December 19, 2003
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM EST
Teleconference

Welcome/Announcements/Review Agenda
Chair Bruce Twomley opened meeting by welcoming everyone and a special warm welcome was extended to the guest speaker from Bentley College . The Chair stated there were no announcements this month. Once the roll call would be taken, the floor was opened to the guest speaker.

Roll Call & Confirmation of Quorum * (4)
Program Analyst Inez De Jesus took the roll call, and quorum was met; quorum=4 and 7 members (including the DFO) were present.

Panel Members Present

• Linda Bader, Chesterfield, MO
• Elizabeth Brodbine Ghoniem, Winchester, MA, Vice-Chair
• Nancy L. Ferree, Designated Federal Official (DFO)
• Delford Jones, Griffith, IN
• Joseph Meissner, Cleveland, OH
• Sharon Stetz, Salt Lake City, UT
• Bruce Twomley, Juneau, AK, Chair

Panel Members- Not Present

• Sharon Lassar

TAP Staff

• Inez E. De Jesus (Program Analyst/Scribe)

MLI Program Owner(s)

• Toni M. Cross

Guest(s)

• Professor William Wiggins, Bentley College

Review/Approve Meeting Minutes of November 21, 2003
Panel Member Linda Bader requested that one change be made to the previous meeting minutes; on page 2, under the heading: “Review on ESL (English as a Second Language) Initiative,” third paragraph, first sentence, second line, "Ms. Sandy should be invited, be changed to could." There was no opposition to this from the committee. Action: Program Analyst is to make this change.

These minutes will be “approved as amended”.

Report on LITC Conference
Sharon Stetz, who attended the Low Income Tax Clinic (LITC) Nationwide Conference in D.C., during the week of December 8, 2003 , began by stating that she regretted that not everyone was given the opportunity to attend. Ms. Stetz was very impressed and felt very energized specifically with what she has learned that is being done for English as Second Language (ESL) individuals.

Ms. Stetz stated that this committee could be a catalyst. At this point, the floor was turned over to Professor William Wiggins from Bentley College who

Ms. Stetz had met during the conference and had invited him to participate on this call.

Professor Wiggins began by expressing his gratitude for this invitation and opportunity to share what Bentley College has been doing for the past 12 years to assist ESL individuals in various communities in the Boston area. Highlights of Professor Wiggins' presentation:

• Services in the immigrant communities are provided in the business arena; Bentley is known for the significant efforts with community-based organizations. Four years ago, Professor Wiggins got involved with LITC's specifically in “Financial Planning and Taxation.”
• Brief overview of 1998 legislation, which resulted in the creation of Low Income Tax Clinics (LITC's) with the goal of 1) to provide taxpayer assistance for low-income taxpayers who have a controversy with the IRS, and 2) as an outreach and education arena in ESL communities.
• Professor Wiggins stated, “it seemed like a natural fit” for Bentley College to become engaged with LITC's. This program is conducted by the students after training in tax law or tax accountant courses.
• There has been confusion among ESL individuals with thinking that IRS might be INS (Immigration and Naturalization Services).
• Bentley College has the human resources for translation. Seventy one percent of the population is Spanish speaking.
• There exist problems with communicating IRS vocabulary and tax terms.
• Professor Wiggins shared Bentley's basic tax curriculum. Professor Wiggins believes there could be a connection between what this committee is proposing.
• The ESL instructors introduce basic terms and concepts at the beginning of the class. The students are alerted to some things to think about, for example, on whether they receive cash as income and issues concerning their social security numbers, if they have one or not.
• For the past 6 months there is a 59-second video for local cable TV in Spanish/English in the Boston area. (Available in VHS and DVD). This tool has been working very well in helping people with the IRS in Boston .

Program Owner Toni Cross expressed to Professor Wiggins that this was an excellent presentation. She inquired if he was working with LITC folks in regards to the 59- second video. Action: Program Owner obtained the professor's telephone number in order to follow-up on this and discuss it off-line.

A question and answer period followed
Inquiries were made on the interaction between students and instructors as per the Bentley College ESL model program, and Professor Wiggins shared that pre-read materials are usually provided to the students up front and 10-15 minutes are allotted (depends on level of interest) whereby instructors interact with the students.

Lite refreshments are usually provided and this usually happens in the evenings. This way students are made aware that the instructors are available and the services that are available to them.

During this period, contact information is obtained and most importantly, trust level is created up front. During this period also, referrals are done according to the needs of the individuals. Other issues are involved, for e.g., immigration issues and/or domestic abuse issues.

A questionnaire on quality of service received (on an anonymous basis) is provided to the participants of the program. Usually by word of mouth is how others learn of this program.

Linda Bader shared that there is no LITC currently in St. Louis, MO and she wondered how do you see this working where there are no LITC's but lots of ESL classes. Professor Wiggins responded that one should then work with established organizations that do pro-bono work, for example, by attorneys and/or CPA's. He suggested that networking be set-up. Other means are by correspondence, telephone or by email. There are different means to work with individuals who are miles away. There is not always a need to do face-to-face work.

Another avenue is “media relationships”- by working closely with the Local Taxpayer Advocates (LTA's) in Boston. Professor Wiggins shared that the LTA's not only help with a case that is in controversy but also they are very helpful with outreach opportunities in helping to get the word out that LITC's are available for ESL individuals.

Before closing, Chair Twomley expressed his appreciation to Professor Wiggins for his time and for all the insights shared by him. Twomley welcomed the professor's willingness to work with this committee in the future.

Finalized Panel Recommendation-ESL Curriculum Proposal on Basic Tax Responsibilities
Linda Bader walked through the draft recommendation she had shared with all prior to this meeting. Ms. Bader began with the “Statement of Issue: Recommend Cost Effective Ways to Address the Needs of Recently Migrated Immigration Groups to the Proposed Solutions”.

The Chair and other members expressed that more time was needed in order to review the draft recommendation. Ms. Bader requested that all suggestions be sent to her as soon as possible and thanked those that have already sent their suggestions to her.

Ms. Bader also thanked DFO/Program Manager Nancy Ferree for providing her with the template that is used to elevate TAP Recommendations.

Professor Wiggins shared that Allan Goldberg, whom also attended the LITC Conference, will be very helpful in providing information on which clinics are doing only controversy cases.

Chair Twomley thanked Linda Bader for all her work on this project.

The committee agreed that it is ready to elevate this recommendation to the program owner(s). Program Owner Cross requested to know what were the expectations or intent of the committee by elevating the ESL Curriculum Proposal on Basic Tax Responsibilities Initiative.

Cross referred to the end of year report prepared by the former MLI Chair, Sharon Lassar, entitled “TAP MLI Committee Report of Activities and Recommendations from October 2002- September 2003” as a guidance for the committee to follow.

DFO Ferree suggested that the ESL Curriculum be attached to the referral/recommendation.

The sub-committee decided to meet by telephone in order to finalize the draft recommendation on Tuesday, December 23, 2003, at 1:00 pm EST , Dial in number and participant's code will be shared by Analyst after this call. (Action Item for Analyst) (Paricipants: Bader, Stetz, Brodbine Ghoniem, Meissner and DFO Ferree ) Sub-committee will also ensure that Assessment prepared by Lassar is also being adhered to.

Lassar's Year-end assessment will be shared with Professor Wiggins as well.

Chair Twomley also shared that he has a report that is due to the Joint Committee by January 8, 2004, and it would be a nice goal to have the recommendation completed by then if possible. National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson is automatically copied.

New Committee Assignments/Goals
Panel Member Sharon Stetz requested LITC survey feedback from Program Owner Cross which led to Program Owner's presentation on the “2003 Low Income Tax Clinic (LITC) Conference Survey” which had been distributed to all electronically prior to today's meeting.

Program Owner Toni Cross shared that 32 of the 130 LITC sites responded to the survey during the LITC conference. The participants represented 22 different states. Regarding “Participants Outreach Efforts” –

• 88% provide ESL instruction, and
• 47% provide ESL instruction only.

Program Owner Toni Cross suggested that the TAP MLI committee continue to partner with LITC's with ESL programs

News from the Staff
DFO Ferree shared that during the end of January 2004, the TAP Program Managers and Program Analysts will be partnering with LITC's staff in D.C., as part of the annual Continuing Professional Education (CPE).

DFO Ferree also shared that the original Citizen Advocacy Panel (CAP) had put together a videotape, which explained CAP, and its mission that was viewed at Post Offices via a “loop”. She sees a co-relation between this and the 59-second video mentioned earlier by Professor Wiggins from Bentley College . There seems to be possibilities to make this happen to help get the word out to ESL individuals.

Program Analyst De Jesus confimed the next teleconference meeting date and time and all agreed.

DFO Ferree informed all that she had learned this week that Assistant Program Owner Raymond Mills will be out for a couple of months due to minor surgery and on behalf of the committee requested that Toni Cross share “get well wishes” from all to him.

Public Participation/Input
None

Closing Assessment
Panel Member Delford Jones thanked Inez for distributing to the entire newspaper article regarding the recent federal program of $1.5 million dollars allocated to the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services on a national level. (This may relate to Limited English Proficient (LEP) and ESL immigrants and the MLI program).

Delford Jones requested that he be kept informed.

Professor Wiggins expressed his appreciation for being invited to participate on this call.

Before bringing the meeting to an end, Chair Twomley thanked everyone for their participation and wished all “Happy Holiday Greetings.”

Confirm next teleconference meeting: January 16, 2004, from 1:00 PM-2:00PM EST