On March 13, 2020, COVID-19 forced the shutdown of the IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Program in senior centers, public libraries and community sites. This left thousands of families in Connecticut without access to these free services that served as a gateway to Earned Income Tax Credits, COVID-19 relief funding and Child Tax Credits.
A CT-based VITA team came together to form SimplifyCT to deploy a Salesforce/Slack platform that included a call center with Service Console, text, chat and scheduling app. This led to $20 million in benefits to CT residents and elevated levels of client service. SimplifyCT is now building toward a post-pandemic environment, utilizing this platform to enhance virtual and in-person VITA services across Connecticut and in others states.
