United Way of Passaic County understands the local economy and is working with individuals, employers and government to create a stronger community. Through our efforts, individuals are seeing success and communities are being impacted by improved financial stability.
Learn About The Issue:
More than 75,000 Passaic County residents meet the federal definition of poverty, including 23 percent of the county's children, but in total 45% of all households here do not have enough income to support all the basic necessities of life.
85% of low and moderate income households in Passaic County are spending more than 35% of their income on housing costs alone; while the majority of job demand in Passaic County in the next decade will be for low-skilled, low paid work.
United Way of Passaic County's Financial Empowerment Zone (FEZ) lifts the economic prospects of low-income individuals and families by providing free tax preparation, financial literacy education, and college access.
Together with our partners, United Way of Passaic County:
- Assisted over 2000 low- and moderate-income individuals with their tax preparation. 80 volunteers contributed more than 2400 hours of service.
- Offers Your Money, Your Goals training via the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to engage case managers and other front-line staff to educate their clients about money and appropriate spending and budgeting.
ALICE Report
As part of United for Alice's mission to advance the common good of our communities, a task force was created to better understand the families and individuals living and working in New Jersey who are struggling to make ends meet. This population was brought to life as ALICE – Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed. United Way's volunteer task force gathered data about ALICE so that we can explore the challenges preventing this population from attaining financial independence. You can review the current data HERE.
Financial Empowerment Zone (FEZ)
United Way of Passaic County's Financial Empowerment Zone (FEZ) helps individuals and families attain and preserve assets, become more financially stable, and achieve long-term economic independence.
Why a financial empowerment zone?
Stagnant incomes, increases in the cost of living and high levels of unemployment have increase the financial instability of thousands of residents in Passaic County. With 83,000 people living below the Federal poverty level, Passaic County, ranks first in New Jersey in both numbers and percentages (17.2%) of households living in poverty. Over a quarter of all children in our county live below the poverty threshold.
An additional 30% do not earn enough to be considered self-sufficient - in all, almost half of Passaic County households are struggling. New Jersey and Federal budget cuts have decreased funding for health and human service programs that have traditionally provided a safety net for our Passaic County neighbors in these hard times.
Programs with Financial Empowerment Zone
What is VITA?
VITA is a service provided by FEZ and part of our Tax Care for Elderly (TCE) Program. It is Free Income Tax Preparation by IRS trained and certified volunteers. This program is for individuals or families that make less than $70,000 a year.
We provide free tax preparation services, case management help with enrollment in income supports and financial literacy workshops to increase the financial stability among lower-income working families in Passaic County.
Our goal is to increase the number of families who can meet their basic needs and increase their financial stability.
During tax season, United Way of Passaic County works with community partners and IRS-certified volunteers to offer free Passaic and Bergen Counties tax preparation sites. Beginning each January, we assist low-and-moderate-income households with income tax preparation. The earned income tax credit helps to lift more families out of poverty each year around tax filing season. EIC rewards the working poor and puts money back into the clients' hands, and therefore the community.
Services provided:
- Federal and State Income Tax Preparation
- Assistance with New Jersey Property Tax Reimbursement (Senior Freeze) and Homestead Benefit forms
- Screening and Enrollment for Health Insurance
- Screening and Enrollment for SNAP/WIC/School Meals/Summer EBT
- Referral and assistance with FAFSA
Please visit this page from January through early April to book an appointment.
VITA 2025 Community Impact
To date during the 2025 tax season, VITA sites managed by the UWPC completed 1,514 tax returns for low to moderate income families generating $1,422,937 in total federal refunds for clients, this represents a 10% increase from 2024 services.
Nearly half of the federal refunds these clients received this year were a result of income stabilizing federal credits that could only be accessed through the completion of a tax return.
This includes $427,161 in Earned Income Tax Credit, $187,810 in child tax credit and $74,936 education credit. In addition to federal returns the VITA site completed NJ state returns that generated $517,778 in state refunds, nearly half of which ($220,925) was NJ state earned income tax credit.
Importance of VITA
Randy Allen, Director of Community Impact for United Way, said, "United Way's VITA partnership supports financial stability by allowing tax payers to keep the full amount of their return. In most cases, tax payers reinvest those dollars back into their community through increased savings, bill pay and purchases in their community. We are thankful for the partners who helped make the 2021 VITA Program a success."