On January 31, the CASH Campaign of Maryland, a nonprofit working to promote the economic advancement of low-to-moderate income individuals and families in Baltimore and across Maryland, kicked off the 2025 tax season with a press conference at UMBC promoting free tax prep services in the Baltimore area, including services offered on the UMBC campus. 

Maryland Governor Wes Moore, Maryland Comptroller Brooke Lierman, U.S. Congressman Kweisi Mfume, and new U.S. Congressman Johnny Olszewski, Ph.D. ’17, public policy, spoke at the event, applauding the reach of the CASH Campaign and the UMBC student volunteers who make time to help their fellow Marylanders.

UMBC student Riaz Chaudry, a senior in financial economics, who has volunteered at the UMBC free tax prep site since his first year and now serves as the student president and site coordinator, also spoke about his experience. 

Chaudry says that when he arrived on campus, he explored many student clubs and other ways to get involved. Volunteering to help prepare taxes for low-to-moderate income Marylanders was the activity that most inspired him, because he felt the immediate impact of giving back to the community.

“It’s rewarding knowing that I am making a difference in people’s lives,” he says. 

Tax prep comes to UMBC

UMBC’s role as a free tax prep site started close to a decade ago, when Trisha Wells, theassistant vice provost for administration and finance for the Division of Professional Studies, says she and a few other UMBC community members who had volunteered as tax preparers at other sites came together to apply to open a UMBC site. The CASH Campaign supported the group with the application process, while UMBC partners such as Residential Life, the Division of Information Technology, the Career Center, and the Shriver Center worked to get space, computers, and more volunteers. The partnership continues with the CASH Campaign, which trains UMBC’s volunteers every year to be ready to prepare tax returns.

In the first year, the UMBC site prepared 115 tax returns, and now averages around 400 per year. Hundreds of trained student volunteers have participated in the efforts, which have saved clients hundreds of thousands of dollars. 

This year, any individual or family in Maryland with a household income of $67,000 or less qualifies for the free tax prep services. Wells says a wide diversity of people have come to the UMBC site over the years, including retirees and people self-employed with jobs such as drivers and home health aides. The services not only save clients tax preparation fees—they often educate people about tax credits they didn’t know they qualified for.

Helping Marylanders save their earned money

The press conference was held on “National Earned Income Tax Credit Awareness Day,” to raise the visibility of a tax credit designed to help low-to-moderate income individuals and families save money on their taxes.

Chaudry says he remembers helping a client last year file a 2023 return, and also amend her 2022 and 2021 returns. Thanks to the earned income credit, Chaudry says the client received a refund, which she was planning to use on unpaid bills. “Delivering the news to her, I could see that she was immediately relieved,” he says. “This is one of the most rewarding feelings as a volunteer.”

Wells agrees that helping clients get better tax refunds is a great part of the job. She also loves how the effort brings together UMBC staff, community, and students, and how the student volunteers learn and grow throughout the tax season.

“Many of our students have graduated, but still come back to volunteer when they can. It is that rewarding!” she says.

BEYA STEM Career Fair (FREE --Both In-Person or Virtual)

The Intelligence Community (IC) Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program offers scientists and engineers from a wide variety of disciplines unique opportunities to conduct research in a wide range of topics relevant to the intelligence community.

The research is conducted by the postdocs, while working in partnership with a research advisor and collaborating with an advisor from the Intelligence Community. In partnership with the research advisor, the postdoc composes and submits a technical proposal that responds to a research opportunity identified at: Current Research Opportunities | IC Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program

Award Details: 

• Annual stipends range from $78,000 to $82,000, depending on research location.
• Annual travel budget of $6,000
• Dedicated travel budget of $3,500 for year one and $2,500 for year 2
• Dislocation reimbursement of up to $3,500, based on relocation mileage
• Host institutions receive an annual laboratory budget of $5,000

Postdoc Eligibility: U.S. citizenship required; Ph.D. received within five years of the appointment start date.

Application Deadline: February 28, 2025

For additional program information, please visit: IC Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program 

Attention PhD students! In Spring 2025, ACLS will place up to 16 PhDs as Leading Edge Fellows with social justice organizations for two-year fellowships. This year, our host organizations include Amica Center for Immigrant Rights (Washington DC), North Carolina Justice Center (Raleigh, NC), Open Communities (Evanston, IL) and more. See below for more information. 

Leading Edge Fellowships support recent PhDs in the humanities and interpretive social sciences as they work with social justice organizations across the country. Hosting organizations provide professional development opportunities and employee benefits to fellows, and draw on fellows’ scholarly perspectives and broad set of skills. Fellows receive stipends: for remote positions, $70,000 in year one, and $72,000 in year two; for in-person positions, $72,000 in year one, and $74,000 in year two. Relocation funds are available for in-person positions. All awardees receive access to health insurance and professional development funding, mentoring, and opportunities for professional development through ACLS and our alumni network. This initiative is made possible through the support of the Mellon Foundation. 

The deadline for applications is Wednesday, March 12th by 9:00pm ET. Applications will be accepted only through the ACLS online application system. Please visit https://www.acls.org/LeadingEdge for complete position descriptions, eligibility criteria, and other helpful information for applicants, including registration information for upcoming applicant webinars on February 10 and March 5. Applicants should not contact any of the hosting organizations directly but can write to leadingedge@acls.org with further questions.

In the article, she argues that early childhood education deserves the same level of public attention and investment as K-12 education, as they are oriented toward similar goals. 

Read more here.