Campaign prep rate para un futuro mejor prepare for a Better Future helps latinos prepare for and strengthen their financial future with free tax education and workshops. Some of the things youll learn there are many building an accurate tax history, filing procedures, deductions, and so on. Here to tell us about the campaign, emmanuel diaz, Multicultural Initiative manager for h r block based in brooklyn, jeffrey melo, coordinator for the Hispanic Access Foundation here in new york. Welcome to you both. Thank you. I look at what youre doing. I think its wonderful. I think its great. But the first question that pops in my mind is, okay, how is tax preparation for latinos any different than tax preparation for anyone else . Well, i think, joe, thats a great question. I got to say that when were talking about the law, the law applies for everybody. Of course. So i dont think its not about the law. I think its some of the characteristics that we have in latinos that are different to others. For example, we rely a lot, too neighbors, our uncle, our family talks about the different systems. And we do not go to professionals to look for information, so thats one of the things about what makes it different, you know, between the latinos and the nonlatinos. Its also weve seen a lot of incremental situations of fraud. Yep. And scams. Okay. In the community, especially in the latino community, so we hear a lot about, you know, ill lend you this Social Security number. Youre gonna get a bigger refund, things like that. Okay, well talk about that. But part of the mission is to convince so many of the people who walk into your office that the expert isnt t o, that the expert isnt abuelo. Thats correct. That the expert is a guy who went to college to study taxes. Exactly. And it continues. It continues at the location. Its not about what you started years behind, right, years back. Yes. Every year the irs is making adjustments and changes to the law, so its about constantly getting educated about the different changes. Jeffrey, i would assume that part of the mission is to make sure that any taxpayers feel comfortable in the atmosphere absolutely. And how do you go about doing that . So, what weve done in Hispanic Access Foundation for the six years that weve been running this program is, when we carry out these events, we try to use places strategically such as churches, community centers, because we understand that thats where latinos feel comfortable. We know pastors are Community Leaders that can gather these people. And well bring them into an environment, that safe space, where they can feel comfortable to speak about taxes and to speak about other things, because the biggest misconception that weve seen is people come in and say, oh, im a latino, and i didnt expect that i needed to pay taxes. So i think that the education part of that and to basically make them feel that, there is that need to do taxes is very important. All right, lets get to the nitty gritty. Mmhmm. Some of the issues that you discuss when a tenant walks in the door for one of these campaigns. What are the first things that youre talking them through . Are you taking them through how to file a return . Exactly. We first need to identify what are their current situations. Are they married, do they have dependents, do they have a have a Social Security. Okay. Right . Yes. Because if they dont have a Social Security, they can apply for what we call an itin, an individual taxpayer Identification Number, right . And thats kind of like similar to a Social Security number, so thats some of the things that we ask for, you know, in order to determine what the requirements. Also we need to explain to that person what are the different documents that they need to bring for the tax preparation. You had one thing talking about dependents. I mean, do you really need to convince people that they have to list all their dependents . [ chuckles ] i see you laughing. I would think of course, you want to list as many dependents as possible, right . Well, of course. But one thing that weve seen throughout our workshops is people come in and said, hey, can i put my neighbors child and my cousin that lives in philadelphia as a dependent so i can get more on my return . And we encourage people not to do this because because its wrong . [ laughs ] because its wrong. Exactly. That might be a big factor. Right. And the irs sees these kind of things, and if you are audited, youll have to give that money and they enter as a penalty, so its a matter of doing things right. So, are you providing more information or providing more of an education, or both . Well, we do both. We do both. Its definitely about education is a power. I think that the situation is that weve been seeing a lot of people in our offices with all kind of situations. You know, victims of fraud, scams, misunderstanding of the law. And we went a step back and we said, hey, you know, what we need to do is just educate the community so when tax season need to do. Youre simply walking them through the rights and wrongs. Absolutely. Who should file taxes, why we should file taxes. And we link it in there with other things that are vital areas within the hispanic community. Okay, sit tight. I got a whole bunch more questions, and i want to put a list of the workshops so that people, you know, apuntar. So that they can go to them. When we come back, grab a pencil, grab a paper, and maybe grab your phone. You can take a picture. Well give you the phone number and the websites where you can we need an internet that can do more. We do more games, and more streaming. So we need more speed. Thats why we switched to Time Warner Cable. You can too. Call now. Now we can connect more devices, at the same time. The wifi in this house is amazing. So is my guacamole. Hi grandma and grandpa ha, look at that [laughs] Time Warner Cable even has an internet plan for us. Get the Internet Speed thats right for you. From 3 megs to ultra fast 300 megs they even made it easy to switch with a onehour arrival window. Why settle for less, when you can get more get 50 meg internet for 39. 99 per month. Call now. You could get free installation, no data cap, and access to over 400,000 twc wifi hotspots with select plans. We have been discussing the Campaign Prep rate para un futuro mejor. It provides free tax education and workshops designed to help latinos. Emmanuel diaz, h r block, Multicultural Initiatives manager based in brooklyn, jeffrey melo, coordinator for the Hispanic Access Foundation here in new york, have been giving us an education. I find this well, you tell me if its Common People still using fake Social Security numbers . They do. They do that in order to work. To work . Basically, in order for you to work, you need a Social Security number. Of course. So, people are using what we call trecos, or fake Social Security numbers, in order to work. We really dont recommend that to do, but people are doing it. Yes. What logic do you tell them [chuckles] other than its illegal, that you shouldnt be using someone elses number or a number . They need to basically, you know, stop doing that, you know. It just could bring a lot of recer recer repercussions. Right. But its important to establish a real one for the future. We know why theyre doing it, take a tax Identification Number, as emmanuel suggested earlier. But we do encourage them to use a tax Identification Number because should there be an Immigration Reform sometime down the line and they do become legal citizens with a Social Security number all the credits that they accumulated while paying on a tax Identification Number, which was legal through the irs, will be rolled over and will be accredited to your Social Security number. So the end benefit down the road is tremendous. Its amazing. Is that enough to convince people to open their eyes a little bit to say, okay. Yeah, it is. They need to first of all, we need to understand that we need to make sure that our latino community, our hispanic community, is doing things right, that were integrating to the systems, that were not trying to find loopholes to do things wrong, right . So they need to apply for an itin number, you know, to declare the taxes, and that way when they open a Social Security, they can get those credits back. Walk me through a workshop. I walk in the church or wherever it might be, how long does it take and what are the things that youre covering . And what do i need to bring . Exactly. So, basically we do these workshops in things like churches, community centers, its a forum, definitely something safe. Were not part of the irs. Were a private company. And youre not filling out tax forms. Definitely dont do it there. That needs to happen in a secure H R Block Office because of the privacy situation, right . So we talk about people about basics like who needs to pay taxes, what are the documents you need to pay taxes, what is an itin number, what is the difference between an itin number and a Social Security number. We talk about things like the Affordable Care act. A lot of people dont know that the Affordable Care act is linked to taxes. And then after that, you know, if people are willing to get additional private consultation, we do have oneonone segments with them or they can come to an office. Is the hope, jeffrey, that people can go to the workshop, get the education so that when they go to fill out their taxes, much of the questions have already been answered and the process can be expedited . Right. We dont want to scare them into, hey, you need to file with these guys. Were working in conjunction with h r block because they are reputable tax prep and because theyve done it right for so many years that we dont want to just tell people, if you dont do it with h r block, its not gonna be right. We want to educate them so they understand when they sit down with a tax prep and they sit down for that two hours to fill their taxes out that theyre understanding everything that that tax prep is going through and theyre not just putting anything on there so they can get the maximum refund. Youve been doing the campaign now for six years. Correct. What have you learned over time . How has it changed for you . Well, i think its been a really good experience to see how weve able to help a lot of people. I think people are starting to understand, you know, little by little about what things are right and what things are wrong, so we see how the communitys getting more educated. Weve come to workshops where people already kind of know what were talking about, so its definitely more educated the people. But the need is still there because the number of latinos always arriving grows every day. And like i was saying before, the law is gonna keep changing, so things are applied today. Maybe theyre not applied next year. Right. All right, i want to go to the full screen graphic that shows the websites that people can go to for more information. Hispanicaccess. Org and pormifuturo. Org. The tollfree number, as well. The hispanic access organization, if you click on that one, the information well learn is. . Correct. If you click on hispanicaccess. Org, youll learn about all the programs that hispanic access is currently working with, all the vital areas. But if you click on pormifuturo. Org, specifically, you can enter your city and you can find local workshops that hispanic access is conducting in your area. Your city or your zip code and it will give you an indication of where to go . Correct. And are you leading some of the workshops . Will people see you . Yes, of course. Most of them. 80 , 90 . Well be at all the workshops here in new york. Okay. And do you do it in english and spanish . Mainly we do it in spanish, but we definitely have somebody that is bilingual so we can go back and forth depending on what people need. Okay. Happy tax season, guys. Thank you. [ laughter ] coming up next on tiempo, free screenings for latino americans, a sixhour documentary series on the history of latinos and what a well tell you whos hosting the come back. [text message alert] [crashing] latino americans is a sixhour documentary chronicling the lives of the latinos who helped shape the United States. It features interviews with an array of individuals, including awardwinning entertainer rita moreno, whos been here on tiempo before. The documentary is produced by pbs with support from the National Endowment for the humanities. Well, now theres a push to present the documentary and air and eventually nationwide. And joining us this morning to talk more about the initiative, neyda martinez, director of National Engagement for the project, nina alvarez is one of the producers, and julio arcenegui from the clemente, which is where you can go to see one of the screenings. Thank you all for being here. Recap me the goal of the mission of latino americans was really to present a history that goes back how far and goes until when . Its 500 years, and its past, present, and future. We are the past, present, and future of this nation, so theres a desire to have communities among latinos and latinos and nonlatinos alike to really get a sense of the vast history and contributions weve made to this nation. Is this the kind of documentary that a teacher could play in her classroom to sort of say its totally the type of documentary that we want teachers to play in their setting and in churches and in, you know, tutors and community centers. Its really adaptable. 500 years big chunk of time. How did you break it out within the series producers decided to tackle the project chronologically, jeff bieber and adriana bosch. There are six episodes, of which nina is the producer of episode four. Mmhmm. And so theres a desire, again, to just present our history just with more nuance and just the major historical beats that will inform and show some patterns that are important for the youth to see and be educated about. Nina, episode four, titled the new. . The new americans. The new americans. Which chronicled which section of time . It chronicled postworld war ii till about 1978, around that area, roughly. And among the people you interviewed and featured are . Well, i mean, i think the big headliners were rita moreno and herman badillo. Yes. Big new yorker. Yes, and having grown up in new york and having, you know i had my own personal connection. Im not puerto rican. Still. Yeah, im a new yorker. I thought i was puerto rican till i was like in the second grade. And so it was a real treat for me personally because i had grown up with these people in my house. But when we say the new americans, it did focus on the caribbean and the influx of latinos who were coming from cuba, the dominican republic, and puerto rico. And puerto rico. Okay. Got it. The massive migration that followed world war ii of Puerto Ricans because it took a much longer time for puerto rico to get out of the depression. Yes. So that pushed a massive amount of people to come this way. And it was encouraged also by the u. S. Government. And then subsequently there was the cubans and the dominicans. And the dominicans. Julio, at the clemente, they came to you or you came to them to say, you know what . This is right in our wheelhouse. Wed love to be able to host one of the screenings . We were able to find this program because it was very openly announced. And we thought it was a great match to our mission. Yeah. We are focused on puerto rican and latino culture, and also we focus on helping and present their work. So it was just the perfect so the next screening at the clemente is when . February 17th. Okay. And it will be another episode of latino americans, we hope. For free. Gratis . All for free. People can just show up and how many can you host . How many can you squeeze into the theater there . About 100 people possibly, but. What is your hope and your goal that a viewer watching this series will say when its over . Well, were hoping that they feel empowered and that they learn something new and that theyre enlightened and that, you know, that theres shared opportunities for shared learning and shared stories and histories. Theres so many kids now that are, you know, mixed, different ethnicities. And thats just increasing in the future, and also our numbers are growing, and were not going away, so theres a desire to have conversation and learning to promote understanding and mutual respect. All cultures are important. Nina, did you have go ahead. Jump in. Say, and its not just for a latino audience. This is for really an american audience. We are part of the american story. And part of my goal in episode four was to show not just how these migrations happened to the United States but also how these migrations helped shape the cities where they occurred. So new york city and miami were vastly transformed by those migrations and that experience and are a huge part of the story of new york and the story of miami and the story of america. Did you have an opportunity to look at the other chapters as you were working on yours to see, you know, how you would tailor it to your own personal vision of how this project was gonna come together for your corner . Sure. Edit rooms were right next to each other, and we were inspired by each other, so i was really you know, i had episode three over here and episode five over here, and it was really inspiring to work with also really talented storytellers. I bet. Ive got so many more questions for you when we come back. More on the documentary latino americans when we come back here on tiempo, and well tell you where to go see it and when, when we come back. Again again again . Again again General Mills is removing artificial flavors and colors from our cereals. So you can love cereal. Welcome back to tiempo. Weve been discussing latino americans, a sixhour documentary chronicling the lives of latinos who helped shape the United States. Weve been chatting this morning with neyda martinez, director of National Engagement for the project, nina alvarez, one of the producers, and julio arcenegui from the clemente. This originally aired on pbs two, three . 2013. It won a peabody. And it won a peabody. Its huge that the neh has supported the project with these community programmings. Thats what im getting at. I mean, here we are talking about a project thats three years old, but were still talking about it and its still very much in play and in the public eye. Does that speak to you about the importance and the longevity of it . That was the vision, the dream, and it hugely is. I mean, were not going anywhere. The nation continues to get diverse, and we just have a responsibility as citizens to get to know each others history, because things are just, you know, getting increasingly complicated and theyre patterns that we could learn from. How honored would you be if a teacher walked up to you and said, you know what . I used chapter four to help educate my spanish class about puertorriqueo and dominicans. And i would assume that would be a tremendous right here in the heart, if you will. Its already happened a bunch of times. And actually weve even, you setting is one thing, but also people who just dont know that story, who are older, you know, because weve been weve been hearing a certain narrative about the story of america, that to have these narratives in front of you really changes everything for you. And for me to give kids a sense of perspective and a sense come from. I mean, to me, thats critical. Its very crucial, and ive actually had students call me, like, College Students call me, you know, from other places and say, we need to tell our story, too, from colombia, from el salvador, from everywhere. [ speaking spanish ] and its so great. Julio was just telling us that hes from spain. Hes been here just a couple of years, and he learned so much from watching ninas episode. It just gave him a whole, new perspective, so again, its for latinos and nonlatinos alike. Well get to the fact that this can be watched online, but i want to get back to julio, because theres something to be said about seeing it in a group setting, julio, because either opportunity to engage, correct . Exactly. To engage with the community as a whole. Thats the idea of having the public viewing, you know, for both latinos to be able to engage with their history but also for nonhispanics to be able to deepen their understanding of the latino culture and for both communities or all the communities to come together, you know, which is the final goal of this series. And having said that, i think its wonderful that you can watch it online in the comfort of your own home. And if theres a segment that perhaps you want to see again or bring in your daughter or your grandson to watch, as well. Its a great opportunity. Its at pbs. Org. Look for latino americans. Theres educational tools. Theres personal blogs. We have personal blogs there from local folks like laura flores and Judith Escalona and from all over the country sharing their personal history and just how proud they are to be latino from their own point of view. All right, i wanted to put up on the screen so that people have clear indication as to where they can go to catch up on the screenings and where and when theyre gonna be. Lets go to those. Is on february 17th. The clemente located at 107 suffolk street in manhattan. A qu\ hora . 7 00 p. M. 7 00 p. M. Okay. You can also view the screenings at the new york public library, and you can visit nypl. Org latinoamericans. If you click there, there are a number of screenings. There are a number of screenings, and i know theres one on february 16th with the scholarly lisandro p\rez, who is a real expert on the cuban migration. Itll be a great talk. Those are fabulous, right . cause you get to pick the brains of the experts, as well. And free viewing online. There you saw it, as well. Do you guys track how many people watch online at pbs . I just texted the e. P. And told him how excited we were to be here with you today. And, you know, well look at the numbers and well share. Whats next for nina . But they actually have the neh has told me that, in fact, they have had record numbers of viewers, which really is a testament to the value of this viewing experience and telling the story and how whats next for nina alvarez . Well, im actually working on a couple of films. One is about the salvadoran migration of the 1980s. Yeah. And what their reception was to the United States and how they had an impact also. But also the other film im working on is about the nationalist movement, Independence Movement in the 1930s in puerto rico. To your previous one, if im not mistaken, the biggest population in the United States of salvadoreos is that how to say it . Are on long island. I mean, theres a Huge Population of people from el salvador who are there. Yeah. We could talk all day. Thank you guys very much. Thank you. Much simas gracias. And before we go, how about this . Quick look at the tiempo Community Calendar for this week. A free place to visit today. This is always good. The Hispanic Society of America Museum in manhattan open now until 4 30. At the museum, if youve never been, you got to go. You can explore every aspect of culture from spain and latin america. The museum is located on Audubon Terrace at broadway open tuesday through sunday just in case you cant make it today. Also, every saturday at casita maria in the bronx, kids can learn traditional afro, puerto rican, and cuban dance and bomba drumming rhythms. Always a good time. That goes from 11 00 a. M. To 4 00 p. M. Casita maria is located at 928 simpson street. For more information, you can visit their website, casitamaria. Org. Much simas gracias. Thanks so much for spending part of your sunday with us. If you missed any part of our show, were online, as well. Heres your opportunity to catch up. You can go to abc7ny on the web, on your tablet, on your smartphone, and you can watch the show there whenever and wherever you want. Im joe torres. Thanks for watching. We will see you next time on