Getting My Taxes Done

Dwayne Jackson and Ernest Sanders
Published: January 22, 2011

"I enjoyed getting my taxes done today for free and learning more about emails and the Internet. I have an email address now! Thanks Elacsha for your help," said Dwayne Jackson.

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The Auburn Gresham Tax Preparation team is made up of nearly 40 certified individuals from different careers and disciplines. Led by Pamela Wafford (C), this team of volunteers seeks to provide families an opportunity to become financially secured.

Ernest Sanders

Jackson's acknowledgement of Auburn Gresham's free tax preparation and ability to get a free email account is reflective of two initiatives being led and co-sponsored by the Greater Auburn-Gresham Development Corporation (GADC).

The free tax preparation is a partnership between Saint Sabina Employment Resource Center (ERC), the Center for Economic Progress (CEP), and GADC. In its seventh year of providing free tax preparation and like-minded services (free financial counseling, free checking and savings accounts-with US Bank, and free application for federal student aid (FAFSA), these partnerships seeks to bring financial literacy and dependency to local residents.

Jackson's latter comment is related to Auburn Gresham and four other neighborhood's participation in the U.S. Government's Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) in which the City of Chicago was awarded Recovery Act Funds to increase technology access and encourage adoption of broadband Internet Services.

As a southwest side collaboration, the Auburn Gresham, Chicago Lawn, and Englewood neighborhoods envision using technology (with the assistance of BTOP) to connect and reduce the physical and psychological barriers that have hampered their cooperation and slowed their collective progress.

Read recent articles by Elizabeth Kobak, a Northwestern University Medill School graduate student, report on Auburn Gresham's Smart Communities initiative and the free tax services.

Auburn Gresham's free tax service occurs on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays through April 18, 2011.