CSU5+ VITA
Collaboration Report 2023
VITA
VOLUNTEER INCOME TAX
ASSISTANCE CLINIC
PRESIDENT’S LETTER
Dear Friends of the CSU5,
Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) programs, in partnership
with the Internal Revenue Service, have long operated on individual
CSU5 campuses to provide free tax services to individuals and
families in Los Angeles County with low-to-moderate incomes,
including the elderly, those with disabilities and/or those who
lack English-language proficiency. These important tax services
are provided by faculty, sta and trained student volunteers from
our respective accounting departments.
Since the national founding of VITA at CSUN in the early 1970s,
these programs have become some of the most distinguished
and long-standing community service eorts in the CSU5, and
they often serve as best practice models for many other VITA
initiatives across the United States.
Our multi-campus VITA collaboration started with the CSU5
campuses: CSUN, Cal State LA, CSU Dominguez Hills, Cal Poly
Pomona and Cal State Long Beach. Today, our eort is known
as CSU5+ and includes VITA clinics at College of the Canyons,
Rio Honda College, Los Angeles Mission College, and Mt. San
Antonio College.
Jane Close Conoley
President, California State University, Long Beach
On behalf of the CSU5 Presidents:
Thomas A. Parham - President, California State University, Dominguez Hills
William A. Covino - President, California State University, Los Angeles
Erika D. Beck - President, California State University, Northridge
Soraya M. Coley - President, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
Powered by more than 500 student volunteers, the CSU5+ VITA Collaboration has provided in the just concluded
tax season free tax preparation to over 12,800 low-income taxpayers in Los Angeles County. In all, we have helped
taxpayers claim more than $13.1 million in tax refunds and $4.2 million in federal and state Earned Income Tax
Credits and saved them close to $3 million in tax preparation fees.
This important CSU5+ Initiative would not have been possible but for the visionary support of Wells Fargo Bank.
We are grateful to Wells Fargo Bank for making this transformative investment in this innovative and impactful
collaboration. As one reads this report, the CSU5’s engagement with and impact on local communities and the
regional economy shines through. We remain dedicated to improving and enriching the lives of individuals and
families in our communities. The CSU5+ Initiative is sterling evidence of this commitment accompanied by action.
Sincerely,
PRESIDENT JANE CLOSE CONOLEY,
CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, LONG BEACH
1 // 2023 CSU5+ REPORT
CSU+ VITA CLINICS
CSU+ TOTAL
NUMBER OF TAXPAYERS SERVED
With the support of Wells Fargo Bank, in 2023 the CSU5+ Initiative deployed 516 student volunteers, who
provided free tax preparation services to 12,830 low-income taxpayers. Powered by more than 26,000
hours of student volunteer services, the CSU5+ initiative generated over $13.1 million in tax refunds, as well
as more than $4.2 million in Earned Income Tax Credits.
WHAT IS CSU5+ VITA
COLLABORATION?
As VITA programs expand to
community college sites, CSU5 has
become CSU5+. Now, university-
based programs collaborate with
VITA clinics at College of the
Canyons, Rio Hondo College, Mt. San
Antonio College. The CSU5+ Vita
Collaboration encompasses eight
college and university campuses
across Los Angeles County.
WHAT IS CSU5 AND THE CSU5
VITA COLLABORATION?
CSU5 fosters collaboration across
the five CSU campuses in Los
Angeles County: CSUDH, Cal Poly
Pomona, Cal State LA, Cal State
Long Beach and CSUN. Through
CSU5’s VITA Collaboration, directors
of VITA clinics across the campuses
work together to coordinate and
expand their programs.
WHAT IS VITA?
The Volunteer Income Tax
Assistance (VITA) program is an
Internal Revenue Service initiative to
provide free tax preparation service
for low income taxpayers through
various partner organizations. The
first VITA clinic on a Cal State
University campus was formed at
CSUN in the 1970s.
CSU+ VITA:
TOTAL NUMBER OF VOLUNTEERS
CSU+ TOTAL HOURS OF SERVICE PROVIDED: 26,438
2
TOTAL TAX REFUNDS:
$. MILLION
TOTAL EARNED INCOME
TAX CREDITS: $. MILLION
3
v
CSU5+ VITA INITIATIVE CONTINUES TO GROW
THANKS TO THE SUPPORT OF WELLS FARGO BANK
VITA WELLS FARGO
Now in the second year of a two-year. $200,000 grant
from Wells Fargo Bank, the CSUN Volunteer Income Tax
Assistance (VITA) Clinic and the CSU5+ VITA Initiative
have expanded to impact to a greater number of taxpayers
throughout Los Angeles County.
The investment from Wells Fargo Bank enabled CSUN’s
VITA Clinic to operate year-round and also help the CSU5+
Initiative – comprised of other CSUs and community
colleges – develop and grow VITA operations. The grant
also supported growth of the CSUN VITA Clinic’s financial
coaching services in the community.
“Well Fargo Bank’s continued support of the CSUN VITA
Clinic has been immensely critical for the clinic’s growth
for the past five years,” said accounting professor Rafi
Efrat, director of the CSUN VITA Clinic and Bookstein
Institute for Higher Education in Taxation. “With Wells
Fargo’s steadfast generosity, we expanded our free tax
preparation services and financial coaching oered to
low-income taxpayers.”
“Wells Fargo is proud to support CSUN’s VITA Clinic,”
said Jack Olree, vice president for community giving
and philanthropy at Wells Fargo. “We are pleased
that through our donation, we will be able to provide
assistance to local residents with no-cost tax services
and financial advice.”
“The CSUN VITA Clinic and the CSU5+ VITA Initiative
oer students a unique and invaluable opportunity to
gain knowledge and experience in their field of study,”
said Colin Rappel, a graduating senior in the accounting
program who has served as the CSU5+ VITA coordinator
this past tax season. Rappel and his team supported
the various CSU5+ partnering campuses with any help
they needed, including recruiting volunteers, marketing
training, supplies and logistics.
“The CSU5+ VITA Initiative was powered this past tax
season at five CSU campuses and four community colleges
in Los Angeles County, operating six days per week with
the help of hundreds of student volunteers, and serving
well over 12,000 taxpayers throughout Los Angeles
County,” said Efrat. “Wells Fargo Bank’s investment in
this program of experiential learning and community
service powered our operation and expansion.”
v
CSUN VITA SERVES MORE THAN
8,500 TAXPAYERS AT 14 SITES
VITA WELLS FARGO
Liberated from the restraints of the pandemic, the CSUN
Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Clinic came back
strong to clinch the top ranking among more than 6,700
VITA sites nationally in terms of returns transmitted.
Powered by more than 250 student volunteers, CSUN
VITA provided free tax preparation and financial coaching
to over 8,500 low-income taxpayers in Los Angeles
County.
In all, the CSUN VITA Clinic helped
taxpayers claim nearly $8 million in
tax refunds and $2.8 million in federal
and state Earned Income Tax Credits,
while saving them over $1.9 million in
tax preparation fees.
This year the CSUN VITA Clinic
reopened its doors on campus and at
13 other sites throughout Los Angeles
County, including seven public library locations. From
Jan. 28 through April 18, dedicated volunteers were
available six days per week and up to 12 hours per day.
With the generous support of Wells Fargo Bank, the
Internal Revenue Service and the California Department
of Community Services and Development, the CSUN
VITA Clinic revitalized the exciting CSU5+ VITA Initiative,
providing the impetus for nine campuses to join together
and serve more than 12,000 taxpayers with the support
of 500-plus student volunteers across the collaborative.
The $200,000 contribution from Wells Fargo Bank also
enabled the CSUN VITA Clinic to integrate and provide
financial coaching services to its low-income clients,
empowering taxpayers to set aside a portion of their tax
refunds to save for long-term financial goals.
In collaboration with CSUN’s Translation and
Interpretation program, and with financial help from City
National Bank, the CSUN VITA Clinic also successfully
integrated Spanish language interpretation service.
CSUN VITA Clinic’s remarkable success during this past
tax season would not be possible without some key
individuals. Professor Rafi Efrat, VITA Clinic director, and
Professor Lucy Nalbandian, VITA Clinic faculty member,
singled out the clinic’s exceptional leadership team,
including dedicated CSUN VITA Clinic co-coordinators
Areli Arujo and Cynthia Montes; operations supervisors
Alexandra Muro, Melissa Cortez,
Maria Anaya de Monarrez, Colin
Rappel, Ammar Al Harthy; social
media communication specialist
Lizette Macias; financial coaching
coordinator, Neeka Miremadi; and
student assistants Lily Cabrales and
Jeny Vasquez-Flores.
Efrat said their unparalleled,
tireless commitment, along with
their versatility, adaptability, and
ingenuity, proved critically important to the success
of the clinic’s operations. Aside from their high
professional competencies, they, along with the clinic’s
lead supervisors, demonstrated superb ability to manage
a high-paced work environment with a calm, positive
predisposition and a “can do” attitude, Nalbandian added.
Efrat and Nalbandian said they were particularly impressed
by the incredible show of professionalism, unity and
commitment demonstrated by the CSUN VITA Clinic’s
team of volunteers, including more than 250 certified tax
preparers and supervisors, financial coaches, and Spanish
interpreters. During the clinic’s recent awards banquet,
several outstanding VITA clinicians were recognized for
their exemplary service, including Maria Bobrova, Nelson
Granados, Bendel Baterina, Joseph Perez, and Andranik
Yelanyan. These individuals were recognized with a
$1,000 scholarship from the Bookstein VITA Endowment
The CSUN VITA Clinic team looks forward to next year
with further expansion of services in the community.
4
CSUN TAXPAYERS
SERV ED
CSUN TOTAL
TAX REFUNDS
CSUN TOTAL EARNED
INCOME TAX CREDITS
5
CSULA VITA CLINIC TEAM HELPING CLIENTS
The California State University, Los Angeles VITA Clinic
has been a beacon of financial hope for the community for
more than 40 years. Providing free preparation services to
local community members and students alike, the CSULA
VITA Clinic strives to go above and beyond each year,
and now as we enter a post-pandemic era, the clinic is
operating in full gear.
“We’re finally achieving our goals,” said John Cooper,
faculty advisor and program administrator for the CSULA
VITA Clinic. “With how many hurdles we had to jump over
in previous years due to COVID-19, it is great to finally get
back to serving the community.”
Last year, CSULA VITA only had one site in operation. This
year, it is running five sites: one on-campus site, three
public library sites, and one site at a nonprofit organization.
“We’re doing something that is very rewarding for
ourselves and beneficial to the community,” Cooper said.
“We’ve had clients come to us for many years to get their
taxes filed and they love the student atmosphere in our
clinics. We want to keep building on that.”
CSULA VITA filed a total of 1,476 returns for the 2022 tax
year. This was a significant increase from 2021, when only
871 tax returns were prepared, Cooper said.
Run entirely by student volunteers, the CSULA VITA Clinic
provides integral training as it prepares the student tax
preparers for their future careers. All student preparers
have to take a mandatory IRS tax preparation training
course. This gives each student the knowledge and
capability to prepare taxes at a professional level.
“Seeing our students turn into young professionals is my
favorite part of our VITA program,” Cooper said. “The
program reinforces many of the concepts they learn in
school and teaches them real-world application. We want
to help our students get recruited by employers when
they graduate from CSULA, and from past experience,
the VITA program gives them quality experience that is a
great boost to their resumes.”
This was Cooper’s third year running the VITA program at
CSULA and he said hopes to keep improving the clinic in
the coming years. Currently, the CSULA VITA Clinic only
oers tax preparation to the community, but Cooper wants
to expand services to oer financial coaching as well.
“We look to our sister college, California State University,
Northridge, as an important resource,” Cooper said. “CSUN
is helping us initiate many of the plans we have for next
year, as well as provide training to our student volunteers.”
CSULA TAXPAYERS
SERV ED
CSULA TOTAL
TAX REFUNDS
CSULA TOTAL EARNED
INCOME TAX CREDITS
ACHIEVING GOALS AT CSULA VITA CLINIC
CSULB TAXPAYERS
SERV ED
CSULB TOTAL
TAX REFUNDS
CSULB TOTAL EARNED
INCOME TAX CREDITS
CSULB VITA CLINIC
The California State University, Long Beach VITA Clinic
has provided free tax preparation services in the Long
Beach area since 1976. In those 47 years, the clinic has
become a financial staple for community members.
Sudha Krishnan, chair of CSULB’s Accountancy
Department, has led the college’s VITA Clinic since 2013.
She said VITA provides a valuable resource not only to
the community but also to the student volunteers who
prepare tax returns for local residents.
“The biggest impact we make is the refunds we can get
the members in our community,” Krishnan said. “We’ve
had so many clients come in and start crying when they
find out how much they’re receiving. VITA also opens
the doors for student tax preparers and their career
possibilities. We help them see the opportunities they
have and the ones they can create. VITA is an extremely
special service.”
COVID-19 put many California VITA clinics into a slump,
Krishnan said. But now in a post-pandemic era, she said
VITA clinics are seeing greater numbers of returns filed in
their communities. This tax season, Krishnan said CSULB
VITA Clinic filed 903 tax returns, a staggering increase
from last year’s 697.
To help the community, the CSU Long Beach VITA Clinic
provides two ways for local taxpayers to file their returns.
People can drop o their tax materials to the VITA Clinic
in the morning before work and then come back later
in the day to receive their completed return and refund
information. Or they can also submit their information
via the CSULB VITA Clinic’s secure online system which
protects personal information while allowing student tax
preparers to finalize and file taxpayer returns. Krishnan
said both methods provide an easy and convenient way
for community taxpayers to file their tax returns.
Krishnan praised her CSULB VITA Clinic student volunteers
for the many benefits they provide to the community,
while also gaining invaluable career experience.
“All of our student volunteers work at the clinic in
conjunction with their upper level accounting courses,”
Krishnan said. “This experience of working with real
taxpayers at our VITA Clinic helps them turn the
knowledge they’re learning in their classes into real-
world experience.”
Krishnan added that each volunteer rotates through
various job positions in the clinic to provide them an array
of career skills, whether that is leadership, administration
work or preparing returns.
For next year and beyond, Krishnan said she wants to
keep expanding CSULB’s VITA Clinic to increase student
and community interaction.
6
A VITA CLINIC MORE THAN 45 YEARS IN
THE MAKING AT CSU LONG BEACH
7
Now in his third year as director of the VITA Clinic at
Cal Poly Pomona, Mohamed Gomaa, associate professor
of accounting, leads a team of student volunteers in
preparing free tax returns for local taxpayers in Pomona
and neighboring cities in eastern Los Angeles County.
As pandemic concerns have eased,
the VITA Clinic at Cal Poly Pomona
has flourished. Last year, Cal Poly
Pomona’s VITA Clinic operated only
one site, but this year it oered
services at seven sites where local
community members could file their
tax returns for absolutely no cost.
“When I was first brought aboard the
VITA team three years ago, there was a
huge learning curve I had to adjust to,”
Gomaa said. “But seeing the benefit
this program brings every year to
students and to the local community
motivated me to keep going and try
to reach a wider audience at Cal Poly.”
The Cal Poly Pomona VITA Clinic
served 590 taxpayers during the
2022 tax season, compared with 252 people in the 2021
tax season.
Because the Cal Poly VITA Clinic is run entirely by student
volunteers, it provides the students with an important
and vital benefit: real-world experience.
Each volunteer must complete a training course led by
a Cal Poly Pomona faculty member, as well as a special
IRS tax preparation certification. This guarantees that
student preparers have the knowledge and professional
capability to prepare tax returns.
“Cal Poly VITA Clinic prides itself on being a learning-
by-doing program,” Gomaa said. “Our students receive
hands-on experience in accounting
and find out for themselves early on
if this is career they want to pursue
after their degrees.”
Gomaa expressed that many of his
students get something more than just
experience being in the VITA program.
It also helps the students better
understand what financial burdens
taxpayers face in the community
around them, and how they can help
ease some of that burden.
Cal Poly Pomona’s VITA Clinic
works in conjunction with the VITA
Clinic at California State University,
Northridge, with CSUN’s VITA team
oering assistance and guidance to
Gomaa’s team.
“CSUN provides a tremendous service to our VITA
program here at Cal Poly,” Gomaa said. “They help fund
our current and new clinics here as well as help answer
any technical questions we might have regarding VITA
as a whole. Their team’s constant support, guidance and
communication with our team is incredible.”
Next year, Gomaa plans to take a sabbatical year. He
will help transition a new program leader into the VITA
program at Cal Poly Pomona.
CSUPP TAXPAYERS
SERV ED
CSUPP TOTAL
TAX REFUNDS
CSUPP TOTAL EARNED
INCOME TAX CREDITS
MOHAMED GOMAA, PH.D., DIRECTOR
OF THE CPP’S VITA PROGRAM
PREPARING TAXES FOR THE COMMUNITY
AT THE CAL POLY POMONA VITA CLINIC
Back when accounting professor Arek Arakelian was an
undergraduate himself, he filed his first tax return at a
local VITA Clinic, not knowing that one day, many years
down the line, he would be running a VITA program.
Now as the program director for the CSU Dominguez Hills
VITA Clinic, Arakelian and his team of student volunteers
work tirelessly to provide free tax preparation services to
taxpayers in Carson and other South Bay cities near the
campus.
“We’re creating a giant impact in our community with
the services we provide at our VITA site,” Arakelian said.
“The team we have now have so much energy and passion
for what we do. Since COVID-19 is on its last legs, our
program has never been stronger.”
Each volunteer who works at the CSU Dominguez Hills
VITA site goes through a training course taught by
Arakelian, as well as a IRS tax preparation certification, in
conjunction with their upper division accounting classes.
This ensures that students have the knowledge and
capability to prepare tax returns proficiently.
“My favorite part of the VITA program is training a
student who knows absolutely nothing about taxes and
teaching them how to prepare a tax return with moderate
complexity,” Arakelian said. “Volunteers learn so many
valuable skills during the tax season that they are able to
apply in the real world, such as communication skills, client
relations skills and tax preparation knowledge.”
Arakelian said that many of his student volunteers receive
job oers from prestigious accounting firms after their
experiences working with taxpayers at the VITA site.
This tax season, the CSU Dominguez Hills VITA Clinic filed
a total of 382 tax returns for the local community, helping
to put money directly back into the hands of taxpayers.
Arakelian said he has big plans for CSU Dominguez Hills
VITA program in the coming years.
“I want to expand our program,” Arakelian said. “By
increasing the number of volunteers and creating more
community engagement, I think we can really continue to
increase the impact we’re having in the local community.”
Arakelian said that California State University, Northridge
has been a great support for the CSU Dominguez Hills
VITA program.
“CSUN is our role model when it comes to the VITA
program,” he said. “CSUN is an important resource for
us. We communicate with them whenever we need help
with any technical questions or simply need to share
experiences. We rely greatly on our sister college.”
CSUDH TAXPAYERS
SERV ED
CSUDH TOTAL
TAX REFUNDS
CSUDH TOTAL EARNED
INCOME TAX CREDITS
CSUDH VITA CLINIC
8
STUDENT VOLUNTEERS SERVE
TAXPAYERS AT CSU DOMINGUEZ HILLS VITA CLINIC
MT SAN ANTONIO VITA CLINIC TEAM
“When I train my volunteers, I try to put them through
unique scenarios that will prepare them before they start
working at our VITA Clinic,” Valdes said. “Whether those
are specific communication scenarios or special types of
tax returns we see, I hope to give them the skills they can
implement in the real world.”
In addition to this special scenario-based training,
volunteers gain valuable career experience during
their time at the Mt. SAC VITA Clinic, whether that be
developing communication, management or team building
skills. Valdes adds that volunteering the clinic also
provides students with a great boost to their resumes as
young adults.
The Mt. SAC VITA Clinic filed a total 472 tax returns for the
2022 tax season. But Valdes said he does not want to stop
there, adding that he hopes to add more tax preparation
days to the clinic schedule next year.
“I feel like we’re finally back on track,” said Steven Valdes,
professor of accounting and program coordinator at Mt.
San Antonio College VITA Clinic. “We’re bringing in pre-
COVID era numbers back into our VITA Clinic and it feels
amazing.”
For the last two years, COVID-19 made tax preparation
at VITA clinics across California extremely dicult,
especially for those clinics that could only oer in-person
tax preparation services. Now entering a post-pandemic
era, Valdes said he is extremely grateful to get back to
the most important thing on his mind: local community
taxpayers.
With 50 volunteer preparers this tax season (a stark
increase from last year’s 30), the Mt. SAC VITA Clinic had
even more hands on deck to handle community members’
tax returns this year. Valdes said he hopes to increase this
trend through future expansion.
“In our first week, we had over 65 returns,” Valdes said of
the most recent tax season. “The community is showing us
just how important our tax services are.”
The Mt. SAC VITA clinic is run entirely by volunteers,
both student and local community members alike. Before
they can prepare tax returns, each volunteer is personally
trained by Valdes, who is a Certified Public Accountant.
The volunteers also must pass an IRS tax preparation
certification, to guarantee that preparers are not only
qualified, but have the knowledge to prepare taxes.
What separates the Mt. SAC VITA Clinic from many others
is an interesting training method developed by Valdes.
MTSAC TAXPAYERS
SERV ED
MTSAC TOTAL
TAX REFUNDS
MTSAC TOTAL EARNED
INCOME TAX CREDITS
9
GETTING BACK ON TRACK AT MT. SAN
ANTONIO COLLEGE VITA CLINIC
Now in her tenth year as VITA site coordinator for Rio Hondo
Community College VITA program, Professor Jeannie Liu
and her team of student volunteer tax preparers continued
to help local community taxpayers file free tax returns for
the 2022 tax season.
“Our services are extremely valuable to the community
as we service so many taxpayers who otherwise would
need to pay for tax preparation,” Liu said. “Many of our
taxpayers are lower income, disabled and elderly people,
who desperately need the services we provide.”
Liu’s core team includes faculty volunteers, Professor Janet
Cha from Rio Hondo and Professor Rik Ichicho of Whittier
College. Their program is staed by student volunteer
tax preparers and reviewers, with each client’s tax return
going through a strict review process to provide accurate
services to the community, Liu explained.
When a taxpayer comes in, they are greeted and screened
for qualification into the program. After filling out an
intake form, which provides a checklist of required
personal documents, clients are assigned a tax preparer
who goes over information for their tax return. When the
taxpayer’s return is ready to be filed, a tax reviewer ensures
all information is correct and ready to be signed.
Each volunteer at the Rio Hondo VITA Clinic must complete
tax preparation training conducted by Liu as well as an
IRS tax preparation certification. This ensures that student
volunteers have the knowledge and capability to prepare
a tax return, and that taxpayers receive accurate returns.
The program benefits many taxpayers in the community
as well as the student volunteers, who receive real-world
professional and technical experience in accounting.
“Many of our students have told us great things about
their experience in the VITA program,” Liu said. “They’ve
expressed their appreciation for the opportunity to get
hands-on experience in the tax world and to learn about
careers they can pursue in the accounting world. One of
my students told me the benefit they receive in the VITA
program is that they get to see how their position directly
helps the community.”
The Rio Hondo VITA program served 252 taxpayers during
the recently concluded tax season with the help of 24
student volunteers and generated close to $400,000 in
federal and state tax refunds, and almost $100,000 of
federal and state Earned Income Tax Credits.
Liu said she still has many plans for the Rio Hondo College
VITA program. She wants to continue to work with
California State University, Northridge to help grow Rio
Hondo’s volunteer base and hopes to expand marketing to
increase the program’s community impact.
“Our students motivate us to keep coming back,” Liu said.
“We want to give our students the opportunity to give
back to the community and put into practice the tax
knowledge they receive in the classroom.”
RHC TAXPAYERS SERVED RHC TOTAL
TAX REFUNDS
RHC TOTAL EARNED IN -
COME TAX CREDITS
RIO HONDO COMMUNITY COLLEGE VITA TEAM
10
HELPING THE COMMUNITY FILE TAX RETURNS AT
RIO HONDO COMMUNITY COLLEGE VITA CLINIC
This tax season, the VITA program at College of the
Canyons in the Santa Clarita Valley more than doubled
the number of taxpayers it served, from 108 people in
2022 to 219 people in 2023. COC’s VITA program founder,
professor Ali Naddafpour, hopes this impressive growth
continues in the future.
“Now that COVID-19 finally seems to
be on its last legs, our VITA clinic has
never been better,” Naddafpour said.
“We’re seeing much better growth
since last year and preparing more tax
returns for the local community than
ever.”
Naddafpour said COC VITA Clinic
student volunteers don’t participate
in the program for grades or credit.
Instead, they are there to assist the community and,
during the process, learn organizational and career skills.
He hopes with each coming year, that the VITA team at
COC wants to increase its impact in Santa Clarita Valley.
“There seemed to be something dierent about this year’s
team of volunteers,” Naddafpour said. “Our volunteers
were more motivated and dedicated than ever. They’re
seeing this program’s direct impact in our local community.
Although it is hard work, the feeling and experience they
receive from that is bar none.”
Each College of the Canyons VITA volunteer has to study,
learn and become knowledgeable about tax rules and
regulations. They get training in interviewing and taking
care of clients, and have to pass the VITA tax preparation
certifications provided by the IRS. Naddafpour said the
process ensures that volunteers have the knowledge to
interview and communicate with the clients, as well as
the capability to prepare returns and perform required
services.
Open every Saturday during tax season from February
to April, the COC VITA clinic works to take the financial
burden o of local community taxpayers, by providing free
tax preparation services.
Even though the college serves a “very
aluent area,” Naddafpour explained
that the COC VITA clinic oers free
tax preparation to those who generally
make $60,000 or less a year.
“When our volunteers start preparing
tax returns their eyes are opened to
a part of the community they didn’t
know existed,” he said. “They not only
get the career experience at our clinic, but they get the
added benefit of helping our community.”
In preparing for the most recent tax season, Naddafpour said
his team focused on raising awareness about the program.
Working in partnership with California State University,
Northridge, the COC VITA team had the opportunity
to use CSUN’s services to print flyers to let community
taxpayers know about their free tax preparation services.
“CSUN is the number one supporter of our VITA Clinic,”
Naddafpour said. “We work with them to cover what we
can’t do during our Saturday operations and to strategize
for the upcoming tax season. In many ways, we are their
babies because they laid down the scaolding for our
VITA program.”
COLLEGE OF THE
CANYON’S VITA STUDENTS
COC TAXPAYERS SERVED COC TOTAL
TAX REFUNDS
COC TOTAL EARNED IN -
COME TAX CREDITS
11
THE CLINIC IN THE CANYONS
LOS ANGELES MISSION COLLEGE
VITA CLINIC ANNA BARSEGYAN
When COVID-19 struck, many VITA clinics in and around
Los Angeles County area were forced to shut down. While
established clinics adapted their operations to fit this
unprecedented challenge, some clinics that were only a
few years old or those without an established network
of volunteers had to remain closed until the pandemic
subsided.
In its first year back since 2020, the Los Angeles Mission
College VITA Clinic hit the ground running this tax
season, providing free tax preparation services to 20 local
taxpayers.
“The pandemic stopped us right in our tracks,” said Anna
Barsegyan, VITA Clinic faculty advisor at Los Angeles
Mission College in Sylmar. “Now that we’re in our first year
back, we were ready to get these services back into the
community.”
Oering free tax services out of a Mission College
classroom, Barsegyan’s team of student volunteers worked
hard to serve the community where they could: financially.
Each student volunteer tax preparer at Mission College is
trained by Barsegyan in order to earn their tax preparation
certification from the IRS. This process ensures that
students gain the required knowledge and are ready to
prepare tax returns for local community members.
“Since this was our first year back in the VITA program,
we were focused on just getting the word out about
our services,” Barsegyan said. “We hope to improve on
the marketing side of our clinic for next year so that we
have banners and marketing material to hand out to the
community.”
Even though the
Mission College
VITA Clinic is
still growing
its services for
local community
members,
Barsegyan said
student tax
preparers are
nonetheless
gaining important
experience while
working with
their taxpayer
clients.
“The impact this
program has on
our students is
unmatched,” she
said. “We allow the students the opportunity to receive
real-world skills and make an impact in their community.
My favorite part about the program is seeing the students
progress as preparers from the beginning until the end of
the program.”
Barsegyan said she has high hopes for expanding the
Mission College VITA program in the future and she and
her team already are preparing for next year’s tax season.
MISSION COLLEGE
TAXPAYERS SERVED
MISSION COLLEGE TOTAL
TAX REFUNDS
MISSION COLLEGE TOTAL
EARNED INCOME TAX
CREDITS
12
SERVING TAXPAYERS AGAIN AT LOS
ANGELES MISSION COLLEGE VITA CLINIC
SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS!
13
