Media Blitz

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  1/19/2011

  

Free Tax Assistance to Local Residents

Three free tax clinics to be held at Oberlin Community Services January 29^th, February 19^th, and March 19^th

OBERLIN, OH – Oberlin Community Services is offering free federal and state tax filing to the residents of southern Lorain County through a partnership between the Second Harvest Foodbank of North Central Ohio and Oberlin College’s Bonner Center for Service and Learning (CSL). Ondrea Keith, an AmeriCorps* VISTA hosted by the Bonner CSL, has organized three tax clinics and recruited both college students and community members to serve as volunteer tax counselors. Ms. Keith serves as a community trainer for the Ohio Benefit Bank (OBB), an Internet-based program that connects low- and moderate-income Ohioans with access to tax filing assistance and work supports, such as food assistance and the Home Energy Assistance Program. The OBB is a joint collaboration between the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks and the Governor’s Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives.

Locally, Oberlin Community Services is one of over 1,180 OBB sites across Ohio that uses the program to offer clients assistance applying for work support programs in addition to tax help. In 2010, the first year of the tax-season partnership between OBB and Oberlin Community Services, three tax clinics helped 54 residents of Lorain County claim over $76,000 in tax refunds.

OBB tax counselors, who are trained Oberlin College and local community volunteers, will use The OBB program to screen for different tax credits, like Earned Income Credit, Child Tax Credits, and Education Credits.  The service is available for free to most Ohioans with annual household income of less than $60,000.

Linda Arbogast, executive director of Oberlin Community Services said of last year’s tax clinics, “This is a wonderful service to our clients.  They are able to have their taxes done in our building, a place that they feel comfortable coming to for assistance of many types.  And, they work with helpful, friendly volunteers who are working only to help them get the most out of their returns.  At a time when money is hard to come by, saving a few hundred dollars by not having to pay a tax preparer can make a big difference to a family.”

A grant from the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks, home of The Ohio Benefit Bank paid for new tables for Oberlin Community Services, allowing tax counselors to have desks on which to set up their laptops.  Last year an Ohio Benefit Bank grant provided a wireless printer.   

The Free Community Tax Clinics of 2011 will be held at Oberlin Community Services on Saturday January 29^th, February 19^th, and March 19^th from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. To make an appointment, or for more information call Ondrea Keith at 440.935.7259.