Children's Hospitals Today - Winter 2023 - 20

FEATURE / FINANCIAL STABILITY
Tax assistance for families
Nationwide Children's began offering tax-preparation assistance
as an effort to help its patient families and some staff
members access the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). The
EITC is available to families below certain annual income
thresholds and is a powerful anti-poverty tool-in 2018, it
lifted more than 10 million people above the poverty line,
including 5.5 million children. Yet, it's estimated that 20%
of eligible workers don't claim the credit. And those missed
opportunities can have detrimental effects on children's
health. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) has identified EITCs as one of 14 key evidence-based
" WE WANT TO HELP THOSE FAMILIES
ACCOMPLISH ALL OF THEIR HOPES,
DREAMS AND ASPIRATIONS. "
interventions that can improve health.
" Strong evidence
consistently links low income to adverse childhood experience
(ACE) exposures and children's long-term health, educational
and social outcomes, " the agency reports.
Jones sees this program as an immediate opportunity to
address the health disparities that result from living in generational
poverty. " By lifting these families out of poverty,
we can start seeing positive effects on some of those health
outcomes, " he says.
The hospital's pilot program launched five years ago and
consisted of a few self-service laptops set up in an old gift
shop space where about two dozen families accessed the free
tax-preparation software. Today, the initiative has expanded
to six fully staffed locations across Columbus, Ohio. In 2022
alone, Nationwide Children's volunteers helped roughly 520
families claim more than $1.5 million in tax refunds, including
about $400,000 in EITC reimbursements.
The hospital's tax-preparation program has grown exponentially
due in large part to three partnerships: Celebrate
One, a Columbus-area infant mortality collaborative; Tax
Time, the regional United Way's Volunteer Income Tax
Assistance collaborative; and Office of Minority Health at
the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which
provided a grant.
Teaming up with community organizations enables
Nationwide Children's to reach a broader population, and
the hospital is cross-training staffers to ensure they convey
a common, consistent message across the groups. Celebrate
One staff and agencies are being trained in referral, outreach
and the value of EITC and related tax credits, while Tax Time
staff are being trained in ACES, risk and protective factors
and community resources for referral.
As such, the tax-preparation service delivers more than
tax refunds to families-it's part of a larger effort: Healthy
Neighborhoods Healthy Families (HNHF). Launched in 2008,
HNHF is a collaboration among Nationwide Children's and
a variety of community organizations, nonprofit programs
and public schools to improve health equity by addressing
social determinants of health in the area. Families seeking
assistance through HNHF can access several opportunities
related to affordable housing, education, health and wellness,
community enrichment and economic development.
20
CHILDREN'S HOSPITALS TODAY Winter 2023
Children's Hospitals Today - Winter 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Children's Hospitals Today - Winter 2023
