Alleviating Poverty through Public Benefits and Tax Credit Access

The Promise is a public-private partnership dedicated to meeting some of the goals of the City of Philadelphia’s Poverty Action Plan. Key aspects of The Promise include “community challenges,” wherein community-based organizations receive funding to partner on efforts to improve city residents’ material conditions. Because eligible Philadelphians leave millions of dollars’ worth of public benefits and refundable tax credits on the table each year, the first community challenge launched, called the Family Stability Challenge (FSC), funds service provider coalitions to collaborate on connecting underserved populations with benefits and credits. The Urban Institute was invited to conduct an evaluation of the early implementation of the FSC. As a result, they released this report that provides a scan of relevant literature and contextual information important for understanding the FSC.