A Las Vegas volunteer tax network has helped return more than $25 million through free filing. Its clearest argument arrives in one client’s two-hour catch-up on taxes reaching back to 2013.

The useful question isn’t whether youth arts giving helps. It’s what kind of help it buys — and in Las Vegas, Think & Wonder and Whalers Creation make a strong case that art can build public confidence, community ties, and the skills that lead toward a first paycheck.

The interesting thing about 2d Chance is not that it believes in second chances. It’s that in Las Vegas, it builds reentry around counseling, outpatient treatment, relapse-prevention groups. That unglamorous structure keeps a release date from becoming a boomerang.