Now that hindsight truly is 2020, we are encouraged at the opportunities to serve our community in 2021. While a sense of optimism is in the air, we know the challenges are BIG and so must be the solutions. With so many in our community suffering, we are hitting the ground running to serve those with the most pressing needs through our Education, Financial Wellness, and Healthy Communities initiatives. We're grateful and encouraged by the generous and steadfast support from our community partners and donors throughout this difficult year. It's because of YOU, we're able to serve tens of thousands in Tucson and Southern Arizona and continue to grow our programs to serve even more. Here are some highlights of the innovative work that's being done to serve your neighbors. This year we're:

Along with our new programs and expansions, we remain strongly focused on helping our community get through the COVID-19 pandemic by quickly responding to our community's needs and working with our partners to find innovative solutions to our biggest challenges. Read on to learn more about our COVID-19 crisis support. We'll continue to update you on our expanding work in The Good News Network each month. We look forward to uniting with you in 2021 to face these challenges together.

Start the new year off right and save some money this tax season! If you made $66,000 or less last year, you do not have to pay to file your taxes. Starting on February 1st, United Way of Tucson's Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program can help you file for free. Mindful of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are teaming up with GetYourRefund.org to provide free, online one-on-one tax assistance from real, live IRS-certified tax preparers. This collaboration helps us reach more people, process more returns more efficiently and ensure the health and safety of everyone. VITA tax preparation saves taxpayers an average of $250 per return. The program helps taxpayers access all tax credits for which they are eligible – including the Child Tax Credit (CTC) and the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) which has been recognized as the single most powerful tool to lift children out of poverty.

-GetYourRefund.org – taxpayers can connect with VITA volunteers online

-In-Person Assistance – limited in-person assistance is available at select sites

-DIY Self-Prep Software – online services for those who feel confident in filing on their own

Click here for more information.

Good news for those who want to give back! The new year brings some changes to charitable tax donations. The Covid-19 Relief bill passed by congress last month extends the CARES Act but also, expands it a bit. Much like the CARES Act, the new law allows individual cash contributions of up to $300 to qualified charitable organizations to be deducted above-the-line. But this year, you can double that amount to a $600 above-the-line contribution for married couples filing jointly. The above-the-line deduction allows those who do not itemize their tax returns to take a charitable deduction. It will also decrease your AGI which could make you eligible for other tax breaks.

The new law also allows those who itemize to deduct up to 100% of your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI). Anything above that can be carried over for five years subject to the 60% AGI limit in those years. Click here to take advantage ot the new law and help Southern Arizonans thrive. Read on for another way to get back what you give.

If you missed the December 31st deadline to get credit on your 2020 taxes through the CARES Act, there's still a way to get back what you give this tax season. United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona is a qualifying organization for the Arizona Charitable Tax Credit. It provides a dollar-for-dollar tax credit of up to $400 for individuals or $800 for couples filing jointly. You have until April 15th of 2021 to make a donation to apply it to your 2020 tax return. Just click the link below and be sure to designate your donation to the "Helping the Working Poor Fund" on the list. The fund supports job-skills training, affordable childcare, educational opportunities, emergency services and more, to the Working Poor in our community. GIVE BIG. GIVE UNITED.

Here's a very simple way to give back, while getting what you need. Walmart is supporting United Way of Tucson by giving shoppers the opportunity to round-up their purchases to the nearest dollar and donate the change. Round-up is available on WalMart.com and the Walmart app through January 29th.

The Arizona End of Life Care Partnership (EOLCP), anchored at United Way of Tucson, is excited to release its first community impact report since the partnership formed in 2017. The report sheds light on the growth from an idea of a small group that has since grown in both size and influence to become a model for collaborative efforts to advance quality end-of-life care. You'll see in the report just how EOLCP has changed the conversation around death and dying in Southern Arizona.

Click the link below to read more about the achievements this partnership has accomplished over the past three years along with its goals for the future.

MacKenzie Scott Tweeted the announcement about her support of United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona last month. It was part of her public commitment to give away most of her wealth in her lifetime, with United Way of Tucson included in a list of non-profit organizations worldwide that will benefit from her philanthropy. The announcement was made six months after her most recent round of gifts, totaling $1.67 billion, that supported organizations focusing on racial and gender equity, economic mobility, climate change, and other issues. This $10 million gift is the single largest donation received by the organization in its nearly 100-year history.

Funds started going out into the community immediately, through designated community partners who’ve joined us in the fight for racial equity and other pressing needs, and we’ll continue to work aggressively to raise additional funds to show Ms. Scott how the magnitude of her investment can be multiplied. Click here to read more about this extremely generous donation.

As the pandemic stretches on, now more than ever before our community's big challenges call for big solutions. In the face of these challenges, your United Way continues to provide emergency funding for community members through the United for Southern Arizona COVID-19 Fund. To date, we have raised $1,136,219 which has helped 24,426 individuals and families in need. We've sent funding to 35 partner agencies to fulfill 927 critical need requests. Here's one example of how the fund has helped a local family:

From Ajo Center for Sustainable Agriculture: "My husband is retired, and I work. My son-in-law and granddaughter came down with COVID, and my daughter had to stay home and care for them. Unfortunately, she had no paid time off. Because of this assistance from Ajo CSA, we were able to help my daughter’s family during their two months without work. I made enough vegetable soup to feed an army and shared with my daughter, allowing her to feed her family - and at the same time saving us both money to put toward gas and medication. Thank you.”

We want to thank KGUN 9 who recently aired a story about our COVID-19 fund and response. Click here to see it.

We're starting to set the (virtual) table for Women United's signature event, The Annual Business Leader's Breakfast. We hope you'll join us Thursday, February 25, 2021 at 8:30 a.m. for Women United's Business Breakfast in Bed. Hundreds gather each year to raise tens of thousands of dollars for early childhood education in Southern Arizona. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year will look a little different. We are transforming the Business Breakfast tables that we would usually gather at in-person to a virtual opportunity that will provide books for 2,000 K-3 children and their families. We will also announce the two Literacy Champions who are awarded for their success in literacy education. A BIG THANK YOU to all of our sponsors (pictured to the left) who are helping to improve early literacy and education in Southern Arizona by supporting this event. Click here for more information and to sponsor a virtual table.

Each month we introduce you to people who are helping us make a difference in our community. Ruth Christopherson is doing just that. Ruth is the Senior Marketing Manager here at United Way of Tucson. She plays a major role in ensuring everything we do at United Way is promoted to the Southern Arizona community. That includes everything from website maintenance, social media and public relations to email distribution and digital advertising. She is also a photographer and graphic designer who helps create all visual content for the organization from photographing events to creating our annual report, advertisements, campaign materials and any other graphic needs. Ruth was born and raised in Tucson. Her father is a professor at the University of Arizona and her mother is a principal at Oyama Elementary School. She went to Tucson High and then the University of Arizona where she got a bachelor’s degree in physical anthropology. Her family traveled around the world to different archaeological digs in Jordan, Israel, and Morocco for her father’s work as an archaeologist and map maker. Ruth says it gave her a deep love for all things human, a passion for social justice and a love for experiencing new cultures. After graduation, she started working in marketing, first for Coyote Task Force, a nonprofit that trains individuals with severe mental illness in the workplace, and then as the regional marketing manager for Harley-Davidson in Southern Arizona. She joined United Way of Tucson in 2018 where she has been impressing her co-workers with her can-do attitude and clear passion for helping others. Outside of work, Ruth enjoys taking her two dogs on camping trips and playing soccer. Additionally, she loves photography/video and truly enjoys being able to bring that love to her job. Here's a little more about Ruth:

United Way of Tucson is special because of its unique ability to transform thousands of lives on a community level. We are here to serve the entire population and work towards a more equitable community. This has allowed us as an organization to serve 175,000 people each year with a focus on the most vulnerable populations. I feel truly fortunate to work for an organization that lets people solve problems and create meaningful change on a regular basis and I am grateful to be a part of that change. The people at United Way are all such amazing individuals doing amazing work and it is a true privilege to work with each and every one of them.

It was particularly rewarding this past year to be a part of the team that received and helped promote our recent 10-million-dollar gift from MacKenzie Scott. As the largest donation the organization has ever received, it will go a long way to help the whole Southern Arizona community rebuild after such a difficult year. It is my wish that this new year we are able to optimize our work to help Southern Arizona heal and recover as we work together to live united.

I love many things about Tucson, the food, the culture, the music, and of course the Sonoran Desert. Our singularly unique environment is the most beautiful place I’ve had the pleasure to discover. Having traveled to many different locations over the years, my heart always fills with happiness whenever I return home and I see the Saguaros waiting.

Anything else you want to add?

Thanks for reading and thank you for supporting United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona!

We are pleased to share the annual Community Impact Report for the Cradle to Career partnership, anchored at United Way. Since the work of the partnership launched, all eight community-level outcomes have improved. For example, 2,000 more 3- and 4-year-olds are participating in high-quality Pre-K programs, the number of 3^rd graders reading at grade level has increased six percentage points, and the on-time high school graduation rate increased by nearly five percentage points. While these are incredible accomplishments to celebrate, the partnership recognizes that racial and ethnic disparities continue to persist across EVERY outcome area and in many cases are widening. This year, the partnership is doubling-down on its commitment to center equity in every single strategy in all outcome areas. Specific targets are being set with the goal to eventually eliminate all disparities. Click here to learn more about the work of C2C. Click the button below to read the latest impact report.

Round-up for United Way of Tucson Now - January 29th

Shop at Walmart.com or the Walmart App and simply choose to round-up your total to support United Way of Tucson at checkout.

Affordable Housing Summit January 25-28, February 5th

Join us for a virtual event designed to gather and share information and best practices for the creation of housing opportunities for older adults. The event is open to anyone who wants to attend. Click here for more information.

16th Annual Business Leaders for Education Breakfast (in Bed) Thursday, February 25th, 2021 8:30 a.m.

Join United Way's Women United as they host a virtual breakfast to raise awareness and funds for childhood literacy. See the story above or click here for more details and to reserve a virtual table.

Arizona Gives Day April 6th, 2021

Join the annual online giving movement that supports local nonprofits. Click here for more details and to donate.