Social Work Commons^™

Acorn’S Accelerated Income Redistribution Project: A Program Evaluation, Fred Brooks, Daniel Russel, Robert Fisher

SW Publications

Objective. This study evaluated the community organization ACORN’s efforts to increase the uptake of families claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) through door-to-door canvassing and managing free tax preparation clinics in three pilot cities. Method. The mixed-method program evaluation included administrative record review; a telephone survey (N = 1063), and individual and focus group interviews. Results. During the 2003 tax year ACORN prepared taxes at no charge for 3,850 families who collected a total of $4 million in EITC and other tax credits. In two pilot cities ACORN led all other free sites in number of …