Evaluating What Works: the Claim Your Cash LA Pilot
How do you evaluate a pilot program doing something that's never been done before? That's what my co-consultant Diana Jensen and I have been figuring out as evaluators for Claim Your Cash LA—a pilot connecting LA County's safety net agencies directly to free tax preparation services.
The concept is straightforward: county workers identify clients who might benefit from filing taxes to claim credits like the Earned Income Tax Credit, then provide warm hand-offs to Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sites. But evaluating whether the hand-offs really happen and whether people’s lives are actually impacted by this effort? That's a bit more complicated.
A Complex Landscape
We're tracking outcomes across multiple partner types—county agencies, VITA sites run by different community-based organizations, a hotline, and a website—each with its own data systems, capacity constraints, and operational realities.
Some VITA sites have robust data infrastructure. Others are smaller organizations doing heroic work with minimal staff. County agencies are managing massive caseloads while integrating new workflows. We needed data from all of them to understand if the pilot was working.
Early on, Diana and I realized we couldn't just design an ideal evaluation plan and expect everyone to implement it. We had to get creative.
Creative Solutions
We built flexibility into everything. Rather than requiring all partners to report identical data, we created sample-based options focusing on sites with stronger capacity. We mixed quantitative tracking (VITA volume, referral sources, hotline calls) with qualitative research (focus groups with county staff, interviews with referred filers). We conducted multiple rounds of analysis throughout tax season so we could troubleshoot in real time. And we offered consistent technical support—regular office hours, FAQ documents, and ad hoc help when data systems hit snags.
Partnership Over Extraction
But the technical design was the easier part. The harder work has been building real partnerships with community-based organizations operating VITA sites and county agencies opting into this work.
These organizations and departments are mission-driven but stretched thin, helping low-income families navigate complex tax situations with volunteer staff. They don't need consultants with extractive data requests.
So we've worked to be partners, not just evaluators. We took the time to meet with the folks running these programs to understand their data systems. We attended the CYCLA partners retreat in LA. When partners struggled with new data collection, we provided hands-on support rather than just sending reminders.
Where We Stand
The project wraps up in December 2025. LA's tax deadline was extended due to the tragic wildfires. We're tracking data throughout this extended season and will produce a final report capturing what worked, what didn't, and what we learned.
We've already conducted county staff focus groups and interviewed VITA filers who were referred by agencies. We're reviewing monthly data with the program team, highlighting trends and troubleshooting as they emerge.
This project reinforces something I've learned throughout my career: the best evaluation work is collaborative, not extractive. You can design an elegant framework, but if it doesn't account for partner capacity and reality, it won't produce reliable data. Diana and I have worked to be evaluators who make partners' lives easier, not harder—showing up consistently, offering flexible options, and learning alongside everyone else what it actually takes to connect people to the financial benefits they've earned.
