Local Community Food Centre launches year-round tax and financial literacy program

The Local Community Food Centre received a grant to help establish a volunteer tax clinic and launch a financial literacy program to support low-income households across Perth County. Pictured: Tonya Haverkamp, Matthew Rae, Margaret Smart, Jen Vredeveld.

The Ontario government has provided $60,900 in funding to the Local Community Food Centre through the Ontario Trillium Foundation’s Seed Grant stream.

“The Tax Smart, Thrive More program at the Local Community Food Centre is a great resource for our community,” said Matthew Rae, MPP for Perth-Wellington. “The program helps teach smart money management and offers free tax returns – the first step to empower individuals in our community to find success and confidence with their personal finances.”

With the funding, the centre plans to establish a volunteer tax clinic and launch a financial literacy program to support low-income households across Perth County.

“Stratford is underserved in terms of providing volunteer tax clinics,” said Margaret Smart, executive director at the Local. “We’ll be recruiting and training volunteers who will come alongside people and complete their taxes with them.”

The Tax Smart, Thrive More program offers friendly, non-judgmental tax filing support and accessible workshops on topics such as budgeting, fraud awareness and government benefits.

“It's for people looking for help to do simple tax returns,” said Smart. “If somebody is intimidated by the process, who maybe hasn't done it before or just needs somebody to come alongside and make sure that they check all the boxes, we can now help those people.”

Alongside tax filing, the program features tailored financial literacy workshops led by a community member with lived experience.

“We took a little bit of a more holistic approach, and we made it both a financial literacy and a tax clinic,” said Smart. “We hired somebody who has some lived experience of low income and has had to overcome those barriers themselves to be able to relate realistically to people who are low income, and to do financial literacy in a way that speaks into real-life situations.”

By helping people understand their finances and access the benefits they’re entitled to, the program aims to empower residents to make informed decisions and improve long-term well-being.

“One of the best ways to address food insecurity is getting money in people's pockets,” said Smart. “The more money you have, the better options you have in terms of how you feed yourself and your family. Being able to access the benefits and credits is key.”

To qualify for many support programs – such as the electricity support program – an up-to-date tax assessment is required.

The program is available year-round, not just during the usual March and April tax season. Anyone in a low-income tax bracket can access the services at the Local by appointment. Drop-in dates and times will also be available.

For more information or to book an appointment, contact the Local Community Food Centre.