Prosperity Campaign News

Super Tax Day Yields Great Results

On Saturday, January 27, 2007 the Stephen P. Clark Government Center opened its doors to Miami’s working families to offer free tax preparation, banking and financial services. Super Tax Day kicked off the Human Services Coalition’s (HSC) Prosperity Campaign free tax preparation services 2006-2007, now in its fifth year.

Twenty-eight IRS-certified volunteer tax preparers completed returns for about 100 taxpayers.  More than 1,000 attendees accessed services from 38 vendors, including assistance with personal finance, home buying, credit repair, health and personal care, career advancement, immigration and education. 

In partnership with Hands on Miami, HSC coordinated the efforts of 130 volunteers throughout the day, who worked to welcome attendees, provide information, process taxpayer forms and prepare tax returns.

According to exit surveys, an overwhelming majority of attendees found Super Tax Day helpful.  Many were thankful and stated that they saved $90 to $500 in tax preparation fees. 

Attendees found the tax preparers and other volunteers to be extremely helpful and friendly, and many went on to access other services including banking, credit counseling, and health screenings. The event featured 20 workshops and seminars during the event informed attendees about building wealth, KidCare, credit repair, home buying, access to health care, job advancement, and entrepreneurship.

Our Sponsors
Many generous sponsors and partners made this event possible:  Washington Mutual, The Children’s Trust, Miami-Dade County Office of the Mayor, the Parent Academy, Commercebank, City National Bank, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, BankUnited, United Way, the Miami Herald, RiverDeep, AmeriGroup, the InterContinental Hotel, and Miami-Dade Community Action Agency all contributed greatly to the success of the day. 

Special Thanks
The IRS provided tax preparation training and equipment, including 23 laptops outfitted with professional tax preparation software and 14 printers. 

HSC’s nine Prosperity Centers – ACCION USA, CASA, Harvest Fire, Hosanna Community Foundation, Minority Development and Empowerment, Sant La Haitian Neighborhood Center, South Florida Urban Ministries, Touching Miami with Love, and World Relief – as well as the Community Action Agency and the Department of Human Services supplied tax preparation volunteers. 

Operators at Miami Dade County's 311 call center fielded more than 1700 calls prior to the event, and provided information to 2500 taxpayers about the EITC and free tax preparation sites.

Super Tax Day was an enormous team effort facilitated by HSC Staff, Chase Marketing Group and many of our community and corporate partners.  Its success has been recognized as a model to other Florida communities looking to increase awareness around benefits for the working poor and educating consumers about financial, educational and health services.

Outreach
More than 750,000 people in South Florida heard about Super Tax Day through our extensive outreach efforts.  Everyone played a part. Special thanks go to the Parent Academy, the Office of the County Mayor, the United Way, The Children’s Trust, South Florida Workforce, Miami Dade College and Miami-Dade County Public Schools.

Our media outreach included coverage on television, radio and in newspapers. We also ran radio spots, placed ads on buses and the MetroRail. And through a generous donation from Commercebank, placed a billboard along
I-95 in Miami.