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The Earned Income Tax Credit has been shown to benefit child development, food security and parents' mental health. Photo by Andrea Piacquadio

UC researchers identify barriers to Earned Income Tax Credit, which provides up to $7K each year per family

About 1 out of 4 Californians who are eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit do not actually receive it – and University of California researchers are digging deeper to learn why they are not taking up this crucial benefit, which can provide nearly $7,000 annually for each family.

“The EITC is the largest poverty alleviation program in the country for families with kids, lifting millions of people out of poverty every year,” said Rita Hamad, associate professor at the University of California, San Francisco in the Institute for Health Policy Studies. “We know from previous work – including our own studies – that the EITC is effective at improving health, including birth weight, child development, household food security, and parents' mental health.”

Hamad is the co-lead author of an article on EITC take-up, recently published in Health Affairs, which begins to answer why only 74% of Californians receive the EITC benefit for which they are eligible.

“Billions of dollars are going unclaimed by families who could really use the money to improve their families' health and well-being,” said Hamad, who is also director of UCSF's Social Policies for Health Equity Research Program.

More broadly, about 80% of eligible families across the country take advantage of the EITC, according to previous research. But those studies only looked at tax records, and do not shed light on the specific circumstances of households that missed the credit.

“What our study did was reach out to those families and start to collect some richer information on what's happening – why aren't people getting the benefit, and what can we learn to help more people get something that can make a big difference for families,” said co-lead author Wendi Gosliner, project scientist at the Nutrition Policy Institute, a program of UC Agriculture and Natural Resources.

On EITC, ‘the more we know, the better'

Surveying 411 EITC-eligible Californians with children, researchers found that roughly 25% of respondents did not receive the benefit (including the 9% that did not file taxes). And although the sample is non-representative, the study did produce some significant findings.

For example, take-up of the EITC and CalEITC (its California state counterpart) was less likely among eligible individuals who do not speak English, had no prior knowledge of the programs, and are younger.

The age factor – correlated with inexperience in tax filing – underscores the need to clarify eligibility verbiage and materials. Gosliner noted that several respondents thought all people under the age of 25 were ineligible, when in fact those under 25 who have dependents would qualify for the federal credit (for the CalEITC, all individuals over 18 are eligible).

Such findings help fine-tune the education and outreach activities of advocacy groups such as Golden State Opportunity, a nonprofit that works to create financial stability for low-income workers across California.

“Knowing that a barrier for younger people is lack of knowledge, we can increase our outreach to community colleges and other youth-serving organizations with messaging that reaches them where they are,” said Amy Everitt, president of Golden State Opportunity. “Thanks to this research we can better understand the diverse audiences we need to reach – when it comes to the EITC, the more we know, the better.”

Need for clearer tax information, better processes

The researchers are currently analyzing the qualitative data they gathered from the interviews to produce a follow-up paper. But Gosliner shared that some of the respondents' concerns were worries about owing the government, the belief that filers must pay back the EITC money, and lack of understanding about the tax system in general and the EITC specifically.

“It's very user-unfriendly,” Gosliner said. “Even the name of the program doesn't make sense to people – they don't understand it, they don't know what it means...it's like we intentionally create these hurdles to receive the benefit.”

Both Gosliner and Hamad recommended that the government simplify the tax process, while providing free, high-quality filing services in multiple languages to ensure families are receiving the benefits that can help reduce health inequities.

“Our study speaks to the fragmentation of the social safety net, with families needing to fill out multiple redundant applications to participate in each different program,” Hamad said. “A better solution would be to have government agencies coordinate with one another, so that families who are cash-strapped with limited time can fill out just one streamlined application.”

Information on federal EITC: https://www.irs.gov/credits-deductions/individuals/earned-income-tax-credit-eitc

Information on CalEITC: https://www.caleitc4me.org/

The full article can be found at: https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2022.00713

The other authors of the study are: Erika M. Brown, UCSF; Mekhala Hoskote, UC Berkeley and UCSF; Kaitlyn Jackson, UCSF; Elsa M. Esparza, UC Berkeley; and Lia C. H. Fernald, UC Berkeley.

In addition to a deeper understanding of Native foods and their nutritional properties, young people came away from the summer program with a binder of Native American recipes. Photo by Cailin McLaughlin

Program with Foothill Indian Education Alliance teaches healthy eating to young people of many tribes

More than a tutoring center, the Foothill Indian Education Alliance facility in Placerville also provides cultural activities for youth in El Dorado and Amador counties affiliated with a broad diversity of Native American tribes.

In addition to traditional crafts like drum- and jewelry-making, the center began offering a food component last summer, through a partnership with CalFresh Healthy Living, University of California – one of the agencies in the state that teaches nutrition to people eligible for SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program).

“A lot of the kids, because they don't live on a reservation or their family might not be connected to a local tribe, don't know a lot of their history or their foods,” said Cailin McLaughlin, nutrition educator for CalFresh Healthy Living, UC, based at the UC Cooperative Extension office in El Dorado County. “Food is a good way to explore any heritage because food is at the central point of a lot of cultures and customs – sharing meals and sharing stories behind it.”

Last spring, McLaughlin worked with Hal Sherry, the head tutor at Foothill Indian Education Alliance, to create a new, five-week “summer camp” during which youth would learn about and prepare Native foods in the center's kitchen, primarily with ingredients from its backyard garden.

One strength of the program is that CalFresh Healthy Living, UC nutrition educator Cailin McLaughlin empowered the youth to take the lead in preparing the dishes in the kitchen. Photo by Cailin McLaughlin

Sherry said that the experience provided the participants – 10 elementary school students and seven middle or high school students – an important perspective on the interconnectedness of all living things.

“Part of the objective of the program is for them to understand that each one of us is part of the natural order of things, and that we have to do our part to fit into that cycle,” he explained. “There's kind of an ecological lesson that's also being learned…and we don't want to put poisons in our bodies, and we don't want to put poisons in our environment.”

Program combines cultural lessons, nutrition information

For the summer program, McLaughlin selected a curriculum centered on garden-based nutrition, and infused it with elements of Indigenous food ways.

“We predominantly picked ingredients that had cultural significance to Native American communities, so things like blueberries, blackberries, pine nuts, squash, things of that nature,” she said. “So we could feed into the history of that ingredient, why it's important to the Indigenous communities – and then give (the students) the nutritional information about it.”

After the youth prepared chia seed parfaits – from a recipe that is part of a series developed by CalFresh Healthy Living, the California Indian Museum and Cultural Center, and the Center for Wellness and Nutrition – a Foothill Indian Education Alliance staff member shared that Native hunters would eat chia seeds for strength before a long hunt.

Many of the participants had never had chia seeds before, and the parfaits were an “absolute favorite,” in the words of McLaughlin.

“I wish we could have made them more often!” said Lacey, a fifth grader who participates in the center's programs year-round.

Participants tended to the garden at the Foothill Indian Education Alliance center, harvesting ingredients for their Native dishes. Photo by Cailin McLaughlin

In addition to working outside in the garden, Lacey said she also liked cooking in the kitchen during the summer camp – and the fact that the young people could take the lead.

“It was all the kids doing it, but (McLaughlin) was just supervising and making sure we were doing it right – it was really nice,” said Lacey, who identifies as Miwok.

Sharing within families, across tribes

Active participation by the young people is one of the strengths of the program, according to Sherry. He expressed admiration for McLaughlin's engaging teaching style, which eschews “lectures” and instead draws the participants into lively conversations about the nutritional content of the ingredients.

“Hopefully they're going to retain some of that knowledge and information and then remember: ‘You know what, yes, I think I would like to have some corn and some beans tonight, because that's going to help my bones grow strong and my eyesight get better,'” Sherry said. “That's really a big part of what we want them to come away with.”

At the end of the summer program, participants also came away with a binder of recipes from a cookbook of Native American dishes, “Young, Indigenous and Healthy: Recipes Inspired by Today's Native Youth.” James Marquez, director of the Foothill Indian Education Alliance, said he heard from students that they were bringing many of the lessons from the program back to their homes.

Part of a series developed by CalFresh Healthy Living, the California Indian Museum and Cultural Center, and the Center for Wellness and Nutrition, the "Chia of the Valley" parfait was a big hit with the students.

“I've heard the same kind of thing from parents and grandparents, who have said how wonderful that was and that kids come back home and have an interest in cooking and trying to serve nutritious meals to their families,” Marquez said.

That crucial sharing of knowledge also happens between and among staff members and students, as the center comprises members of many tribes, from South Dakota Lakota to Navajo.

“We serve Native people, we don't care what tribe they come from – they're all welcome,” Marquez said. “What we do represents a lot of different tribes, so we share information from one tribe to another, and that way people can appreciate everybody and what we have to bring to the table.”

Talia, a sixth grader who participated in the summer program, said that she enjoys that cultural sharing.

“I like how I can learn new things…and how I learn more about the people around me,” she explained. “It's also fun to learn about other people's cultures, and what Native American they are, too.”

McLaughlin went on to partner with Foothill Indian Education Alliance on a “Cooking Academy” program during this past fall, and is planning another spring/summer program for 2023, as well. The ongoing teaching and sharing of food ways is just one part of a long process to recover and rebuild Native American cultural traditions.

“Unfortunately, there was a very concerted effort to obliterate the Native culture on this continent; it was a very intentional, very deliberate effort to just stamp that culture out like it had somehow never existed,” Sherry said. “Now there's a much greater awareness of what a terrible thing that was, and so it's like trying to regrow a new garden over an area that was severely burned…and it's being done all over the country.”

Dylan Shelden (left) and Brent Flory (center) packing seedling trays at the South Coast Research and Extension Center in Irvine. Photo courtesy Esperanza Education Center.

Before Brent Flory, 22, started bagging fruits and vegetables at his local Stater Bros. Market, he picked them at the University of California South Coast Research and Extension Center in Irvine.

In partnership with Saddleback Unified School District's Esperanza Education Center, an adult transition program that provides independent living and life skills training for students with disabilities, South Coast REC hosts students on its 200 acres of land and introduces them to careers in agriculture.

Flory recalls picking avocados as one of his favorite moments from the program at South Coast, one of nine RECs across California operated by UC Agriculture and Natural Resources. “I picked a huge avocado and got to bring it home. It was the size of a medium pumpkin,” he shared.

Field work doesn't warrant business attire, but Flory said that working at South Coast REC taught him the importance of dressing appropriately for work. In this case, it meant pants, closed-toe shoes, a shirt with sleeves, and sunscreen or a hat if working in the sun.

While program managers hope that participating students would pursue a career in agriculture, South Coast REC is more concerned about providing opportunities for students to gain real work experience in a unique setting. 

Brent Flory preparing trays for seedlings. Photo courtesy Esperanza Education Center.

“This is the first time I have had the opportunity for my students to work at a job site in the agricultural field. We never really thought of the agricultural industry as an option for our students,” said Esperanza's education specialist, Michael Seyler.

Esperanza's partnership with South Coast REC began in October 2019. Since then, nine participants have been assigned to work at the research center where they help create seedlings, plant and harvest crops, and learn plant management.

Ray Bueche, Adult Transition Program coordinator and Career Start administrator at Esperanza, is proud of the creative energy it took to develop the program and unite partners, crediting Jason Suppes, South Coast REC's community education specialist. “Working with Jason and UC ANR has inspired me to continue to reach for unique partnerships in this field and elsewhere,” Bueche said.

Dylan Shelden, 19, another past participant, said that the program revealed how important it is for him to choose a career that makes him feel happy and independent. “You are responsible for yourself,” he said. “So, don't quit on the first try.”

Shelden currently works at Party City as a store organizer. Even though he prefers working indoors, Shelden described working with plants and being outdoors as refreshing. “Working in agriculture makes me feel good,” he said.

When asked what advice he would give incoming students, Shelden said: “Be kind, mindful, and thoughtful to others.”

“Things are constantly changing at the farm and follow seasonal patterns. Students get to work with different types of produce depending on the season. So many of my students only thought about jobs in retail or food services industries,” said Seyler. “This has opened their eyes to other possibilities.”

The soft skills learned while working at South Coast REC has helped other students secure paid competitive employment during or following the program. It has also inspired program staff like Bueche and Seyler to consider other unique opportunities for their students to connect the skills they have learned on the farm to other types of jobs.

To learn more about the Adult Transition Program at Esperanza Education Center, visit: https://www.svusd.org/schools/alternative-schools/esperanza/about/why-esperanza

A new study of farmworkers’ general health examined factors contributing to their illness and disease, such as inadequate access to health care.

Better access to health care and safety net programs would help

Farmworkers are a crucial link in our food supply chain, a fact that came sharply into focus during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. To keep these essential workers healthy, there is a need for more data on farmworkers' health. A new study published by University of California scientists looks beyond work-related health concerns such as heat and pesticide exposure to the general health of the people who help plant, nurture and harvest food in California.

“The study findings confirm the high chronic-disease burden in a workforce that is considered essential but lacks adequate access to health care and safety net programs,” said Susana Matias, lead author and UC Cooperative Extension specialist in the UC Berkeley Department of Nutritional Sciences and Toxicology. “This is a concern because California needs a healthy farmworker workforce. These workers are key to putting food on our tables and should be protected and supported as any other California worker.” 

After reading the study, an advocate for women farmworkers said she sees opportunities to enhance farmworkers' health by improving their working conditions by enacting policy governing work permits; childcare; pest management; unemployment benefits; access to healthy and affordable food; and safe, affordable housing. 

To see a broader perspective of farmworker health, Matias analyzed data from three studies by Marc Schenker, UC Davis physician and professor emeritus. Schenker's studies examined farmworkers' general health, occupational injuries and important causes of illness and disease. Causes or so-called “social determinants” of disease include low income, food insecurity, undocumented immigration status, and poor housing conditions.

“Those social determinants are particularly negative and impact disease outcomes in the farmworker population,” Schenker said. “Too often farmworkers don't have the benefits of other working populations, including adequate health care. It is hoped that recognition of this situation can lead to addressing these deficiencies and an improvement in farmworker health.” 

Irene de Barraicua, director of operations and communications for Lideres Campesinas, said the study relates to much of the work her organization does advocating for women farmworkers.

“The article and studies emphasize findings that call for higher salaries, better working conditions, more worker rights and access to healthcare,” de Barraicua said. “From these findings, we can also gather that the health of farmworkers is impacted by various stress factors related to poverty, excruciating and unsafe work conditions, and lack of or costly childcare to name a few.”

Female farmworkers were at higher risk of obesity and larger waist circumference, while male farmworkers were at higher risk of high blood pressure and high total cholesterol. Differences in chronic health risks suggest that public health responses may need to consider gender, according to Susana Matias, UC Cooperative Extension specialist.

Matias found that female farmworkers were at higher risk of obesity and larger waist circumference, while male farmworkers were at higher risk of high blood pressure and high total cholesterol. 

“These differences in chronic health risks between farmworker men and women suggests that clinical and public health responses might need to be sex-specific,” said Matias, who is also co-associate faculty director at the Berkeley Food Institute. 

The studies were conducted with farmworkers in Mendota, Oxnard and Watsonville. Matias would like to expand the scope to assess the health of farmworkers statewide.

“Our study is not representative of other regions of the state,” Matias said. “A representative survey is urgently needed in California to better identify and quantify the health problems in this population, and to provide the services needed by these essential workers.” 

“The article ‘The Chronic Disease Burden Among Latino Farmworkers in California' clearly brings to the forefront very important sociodemographic and socioeconomic ‘gaps' unique to farmworkers, an essential segment of our population and workforce,” said de Barraicua of Lideres Campesinas. 

“We need to enact policy that facilitates access to health care including mental health services; easily accessible, free rural and mobile clinics; telehealth services, essentially unrestricted healthcare coverage for all,” de Barraicua said, adding that trusted community health workers who know the farmworkers' culture and speak their language are needed.

She also noted the growing population of indigenous Mexican farmworkers and face greater challenges related to language access, limited education and immigration status.  

The article, co-authored by Matias, Schenker, UC Berkeley postdoctoral researcher Caitlin French and student Alexander Gomez-Lara, is published in Frontiers in Public Health.