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Tax Prep Collaboration

Students in an Accounting class at Northeast High School fulfill community service hours by helping complete taxes for community members.

     OCCCDA partners with Campaign for Working Families (CWF) to offer free tax preparation services to our community members.  Not only that, but CWF will train for free anyone who wants to volunteer and be certified in the marketable job skill of tax preparation.

Students at Northeast High School in Oxford Circle have the option of completing a training and then honing their skills by helping prepare taxes for community members.  Students say they find the training worthwhile and relevant to real life, and feel good about what they’re learning and how they’re helping.

Jasmin Holston of CWF helps a community member complete their taxes.

     “We see lots of elderly and low-income folks who have trouble doing their taxes online,” says Jasmin Holston, CWF Site Manager at our location.  We talk through with them what tax breaks they qualify for and why.  So far this year, we have completed 157 tax returns at this location, bringing back $224,917 in tax refunds.

Along with bringing CWF to Oxford Circle, OCCCDA uses its role as a trusted hub in the community to get the word out and invite residents to participate in the free tax prep service. Our partners at M&T Bank that provide office space to our Economic Development team are also the host site for this tax service.

OCCCDA’s Magaly Hernandez (Director of Economic Development) and Dr. Shanté Antrom (Executive Director), with Campaign for Working Families’ Diana Allinger, and M&T Bank’s Cassandra Bell, at our M&T Bank location.