Vision
A health care system addressing financial well-being as a key driver of family and child health.
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Who we are
StreetCred seeks to improve health and well-being for families and children
by helping families in the United States build economic stability and mobility. Families face multiple barriers to enrollment in evidence-based government support programs and financial services such as tax credits, college savings accounts, and financial coaching, including confusing applications, long lines, time scarcity, and limited transportation options. In response, StreetCred makes it easier, faster, and cheaper for families to access these services by meeting them in a trusted, frequented, untapped location: the pediatrician's office.
Our Journey
2015
Mother of two has trouble finding affordable, trustworthy tax help, so asks Dr. Hole if he might help her while she waits in his clinic, sparking the creation of StreetCred.
2016
StreetCred launches its pilot site at Boston Medical Center, returning over $400,000 to nearly 200 families.
2018-2019
StreetCred expands nationally and launches the Medical Tax Collaborative (MTC) to build a movement incorporating financial wellbeing into health care. The MTC provides technical support to hospitals and health clinics working to launch their own Medical Financial Partnership. To date, we have ~30 members in 15 states and D.C.
2020-2021
StreetCred launched a bundled-model approach in which we systematically offer families assistance with financial coaching, enrollment in 529 college savings accounts, and tax preparation services.
Due to the pandemic, StreetCred created our first-ever virtual tax site, which creates economies of scale as we partner with community-based organizations around Boston to offer tax preparation services to children and families.
Why StreetCred
StreetCred exists to build economic well-being and improve health and health equity for families and children.
Forty percent of children in the United States are low-income. Sixteen million, or one in five, are poor, with another one in five near poor. Poverty negatively affects children’s brains, learning, and health into adulthood, costing the US economy more than $500 billion annually in lost productivity and health expenditures. Safety net resources pull children and families out of poverty, but underutilization plagues America’s most effective programs. Cliff effects prevent families from saving and working toward economic goals. We leverage trust in health care providers paired with skilled community partners to empower people to confidently navigate the financial system.
Consider one example:
The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), a tax refund for working poor families, is considered one of the nation’s most effective anti-poverty programs. It is associated with improved infant and maternal health, higher employment rates of single mothers, improved K-12 school performance and increased earnings when children reach adulthood.
However, access barriers prevent more than 20% of EITC-eligible families from receiving the money they’ve earned. Making matters worse, for-profit tax preparers take nearly $2 billion every year from EITC recipients. In total, ~10 billion annually are left on the table. These are dollars that could be helping children grow and thrive.
Our Secret Sauce
More than 90% of children visit a health care provider annually. StreetCred leverages the trusting relationship families have with their pediatricians. We partner with the IRS-sponsored Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Program and other financial services to help families file taxes, maximize tax refunds, apply for other anti-poverty programs, and engage in financial coaching to work toward their self-identified economic goals. We meet families where they're at rather than expecting them to navigate confusing systems on their own.
Step 1.
Partner with health clinics serving high volumes of families with low income
Step 2.
Partner with local financial services organizations (VITA coalitions, financial capabilities organizations, etc)
Step 3.
Recruit and train volunteers from surrounding communities
Step 4.
Provide free tax preparation and wealth-building programs
Step 5.
Iterate and scale
Step 6.
Study impact on health and wealth
#TIMEISMONEY #WEALTHISHEALTH
How StreetCred is Making a Difference
Too many eligible families have never heard of the EITC and other anti-poverty government programs.
StreetCred uses trusted relationships to educate families about eligibility for government assistance programs like the EITC in hospitals, clinics, and surrounding communities.
Filing taxes and filling out pages of complicated applications for government assistance can be confusing.
StreetCred’s staff and volunteers are well-trained by partner financial capabilities organizations and certified by the IRS to walk families through filing taxes and other financial processes.
Financial services are full of hidden fees and expensive, especially when budgets are tight.
StreetCred’s services are free.
Free community resources can be challenging to access. Think: transportation problems, inflexible hours at low-paying jobs, limited child care, and inconvenient hours of operation.
StreetCred is convenient. We bring services to families in a trusted, frequented location: the pediatrician’s office. We offer in-person, over-the-phone/video, and online services to maximize options.
Lucy Marcil, MD, MPH
Co-Founder & Executive Director
Lucy is a pediatrician and advocate from South Carolina who works to alleviate the health impacts of poverty. She is a primary care pediatrician at Boston Medical Center, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Boston University, and Associate Director of Economic Mobility for the Center for the Urban Child and Healthy Family. Internationally, Lucy has undertaken pediatric health-systems strengthening in Namibia, Kenya, and Bangladesh. She earned her MD from the University of Pennsylvania and MPH at Johns Hopkins before completing pediatrics training at Harvard University and Boston University.
Michael Hole, MD, MBA
Co-Founder & Special Advisor
Michael is a pediatrician, policy professor, and multi-time founder at The University of Texas at Austin, where he is Executive Director of The Impact Factory, a hub for social entrepreneurship. He is a Partner at Notley Ventures, an investment firm bridging profits and purpose, and owns Hoosier & Company, a social impact consulting business. A first-generation college graduate from rural Indiana, Michael was Butler University’s top student before earning his MD and MBA from Stanford and completing pediatrics training at Harvard, where his patient’s story inspired StreetCred.
Team Members
Lisia Morales
Director of Operations
Lisia Morales has been working in the non-profit industry for over 20 years. She has experience in program and project management, business development, facilitating training for adults, and teaching students. Lisia began her career as a bilingual elementary school teacher as part of Teach for America in South Phoenix, AZ. She then assumed project management roles at Engaging Schools, an educational non-profit, and later at the Zero Suicide Institute, a program focusing on suicide prevention. Lisia received a B.A. in Latin American Studies and Sociology from Wellesley College and a MA in Curriculum and Instruction from Arizona State University. Language abilities: English and Spanish.
Barbara Alcena
Family Engagement Lead
Barbara was born and raised in Haiti for the first 13 years of her life. Barbara holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work from Florida Atlantic University, and a Master’s Degree in International Relations from Northeastern University. Prior to BMC, Barbara worked in Child Protection for seven years servicing the most vulnerable children in both Florida and Massachusetts. She has experience in consulting for the Children’s Bureau with local stakeholders to raise awareness for children without parental care. Her passion is to served children and families from low income and immigrant backgrounds. Language abilities: Haitian Creole, and French
Kelsey Egan, M.D.
Research Collaborator
Kelsey is a pediatrician and researcher who works with StreetCred team as a research collaborator. Her research focuses on improving food security and nutrition equity in early childhood. Her research aims to optimize processes for connecting families to health-related social needs resources. She works clinically in the Pediatric Primary Care Clinic at Boston Medical Center and is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine. She completed her MD at Columbia University and her pediatrics residency at the Boston Combined Residency Program (Boston Medical Center and Boston Children’s Hospital). She completed a T32-funded fellowship in General Academic Pediatrics and MSc in Epidemiology from the Boston University. Language abilities: English and Spanish.
Elliot Kim
AmeriCorps VISTA Member
Elliot is serving as an AmeriCorps VISTA member and is originally from Northern Virginia, outside Washington, D.C. He received a B.S. in Chemistry with a minor in English at the College of William & Mary. After he graduated, he worked as a surgical technician at a skin cancer surgical center and volunteered at a free clinic where he found his love for patient care. Seeing the contrasts in resource access and health outcomes between specialized medicine and community health clinics each week, he was determined to learn more about how these disparities in care have developed. By joining AmeriCorps, he is motivated to learn how we can make healthcare more accessible and equitable for the communities they intend to serve. Language abilities: English
Bob Vinci
Chief of Pediatrics, Boston Medical Center
Chair of Pediatrics, Boston University School of Medicine
Jeff Saviano
Global Tax Innovation Leader, EY
Kathryn Bueker
Chief Financial Officer, HubSpot
Thea James
Associate Chief Medical Officer
Vice President, Mission for Boston Medical Center
Director, Violence Intervention Advocacy Program (VIAP)
Associate Professor, Boston University School of Medicine
Funders and Supporters
