VITA Clinic to Launch CSU5 Initiative

CSUN’s Free Tax Preparation Assistance Program Expands to Campuses Across Southern California

For nearly 50 years, California State University, Northridge has been providing free tax preparation assistance to low-income families and individuals.

Hoping to expand CSUN’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Clinic’s impact, university officials have collaborated with four other California State University campuses and six Los Angeles-based community colleges to dramatically increase the number of low-income taxpayers served in Los Angeles County.

“I am thrilled to have CSUN’s VITA Clinic take the lead in embarking on a visionary collaboration with 11 academic institutions in Los Angeles to develop a model for a sustainable, institutionalized and systematic offering of free tax preparation services throughout Los Angeles County and beyond,” said accounting professor Rafi Efrat, Bookstein Chair in Taxation and the director of CSUN’s VITA Clinic.

To officially mark the collaboration, CSUN is hosting a special celebration on Saturday, Feb. 9, in the courtyard in front of the David Nazarian College of Business and Economics, located on the west side of the campus near the corner of Plummer Street and Etiwanda Avenue. The 9 a.m. event will feature speeches by CSUN President Dianne F. Harrison, Congressman Tony Cárdenas, Bill Allen, chief executive officer of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation, and Lisa Salazar, director of workforce development and economic opportunity for the Los Angeles mayor’s office. A tax preparation clinic will follow.

CSUN’s VITA program has received national recognition for its support of those in need in the community — including non-English speakers, people with disabilities and veterans — as well as for the hands-on training it gives the hundreds of student volunteers who provide the service at a handful of locations throughout Los Angeles each year. (Read the Full Press Release from CSUN Today Here.)