The Brown & White

The Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley is offering free tax-preparation for low-income families, and Lehigh students can help.

The committee is partnered with the Internal Revenue Service's Income Tax Assistance program, along with other groups in the area.

Community groups like the Boys and Girls Club, Habitat for Humanity and the Alliance for Building Communities help to advertise the free tax-preparation program to families in the area.

The program is also made possible by community members and students who volunteer each year to help with the tax returns.

Students from Lehigh and Muhlenberg, Cedar Crest and Lafayette colleges help with the program.

The committee offers services for families who have a total household income under $42,000.

Program coordinator Susan Zlotnick said it is possible for families to get refundable credit of up to $4,800 more in refunds then what they paid.

The program also offers electronic tax returns to make getting refunds faster.

"The Community Action Committee is in existence to bring people out of poverty, and this is one of our programs to do just that," Zlotnick said.

The program's relationship with Lehigh began three years ago when Zlotnick approached the community service office looking for willing and able students to help.

An accounting major who works in the office, Marty Gennusa, '09, took on the challenge and became the liaison between Lehigh and the tax return program.

Each fall, Gennusa works through the community service office to put fliers around campus and contacts the accounting department to send e-mails to students about the program.

Interested students must earn at least an 80 percent on an exam issued by the Community Action Committee. Then, Zlotnick gives training to the eligible students in February.

The program is volunteer-based, but benefits, such as hands-on experience with clients and the positive impact students have on the community, exist.

"It gives them really good experience dealing with a client," Slotnick said. "It's an eye-opener to see the low-income population around them."

Being involved in the program also gives students the chance to step off campus and become active in the community around them.

"It's important for Lehigh to break that bubble between them and the community and reach out to Bethlehem," Gennusa said. "You can feel the benefit."

Last year, the Community Action Committee completed 1,170 tax returns for families in the area for free and this year the number is expected to increase.

"With the economy the way it is, I have a feeling we will be very busy this year," Zlotnick said.

The committee also offers many other financial help programs, made possible through private and federal grants.

The family savings account program grants families an additional $2,000, if they save $2,000 in their own account and take financial fitness programs.

Other programs include a seminar about renting that gives information to tenants and a sub-prime mortgage seminar that helps prevent foreclosures.

Zlotnick said students have been a tremendous help to the program in the past. This year, 27 Lehigh students are participating in the program.