Poverty, Faith, and Justice: The SaveFirst Program Comes to Samford University

Exciting news at Samford University! Stephen Black, grandson of Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black, is bringing his course, Poverty, Faith, and Justice, and his SaveFirst program, to our undergraduate curriculum for the Spring of 2018.

Professor Black is the Director for the Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility at the University of Alabama. Following his grandfather's footsteps, he is working to promote civic engagement and connection throughout the United States by connecting college students with concrete opportunities to make a difference in the lives of others.

High income households generally pay licensed tax professionals to prepare their tax returns. The cost of those services is usually below $175. Unfortunately, commercial preparation services charge low income households an average of $400 per return. The preparers are often untrained and fail to take the proper level of care. The cost of these services to Alabama families is $128 million per year.

Through the Poverty, Faith and Justice course, students examine policies and attitudes toward low-income families through readings, class discussions, lectures and work in the community. With no prior tax experience or knowledge, students have the opportunity to learn basic tax law, receive training to become certified as IRS-trained Volunteer Tax Preparers, and assist families in their communities throughout the state through high-quality tax preparation services. Since 2007, 5,418 SaveFirst volunteers have prepared tax returns for 63,154 families, helping them to claim $113.3 million in refunds, saving $20.7 million in fees.

Another ImpactAmerica program, FocusFirst, has screened pre-school age children for vision problems. Since 2004 3,557 student volunteers have screened 432,830 preschoolers, identifying 44,696 children with vision problems, and connecting them with optometrists and ophthalmologists to address their needs. Through Impact America, Professor Black has extended the geographic reach of the programs he developed with ImpactAlabama to Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Philadelphia.

Many thanks to the Mann Center for Ethics and Leadership for making this opportunity possible.