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For families across San Joaquin County, Community Partnership for Families (CPF) is more than just a name — it’s a trusted neighbor, a resource hub, and a powerful force for good. With six Family Resource Centers spread across Lodi, Stockton, and Tracy, CPF has spent over two decades walking alongside local families, helping them access everything from basic needs to long-term support.

CPF offers services to their community including youth and family case management, employment training and help finding and applying for jobs, help with navigating the court system, food and clothing distribution throughout their communities, youth meetings and groups, and community events. CPF also partners with the Human Services Agency to run the Calfresh Employment and Training program – CPF Works. The program supports the transition families of San Joaquin off of CalFresh benefits.

One of the many services they offer is free tax preparation through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, getting support and funding for these services from Golden State Opportunity as a member of the Community Connect program. For Lynsay Nuss, Deputy Director of CPF, free tax preparation is a natural extension of the services they offer to their community, especially given that it is so dependent on the community trusting CPF.

“We have to be a trusted partner in our community to provide something as delicate as tax services,” said Nuss. “They’re sharing their tax information, social security information. We already have that established trust through other programs we offer to our community, so people don’t hesitate to come to us with those questions and ask us to help them do their taxes. It’s a great program for us to offer.”

Last tax season alone, CPF’s team of staff and volunteers filed over 1,400 tax returns, helping bring more than $3 million back into the pockets of San Joaquin County residents. And they’re not slowing down anytime soon. Over the past few years, they’ve expanded their reach — setting up a location at Stanislaus State’s Stockton campus and extending services into northern parts of the county. They’re also teaming up with local partners to grow their outreach and connect even more families with the support they deserve.

Nuss emphasized the importance of these services expanding to the more rural areas of the county, where many people don’t have access to anything like what CPF offers and face the prospect of traveling hours to get to a city to access services.

“It’s so important especially because the outer edges of our communities have such little access to free tax preparation, medical, and other services,” said Nuss. “If we didn’t have our family centers or sites there people wouldn’t have access to these resources. We’re really ‘connectors.’ People don’t have to worry about catching a bus and missing picking their kid up. We are the people that they can come to and figure things out.”

Learn more about Community Partnership for Families.

Learn more about Golden State Opportunity.