Light And Salt Association

Light And Salt Association, a nonprofit organization headquartered in Houston, Texas, serves as a federal grant recipient delivering volunteer income tax assistance and health insurance enrollment navigation services to underserved populations, acting exclusively as a prime recipient with no federal contract work or subcontracting engagement.

Light And Salt Association operates entirely in the federal grant space, working with two distinct customer agencies. The Internal Revenue Service funds four Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) grants awarded in successive fiscal years (October 2022 through September 2026), supporting the organization's delivery of tax preparation services to low-to-moderate-income individuals, persons with disabilities, non-English speakers, Native Americans, rural residents, members of the armed forces and their families, and elderly taxpayers. The VITA program requires recipients to extend services to underserved populations in hard-to-reach urban and non-urban areas, increase electronic return filing capacity, heighten quality control, enhance volunteer training, and improve return preparation accuracy; Light And Salt Association is obligated to ensure at least 90% of returns prepared serve individuals at or below earned income tax credit thresholds and to achieve 100% of annual return production goals. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services funds two distinct cooperative agreements: a navigator support award for federally-facilitated exchanges (2021–2024) and a five-year health insurance enrollment and public education initiative launched August 2024 and completing August 2029 that targets underserved Asian American populations across 26 Texas counties and more than 34 congressional districts in the Houston, Dallas/Fort Worth, and Austin metropolitan areas. Light And Salt Association leads a nine-organization consortium in the CMS cooperative agreement, partnering with VN Teamwork Inc., Houston Korean Nursing Association, Asian American Health Coalition/Hope Clinic, Chinese Community Center, New Hope Christian Church, Chinese Seniors Association of Houston, Hummingbird Community Outreach, and Austin Light and Salt Services to deliver culturally and linguistically appropriate in-person and virtual enrollment assistance to first-generation immigrant Asian American communities facing health literacy and access barriers.

Recent activity has averaged one award per year across the past five fiscal years. Combined obligated dollars total $10.6 million across all nine awards. Only one award reaches ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, indicating limited near-term recompete exposure relative to the organization's grant portfolio.