Established in 1925, the Capital Area United Way (CAUW) of Baton Rouge works to improve the lives of area families by mobilizing local resources—donors, volunteers, and partners—to address systemic challenges instead of simply providing temporary fixes.
Who Is ALICE?
All the programs CAUW supports focus on helping the Capital Region’s ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) population. ALICE might be a friend, a family member, or a neighbor—someone who works hard, but earns just above the poverty line, leaving her unable to afford basic necessities, or to weather a single financial emergency. In 2022, of the 1.8 million households in Louisiana, more than 900,000—50% were below the ALICE threshold.*
“For my dad, helping people never meant giving handouts. It always meant enabling people to find themselves and find a way to contribute. He believed that every person had something to give. He wanted to help people find what that was and enable them to contribute and be of use.”
—Libby Falk Jones, daughter of CAUW founder, Myron Falk
Become a VITA Volunteer
Among many ways that CAUW helps Louisiana residents and families to achieve a better quality of life, one with far-reaching benefits is VITA—the IRS’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, which offers free basic tax return preparation to qualified individuals. In Louisiana, CAUW partners with the IRS to provide the VITA service to help ALICE families and individuals become more economically secure by:
- Ensuring that working residents receive the Earned Income Tax, Child Tax, Additional Child Tax, and Education Credits for which they are eligible.
- Providing financial information and guidance to clients who are struggling to make ends meet.
More than just Taxes
When you become a VITA Volunteer you’re helping low-wage, working families to keep more of what they earn. In 2024, VITA volunteers prepared more than 5,940 tax returns, putting more than $9 million back into the Capital Region’s ten-parish community and helping thousands of individuals and families to become more financially stable. You don’t need to be an accountant to help; volunteers assist as tax preparers, greeters and intake specialists, or by serving as financial educators or interpreters. All VITA volunteers receive IRS-certified training, both online and in-person, work with mentors to grow their skills, and volunteer as their time and schedule allows.
To learn how VITA Volunteers help low-wage, working families keep more of what they earn, visit cauw.org/vita or email vita@cauw.org.
