PROVIDENCE — Mayor David N. Cicilline joined community leaders yesterday to kick off the sixth annual Earned Income Tax Credit campaign, held at the John Hope Settlement House.

The program, funded by the United Way of Rhode Island and the Annie E. Casey Foundation, trains volunteers to prepare income tax returns for low- to moderate-income families and encourages families to use their income tax credits for saving or building assets.

The campaign reached more than 1,600 households in Providence last year and generated $1.3 million in earned income tax credits and child care credits.

“Each year, as we spread the word, more people take advantage of these federal credits,” Cicilline said. “The result is literally millions of dollars more returned to our families and to the local economy.

“We can’t adequately measure the relief these credits provide anyone,” he said. “But when you consider what a $4,000 windfall could mean to someone, particularly when it represents about one-fifth of their annual income, you know it’s very substantial.”

The Earned Income Tax Credit has become the largest and most important anti-poverty program in the country, providing an average of $1,700 a year to each of 20 million families. Over the past five years, more than 4,500 households in Providence have taken advantage of this program.

For information on the times and dates of the income tax workshops, call the John Hope Settlement House at (401) 455-2330.

John Hope and its partners have also received $75,000 from the Casey Foundation through Making Connections Providence to promote financial literacy in South Providence, Elmwood and the West End.

These workshops will provide free savings accounts at Washington Trust Bank, 180 Washington St.; free federal and state income preparation; free money management classes and monthly “Money Smart Clubs” to help families and their children learn to save.

Community leaders also announced a family financial fair will be held Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. at the John Hope Settlement House, 7 Thomas P. Whitten Way. The event will introduce parents and young people to financial literacy and asset building. The fair will provide information on money management, financial counseling, credit counseling, job training and affordable home ownership.

For information on the fair, contact Tara Quinn at West Elmwood Neighborhood Housing Corporation, (401) 289-0478.