At United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona, we work to ensure that every individual in our community can pursue financial wellness.

What is financial wellness? We think of it as five components - asking five questions:

• Can a household cover their basic needs?

• Do they have savings for emergencies, retirement, and education?

• Can they make informed financial decisions for themselves and their families by using financial skills?

• Can they pursue wealth-building opportunities such as homeownership, entrepreneurship, or further education?

• Do they have a voice in civic and community resource decisions, particularly funding and policies?

Our efforts are focused on building up the availability, awareness, accessibility, and quality of financial wellness resources and programs for everyone in our community.

Financial Wellness February Snapshots

Last month, we hosted Patrick Payne, PhD, from the University of Arizona’s Personal and Family Financial Planning program at our quarterly Financial Wellness Partnership Network Meeting to discuss behavioral economics, choice architecture, and what drives our decision-making (left). Our Financial Wellness staff also joined the League of Women Voters at the 2024 Issues and Eggs event focused on Murdered and Missing Indigenous People, the Community Investment Corporation's Social Innovation Hackathon on Homelessness (center, right), and partners across the community in moving forward on projects related to Opportunity Youth financial coaching, the Southern AZ Economic Inclusion Forum, and faith-based housing advocacy. Onto March!

Free Tax Prep with VITA - 2024

United Way of Tucson's VITA program provides FREE tax preparation and helps thousands of local households secure their maximum refund while saving hundreds of dollars in preparation fees. Most households earning less than $79,000 per year qualify! Interested in using VITA? Check out our different service options:

1. In-person services: Walk-in or schedule an appointment, depending on location - UnitedWayTucson.org/VITA (Please visit our website for the most up-to-date information on site hours and operations)
2. Connect Online with IRS-certified VITA tax preparers: Visit - GetYourRefund.org/uwtsa
3. FREE Do-It-Yourself Software: On your own, or with help from our volunteers - UnitedWayTucson.org/VITA

Learn more about the program limitations, requirements, sites, hours, and signing up for an appointment by emailing vita@unitedwaytucson.org, calling 520-333-5810, or visiting the VITA webpage:UnitedWayTucson.org/VITA

Crowd-Sourced Resources

For Individuals/Families:

Pima County Public Libraries: Of note - the Library’s Our Space programming is mostly aimed at the unhoused community and currently happens on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of the month, 11am-12pm, at Main Joel D. Valez library (3rd floor Tortolita Room). They currently offer free meals and programming in this time block and generally draw about 30-50 people (mostly 30-60 yr old men). At our February Eviction Prevention Case Managers meeting, we also heard about other library resources - free health clinics, health supplies distribution (including fentanyl testing strips, COVID tests, Narcan, period products, reading glasses), computer labs, job help, free faxing/printing, etc. To check in or learn more about library resources, you can always email askalibrarian@pima.gov

Parish ID Program: Parish IDs are a form of identification that give a sense of belonging and community to members of our parish communities who lack documents. They are non-governmental documents that enable people who have no other forms of identification to approach the police. The Tucson Police and Pima County Sheriff Departments have stated that they are wiling to recognize the Parish IDs as an acceptable form of identification. Pima County Interfaith partners currently offer a parish ID program through a few partner parishes.

Arizona Rental Assistance Program (ARAP): Arizona Rental Assistance alleviates housing instability for eligible low income seniors and families with children. Eligible households may receive a lump-sum assistance payment equal to three (3) times the household’s monthly rent, not to exceed $10,500. Program benefits may be used to cover rental arrears, future rent, and rent late fees and penalties.

For Programs/Nonprofits:

City of Tucson Accepting Applications for Economic & Workforce Development and Special Events Grants: The City of Tucson has issued a Request for Proposals for the fiscal year 2024-25 Economic and Workforce Development and Special Events Grants. Respondents must be Tucson-serving nonprofit organizations intending to fund workforce development programs, or special events, between July 1, 2024 and June 30, 2025. Contracts awarded by the Mayor & Council for fiscal year 2024 may automatically renew under the same terms for fiscal year 2025. Proposals are due March 8, 2024 at 4:00 p.m.

Trauma-informed Economic Empowerment Project: UA’s Gender Justice Workshop (formerly Domestic Violence Law Clinic) has created a comprehensive website filled with helpful resources and training for advocates, policymakers, providers of financial wellness services, and anyone interested in learning about the role that trauma plays in people’s relationship to money and the ways in which it can undercut the ability to achieve financial wellness. We designed our new website to support our community partners and provide tools that are readily available. These include a free and downloadable training module developed by our clinic covering topics such as Understanding Economic Trauma and Abuse, Financial PTSD and the “Scarcity Mindset,” and much more. 

ADOH At Home (OTC) Rapid Antigen Test Request Form: Organizations can request tests from ADOH for community distribution - use the form at the link. Tests will be distributed as supply allows. Please note that if administering the tests all positive results from rapid antigen tests should be reported to ADHS by one of the methods listed on the Lab Resources Webpage