resources; are replicable; include a strong performance measurement component (up to 20 percent of a project award can be used to ensure that outcomes are collected using academically rigorous methodology); and are consistent with the state and local homeless plans.
The Executive and Legislative branches benefit from performance reporting on state revenue. The Homeless Grant Assistance Program (HGAP) helps finance programs and projects described in local homeless plans that are intended to achieve a higher level of coordination with criminal justice, social service, health, and other state and local systems that result in positive system changes. Local jurisdictions are expected to propose innovative, cost-effective models that are replicable throughout the state.
What Results are being Achieved and Reported?
CTED has compiled the counties' policy change requests and brought recommendations to the State Council for next steps. The Council's other members include the Departments of Corrections (DOC), Employment Security (ESD), Health (DOH), Social and Health Services (DSHS), Veterans Affairs (DVA), and Office of Financial Management (OFM).
The State Council is currently reviewing the first round of recommendations from counties under the new process. Recommendations came from individual county 10 Year Plans to End Homelessness and from county annual reports required by the Homelessness Housing and Assistance Act. Recommendations came from stakeholders, community members, service and housing providers who participated in the development of the plans.
The Council in late 2007 received formal county requests for state policy changes communicated via local plans and annual reports. Recommendations were in the areas of corrections, youth, de-siloing funding, and data and reports. Discharge and reentry issues were most widely identified for state remedies.
The Council then reviewed the recommendations for consistency with the Council's charter and formed four work groups within the Council. The requests for policy action are combined with draft responses from state agency staff for a review currently underway. The recommendations will also be used to inform an update of the State Plan later this year.
Who is the Innovator?
Washington State has effectively designed a comprehensive system of county reporting that combines quantitative progress measures in reducing homelessness with contextual reporting on barriers, challenges, and policy issues. The State's initiative is a product of a legislative strategy for statewide planning and results in ending homelessness.
The innovation in reporting and policy review reflects the larger results-oriented strategy that - from its origins in legislation and gubernatorial Executive Order establishing the State Council - has been mutually reinforcing between levels and branches of government to achieve results. Along with 48 other states and 3 territories, the State Council is partnered with the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness.
This trajectory can also be seen in the document fee funding structure that was set up with counties automatically receiving a portion of the funding and the state receiving funding that it passes through to promote innovative initiatives at the county level through the homeless grant assistance program (HGAP) administered by CTED.
The reporting process has also resulted in a peer group of the counties who are grantees being established last year to help them communicate best practices, problem solve, and provide support to one other.
Where Can I Learn More About the Innovation?
To learn more about the County Report to Washington State, visit the CTED site.
To learn more about the Homeless Housing and Assistance Act sponsored by Rep. Mark Miloscia, visit the State Legislature's web site. For his work on Washington's legislative initiative, Rep. Miloscia was recognized at the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Third Annual National Summit for Jurisdictional Leaders with the 2008 Home for Every American Award to a State Legislator.
To learn more about the Homeless Housing and Assistance Act's targeted resources which are derived from a document recording fee and split between the state and the counties to invest in 10 Year Plans, visit CTED's information site.
Innovation Number 3:
Securing an ID for persons who are homeless -
A Project Homeless Connect innovation from Norfolk and San Francisco
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Public-private Project Homeless Connect partnership creates increased access to the vital resource of identification for persons who are homeless, bringing benefits, employment, and housing closer
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One-day, one-stop engagement at Project Homeless Connect is the opportunity to lower barriers, solve problems, and create immediate results for persons who are homeless
What is the Innovation and How Does It Work?
Securing an ID for persons who are homeless: A Project Homeless Connect innovation from Norfolk and San Francisco
For a person experiencing homelessness, the loss, theft, or damage of identification, personal papers, or discharge documents can mean no longer having vital records that help create a trajectory to end homelessness. Further, lack of a place to receive one's mail, document costs and fees, and often sequential filing requirements for key items (first, you need a document from another state, then you can file for an ID, then you can apply for a benefit) pose extra difficulties.
One place where solutions have emerged to secure ID on-site or on an expedited basis and at no cost is through Project Homeless Connect events and their expansive community partnerships. Securing identification needed for everything from benefits applications to employment and housing gives hope for the future.
Today we profile the innovations of two Project Connect cities in securing ID for homeless guests.
In Norfolk, Virginia, the indispensable feature of the ID innovation at Project Homeless Connect, by which a person walks away from the event with an ID card, is the ability to confirm a person's identity on site using existing data sources. Food stamp records can be accessed on site during the Connect event. City officials have found that most Project Connect guests have a food stamp eligibility record, and that those who don't may have another qualifying record that verifies their identity, such as a corrections record.
As a result, the individual receives a city-sponsored ID card which is accepted for employment assistance, use of homeless programs, and as an accepted second form of ID for the Department of Motor Vehicles. The Project Homeless Connect event is not the only time a person can get a city sponsored ID, but the event offers a one-stop process.
At the Connect event, a worker from the Department of Social Services accesses food stamp records to confirm that identity was established in the food stamp eligibility process and that the file is not more than 5 years old. All documents in the food stamp files have been electronically scanned. A worker from the Department of Human Services prepares the actual ID using the same process as is done for city employees. Background color is changed to distinguish the city-sponsored ID from a city employee ID. The city-sponsored ID which the homeless guest receives that day includes photo, food stamp case number, and an expiration date. The ID is valid for 2 years.
In San Francisco, an individual with a birth certificate or another form of identification can register for an ID at the Project Homeless Connect site. For those who do not have a birth certificate, Project Connect provides a registration process to obtain a new document within the Department of Motor Vehicles station creating ID's at the event. Individuals register at the DMV station and receive a voucher for their new ID. Project Homeless Connect negotiated both a reduction in the $21 fee to $6 and obtained the resources to pay the fee for the client, resulting in free ID. DMV mails the free identification card within two weeks. The agency will use general delivery or a caseworker as the recipient address for an individual's new identification document.
Many Project Homeless Connect events are using a sponsorship approach for needed fees, a strategy which quantifies for a donor that, for example, a specific amount of money will help obtain a birth certificate or driver's license for one individual, which helps donors understand that fairly small sums often stand between an individual and needed outcomes. $50, for example, will secure an out-of-state birth certificate.
Who Benefits from the Innovation?
Individual homeless persons benefit by acquiring needed identification documents that ease their access to apply for needed benefits and entitlements, as well as to complete applications for employment and housing. Further, legal identification helps consumers resolve other outstanding matters that may impede their path out of homelessness, whether legal matters or connections with family and friends. Success in obtaining ID at a Project Homeless Connect event after what may have been multiple failed attempts can provide a new outlook for the future.
The community benefits when individual consumers are able to apply for and receive financial and other resources that help end their homelessness, making them new neighbors in the community with the means to work, rent housing, and conduct other business.
Project Homeless Connect sponsors and partners benefit by knowing that their individual sponsorship of a resource at the event makes a genuine difference in a person's life and future.
What Results are being Achieved and Reported?
In Norfolk, which began its ID program at the August 2006 Project Homeless Connect, about 50 IDs were issued at the first event.
At the most recent Project Homeless Connect in February 2008, 175 IDs were issued.
Norfolk Office to End Homelessness Director Katie Kitchin estimated that at least 100 ID's were issued at each Project Connect since the first event, after staff at the inaugural Project Connect found that at least 50% of the homeless guests had no form of ID.
In San Francisco, during all the PHC events in the city in 2007, 970 ID's were issued.
San Francisco's Project Homeless Connect event in February 2008 resulted in 286 DMV identification cards being issued.
The city reports its results on its web site after each Connect event.
San Francisco Project Homeless Connect, the pioneer of the innovative one-day, one-stop model, has created a multi- pronged strategy for securing identification on-site for its guests. San Francisco has now convened more than 20 Connect events since 2004, "breaking the myth that people do not seek assistance and services and would simply prefer to be on the street" and offering community volunteers from the public and private sector an opportunity to welcome their homeless neighbors into the "living room" and life of the community.
Who is the Innovator?
In Norfolk, Mayor Paul Fraim's Office to End Homelessness, directed by Katie Kitchin, worked with the Departments of Human Services and Social Services, as well as the City Attorney to develop its innovation. The City Attorney reviewed and approved the on-site verification using existing data sources with personal identifiers.
San Francisco pioneered Project Homeless Connect as an innovative one-day, one-stop engagement strategy under Mayor Gavin Newsom and 10 Year Plan Community Champion Angela Alioto. Implementation by Mayor's staff Dariush Kayhan and Department of Public Health Project Homeless Connect Director Judith Klain has ensured that Project Homeless Connect's partners and results continue to grow.
Where Can I Learn More About the Innovation?
Norfolk: To learn more about Norfolk's ID innovation, contact the Office to End Homelessness:
Phone: 757-664-4488
Email: homelessness@norfolk.gov
San Francisco: To learn more about San Francisco's ID resources, contact Project Homeless Connect:
Phone: 415- 255-3908
Email: help@projecthomelessconnect.com
Or visit the Project Homeless Connect web site.
With encouragement and technical assistance from the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, Project Homeless Connect has now been adopted by more than 170 cities across the nation. Project Homeless Connect has another goal besides immediate access to quality of life resources and on-site housing and employment opportunities to end homelessness: Project Homeless Connect is intended to change how business is done in local communities when it comes to expediting outcomes, lowering barriers, removing obstacles, and increasing results.
Consistent with the Council's commitment to the rapid dissemination of what's working, Project Homeless Connect events have brought to light new solutions to old challenges shared across the country.
Project Homeless Connect's "under one roof" offerings for consumers and the "mobile hospitality" of volunteers who act as escorts, shepherds, and conductors for their homeless neighbors help lower their barriers and achieve results. Public and private sector resource providers work side-by- side in a new configuration, with a focus on problem - solving and results.
Innovation Number 2:
Reporting Results in 10-Year Plans – Sacramento’s Scorecard
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Public accountability is increased through a quantified results "report card' documenting progress toward goals and benchmarks in a city-county 10 Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness
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Public education and awareness improve by creating an easily-read and understood report on progress in creating visible, measurable and quantifiable change in the lives of everyone in the community, housed and homeless
What is the Innovation and How Does It Work?
A public press conference in February 2008 and resulting media coverage, including in The Sacramento Bee, achieved the goal of public accountability for Sacramento City and County's 10 Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness created in 2006.
Public reporting and community education were included in the five strategies in Sacramento's Plan, and the new Progress Report provides the future foundation for the public accessibility to outcomes that the Plan called for.
Mayor Heather Fargo, County Supervisor Roger Dickinson, 10 Year Plan point person Bruce Wagstaff, Director of the Sacrament County Department of Human Assistance, and former Plan point person Diane Luther prepared and released a report card on progress, "The First Year: 2007 Progress Report For Sacramento's Ten Year Plan To End Chronic Homelessness."
The report card fulfills two purposes.
First, it quantifies progress in achieving the goal of new housing for persons who are chronically homeless, in preventing homelessness through housing preservation and development, and creating the new Leadership Structure to oversee implementation and measure results. The report also provides illustrated profiles of formerly homeless neighbors who are succeeding in their new housing.
Second, the report card explains key concepts and plan activities in an easily read format, giving the progress report added value in educating the broader community about strategies and goals.
The report card defines the housing and services pipeline ahead in the next phase of action steps, as well as potential barriers and challenges (budget issues, development underway, and funding applications pending).
Who Benefits from the Innovation?
Persons who are chronically homeless benefit by Sacramento's public expression of political will by the Mayor and County officials demonstrating public commitment and accountability for the 10-Year Plan and its goal of ending homelessness for the most disabled and vulnerable persons in the community
Community infrastructure - law enforcement, hospitals, emergency rooms - benefits by seeing the continuing expression of political will of jurisdictional CEO's from the City and County who are committed to ending chronic homelessness.
Residents of Sacramento benefit by learning about what's working to end homelessness for their neighbor, including engagement strategies and housing opportunities organized for results for the most vulnerable, disabled, and expensive.
What Results are being Achieved and Reported?
A public press event for the release of the scorecard and resulting regional media coverage ensure broad community knowledge of the 10-Year Plan and its first year results.
Quantifiable outcomes reported in the scorecard demonstrate that results are being measured, including:
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Goal: The Plan's 3-year housing goal was the creation of 218 new rental opportunities for persons who are chronically homelessness.
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Result: 171 persons housed in year 1 and funding for an additional 140 rental units planned for 2008 - 2009.
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Goal: The Plan called for preventing homelessness through housing preservation and development, with a goal to create 200 new SRO units and preserve 100 SROs for extremely low income people with disabilities.
Results: The 100-unit downtown Berry Hotel has been purchased by a developer who is assembling financing to rehabilitate and preserve the building as very low income housing. Two more projects are in the pipeline to preserve or replace SRO resources; the YWCA has requested funding to preserve an existing 32 SRO units, and a site at the corner of 7th and H Streets may be developed to provide up to 160 replacement units.
Who is the Innovator?
All of the Sacramento 10-Year Plan Committee, Plan Chair Jeanne Reaves, President-CEO of River City Bank, and public and private sector leaders, including Mayor Fargo and County Supervisor Dickinson, committed to the Plan's goal of evaluation and reporting to the community, which resulted in the preparation and release of the report card.
City and County leaders, under the new 10-Year Plan Leadership Structure called for by the Plan and now in place, are implementing the Plan's strategies and measuring and reporting results using a community-oriented report card format.
The new Policy Board, made up of high-level public and private sector community leaders, has the task of providing strategic direction, oversight, and advocacy for the 10-Year Plan and for homeless services. The Board, chaired by Tom Gagen, CEO of Sutter Health Systems, is made up of political and private sector representatives such as Mayor Fargo, County Supervisor Dickinson, Police Chief Rick Braziel and others. The Policy Board provides community accountability, oversight and advocacy for homeless housing and services.
The new Interagency Council, made up of government agencies, service providers, and community stakeholders, is tasked to plan and coordinate service delivery and recommend policies and strategies to the Policy Board. The Council's 30 members represent "the critical housing and services sectors which must come together in new partnerships to end chronic homelessness." The Interagency Council includes more than ten committees which focus on specific issues related to homelessness, such as health care, criminal justice, and Project Homeless Connect. These committees report to the Interagency Council.
Where Can I Learn More about the Innovation?
To read "The First Year: 2007 Progress Report For Sacramento's Ten Year Plan To End Chronic Homelessness," visit http://www.communitycouncil.org/homelessplan
To learn more about Sacramento's Ending Chronic Homelessness Initiative, contact: Tim Brown, Chronic Homelessness Initiative Director at: 916-447-7063.
Additional Resources:
Innovation Number 1:
Virginia CASH Campaign (Creating Assets, Savings and Hope)
What is the Innovation and How Does It Work?
The Virginia CASH Campaign is supported by a Commonwealth of Virginia General Fund appropriation of $230,000 annually to maximize use of the federal Earned Income Tax Credit. The targeted state resources incentivize community-based outreach initiatives and free tax preparation services for low income working families and individuals to assist them in receiving all EITC credits to which they are entitled.
Many persons who are homeless need access to both EITC outreach and free tax preparation services if they are to benefit from the tax credit, which also operates retroactively.
Virginia Governor Tim Kaine designated Earned Income Tax Credit Kickoff Day in January, launching events around the state to raise awareness of EITC filing resources and tax preparation services and to demonstrate political will in support of the state's consumer-focused initiative. Executive Branch agencies for housing, housing finance, and social services have also partnered to offer Virginia Individual Development Accounts (VIDA) with a 2:1 match of funds (including funds provided through the federal Assets for Independence program of HHS) for purchasing a home, starting a business, or financing post- secondary education, if the EITC filer deposits any refund of up to $2,000 in a VIDA.
The Virginia Community Action Partnership is the lead community agency for the statewide initiative, annually reporting results to the Governor and General Assembly. VACAP re-distributes state resources in mini- grants to local partners who provide education, outreach, financial literacy and free income tax preparation services to eligible EITC recipients.
The Commonwealth of Virginia estimates that Virginia taxpayers are eligible for approximately $1 billion in EITC payments annually and that 91,000 - 114,000 households do not file for a projected $167-209 million in credit refunds.
Who Benefits from the Innovation?
 Low income working people benefit: In tax year 2005, 478,365 Virginia households benefited from EITC; the average credit amount was $1,834 per household. Free tax preparation services also can save low income workers hundreds of dollars and help them better provide for basic needs.
Virginia's residents and economy benefit: In tax year 2005, Virginians received $877,336,397 in EITC refunds. The EITC, 100% federally funded, brings money into the state's economy. Data show the most common uses of EITC refunds include medical care, dental work and car repair and purchase, all accessed through local communities.
What Results Are Being Achieved and Reported from the Innovation?
The Virginia EITC Campaign is achieving quantifiable results for low income working filers and for the Commonwealth.
In the 2007 tax season, through VA EITC, over 860 volunteers partnered with 22 local coalitions provided free tax preparation services to eligible persons, preparing over 11,000 federal returns with refunds of over $10.6 million. Almost $4 million was claimed in EITC refunds in 2,900 returns. Volunteer tax preparation time was valued at $500,000.
According to the VA EITC 2007 annual report to the state, compared to the 2005 tax year, the 2007 outcomes represent:
double the number of tax returns prepared
almost a 50% increase in the number of EITC returns
almost a $1 million increase in EITC refunds
double the savings to taxpayers
one -third more local coalitions partnered to the initiative
Most of the local coalitions use TaxWise to file returns and track data. Volunteers are trained and certified by the IRS. Programs report results to the VACAP EITC Project Manager, including returns prepared, total refunds, tax preparation service savings, number of EITC eligible persons, total EITC refunds, Child Tax Credit refunds, Direct Deposit refunds, Split Refunds, number of press releases and public service announcements generated, financial literacy and IDA programs, and more.
VDSS directly contacts individuals eligible for the credit but not claiming it, using client level data from tax returns where EITC was not claimed. VDSS also helps raise awareness of the EITC by printing notices on TANF and child support enforcement checks from December through April and using AmeriCorps members at the local level to conduct outreach.
Who is the Innovator?
In Virginia, both the Executive and Legislative branches of the Commonwealth's government have supported statewide EITC initiatives and built a strong partnership with the Virginia Community Action Partnership (VACAP), the statewide membership association for Virginia's thirty non-profit private and public community action agencies. Virginia also has a non-refundable state tax credit.
In 2003, the Virginia General Assembly's Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission examined EITC participation by clients of the Virginia Department of Social Services (VDSS) and estimated a participation rate of only 13% of those eligible. The State has also estimated unclaimed benefits on a regional basis according to local social service offices.
Upon the recommendation of the Commission, the General Assembly amended the Code of Virginia to add a question to the state tax return form about whether a taxpayer claimed the federal EITC, and to allow the Tax Commissioner to share data with VDSS on whether clients claimed the federal EITC, enabling VDSS to measure EITC utilization and identify eligible persons who did not claim the credit.
 Where Can I Learn More about the Innovation?
Visit the Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Social Services web site for EITC: http://www.dss.virginia.gov/community/eitc.cgi
For local DSS Office contact information, visit: http://www.dss.virginia.gov/localagency
Or call toll-free: 800-552-3431 or by email: citizen.services@dss.virginia.gov
Visit the Virginia Community Action Partnership web site for the VAEITC Campaign and also find background information, fliers, asset building information, and more: www.vaeitc.org
Contact VCAP's EITC Project Manager at 804-644-0417.
Virginia Community Action Partnership's office is located at 700 E. Franklin Street, Suite 14T2, Richmond, VA 23219.
Additional Resources:
Innovative Initiatives by Theme
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