E-Newsletter: January 2025

Montgomery County
Community Action Agency

Community Action Board's Advocacy Efforts

January marks the start of the Maryland Legislative Session and a busy time of year for the Community Action Board’s advocacy work. The Board’s Advocacy Committee meets weekly to review new bills and discuss updates on bills that the board is tracking throughout the session. Committee members volunteer their time to take the lead on drafting testimony and the Committee works together to finalize the testimony.

On January 15th, the Community Action Board (CAB) traveled to Annapolis to participate in the Maryland Community Action Partnership’s (MCAP's) Advocacy Day. Several Community Action staff accompanied the Board to answer their programmatic questions. Pictured above are  Board and staff members in Annapolis.

MCAP Advocacy Day brings together representatives from Community Action agencies throughout the state. Board members advocated for MCAP’s key priorities, including the creation of a Community Action Anti-Poverty Fund, 2-Generation/Whole Family funding, and support for agencies that offer services through the Office of Home Energy Programs. The event included meetings with the Honorable Julie Palakovich Carr, Maryland House of Delegates, and Christopher Daniel, Chief of Staff to the Honorable David Moon, Maryland House Majority Leader. At these meetings, Board members shared MCAP’s legislative priorities and agency staff members joined these meetings to speak about Community Action Agency programs and answer questions about services.

The Community Action Board was excited to see several Community Advocacy Institute (CAI) graduates participating in the Women's Legislative Briefing this year, including Patricia Prather, who served as the Chair of the Emerging Leaders Committee, and Datrina Davis, who spoke on a panel about advocacy for the Emerging Leaders program. Below, Datrina is pictured at right with Ashlie T. Bagwell, Senior Government Relations Associate, Harris Jones & Malone.

Winter Coat Drive for Young Children

The Pre-kindergarten and Head Start Programs are requesting donations of new coats for students in need. Hats, gloves and boots for young children are also welcome. Donations for boys’ and girls’ coats in sizes 4, 5, and 6 are most needed. (Suggested items are on an Amazon wish list).

Items can be dropped off at Rocking Horse Road Center, 4910 Macon Road, Room 141, Rockville, Md., 20852. You may drop off items in person from 9 a.m.–5 p.m., Monday–Friday, or you can order online and have items delivered directly to Rocking Horse Road Center.

For questions, contact Lisa Conlon at Lisa_W_Conlon@mcpsmd.org or 240-550-2615.

Head Start: Do you have a four-year-old who is eligible?

For children who turned four (4) years old on or before September 1, 2024, in low-income families who qualify, registration continues for free pre-kindergarten and Head Start programs in the public schools. Go to www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org and search “Head Start” for more details. There are some spaces still available for this year! Fliers in English and Spanish direct parents and guardians to one link if they are new to MCPS, and another if they already have a child attending MCPS. Applications are accepted online via https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org and in-person at Rocking Horse Road Center, 4910 Macon Road, Rockville, Maryland, 20852, Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. The office phone number is 240-740-4530. List of the documents needed to complete a Head Start application. Do you have questions about Head Start? Check out the Common Questions online.

Free Tax Help Now Available at Community Action VITA

Community Action’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program is now in full swing for the tax season. Free tax help for County residents with a combined household income of $67,000 or less is available now through April 10th. Tax season schedule:

• Mondays, 2 - 8 pm: Casey Community Center, 810 S Frederick Ave, Gaithersburg
• Tuesdays, 11 am - 5 pm: Community Action Agency, 1401 Rockville Pike, Suite 320, Rockville
• Wednesdays, 12 - 8 pm: Community Action Agency, 1401 Rockville Pike, Suite 320, Rockville
• Thursdays, 11 am - 5 pm: WorkSource Montgomery, 11510 Georgia Avenue, 3rd Floor, Wheaton
• Thursdays, 11 am - 5 pm: Community Action Agency, 1401 Rockville Pike, Suite 320, Rockville
• Fridays, 11 am - 5 pm: Virtual appointments

Appointments will also be available at the TESS Community Action Center on Tuesdays from 2 – 8 pm starting late next month.

The VITA Partnership flyer, highlighting all VITA programs in the County, is available for download in English, Spanish, Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, French, and Amharic.

Special Event Highlights VITA Program

On January 23rd, Community Action kicked off the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) tax season and celebrated EITC Awareness Day with an informative event about earned income tax credits at Bohrer Park in Gaithersburg. The event included a small resource fair featuring organizations that help residents achieve financial stability. Facilitated by Board Chair Dr. Jeffery Johnson, the program featured remarks from the Honorable Brooke Lierman, Maryland Comptroller; The Honorable Jud Ashman, City of Gaithersburg Mayor; Dr. James Bridgers, DHHS Director; and Ishmael Alejo, IRS Refundable Credits Director. Above, Comptroller Lierman is pictured on the right with Community Action's Executive Director, Shantá Johnson on the left.

New this year, the EITC Awareness Day program included a panel discussion about innovative programs to help residents move towards self-sufficiency, including the County’s Guaranteed Income Pilot Program, the Gaithersburg Financial Empowerment Center, and tax credits and VITA services. For more information about Montgomery County families' economic self-sufficiency, see the interactive, online Self-Sufficiency Standard. 

Above, left to right, is panelist Dr. Richon Nembhard, Manager of the Planning, Analytics, & Customer Service (PACS) Division of the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services; Shantá Johnson, Executive Director of Community Action; and panelists Renee Nicolosi, Division Manager of the City of Gaithersburg Community Services; and Lucy Smart, Director of Tax Education & Training at the CASH Campaign of Maryland.

Board member and VITA program participant Summer Cook and Community Action VITA Program Specialist Taunya Johnson wrapped up the event with their inspiring messages. Below, Community Action's VITA team--Eduardo Mendes, Benoit Codija, and Taunya Johnson--are joined by Monica Rivera-Goldberg (on the right), Program Manager for Community Action's Navigation Team.

Community Action thanks the City of Gaithersburg for hosting this event and all of the VITA partners who participated. To learn more, please read the press release, available in English and Spanish.

VITA Text Messaging Campaign Starts Friday

Thanks to a generous grant from the CASH Campaign of Maryland, Community Action will once again have a text messaging campaign during the tax season to highlight VITA services and valuable tax credits. Community members are advised that the first such message will be issued on Friday, January 31st, National EITC Awareness Day. Message recipients should know that this is an approved outreach campaign from the agency and the messages are coming from Community Action. Additional messages will be issued on February 17th and March 10th.

Montgomery County 
Community Action Agency
1401 Rockville Pike, 3rd Floor
Rockville, MD 20852
Phone: 240-777-1697 

• Website
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Community Action Partner Spotlight: Conflict Resolution Center of Montgomery County

At Community Action’s Annual Partners’ Meeting earlier this fiscal year, Program Manager Aizat Oladapo led participants in exercises exploring the benefits and challenges of working within a multigenerational workforce. The Conflict Resolution Center of Montgomery County (CRCMC) explores these issues further in their Intergenerational workshops. Led by Executive Director Christopher Page, the CRCMC provides several different types of workshops and training sessions, as well as mediation in English and Spanish for parents, seniors, youth, landlords and tenants, and more.

For further information on the work of the Conflict Resolution Center, please refer to: https://crcmc.org/.

Contract Opportunities, Department of Health and Human Services: https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/HHS/DoingBuswDHHS.html
Grant Opportunities, Office of Grants Management: https://montgomerycountymd.gov/ogm/

VITA's Monthly Tax Tip: Changes in Marriage Status

The following is an excerpt from Tax Tip 2025-2 Essential tax tips for marriage change status.

Did your marriage status change in 2024? The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has tips for changes associated with marriage such name, address, and check withholding changes, as well as taxpayer filing status.

“Taxpayers who were newly married in 2024 will want to review their filing status options. They can choose to file their federal income taxes jointly or separately each year, so it’s a good idea to figure the tax both ways to find out which makes the most sense. Taxpayers should remember that if a couple is married as of December 31, the law says they're married for the whole year for tax purposes.”

Read the full Tax Tip 2025-2 for tips on all of the above.

Green Tip: Small Changes, Big Impact

Take the Climate Action Pledge! Check out the new Climate Smart Webpage on the County’s website and take the pledge to make small changes that make a big impact on our climate. Find tips on climate-smart actions related to food, plants, emergency preparedness, transportation, or energy and see how you can get started--or increase your current impact!

Full press release.

Montgomery County Climate News. 

Resources

NEW - Winter Safety Tips:

• Preventing house heating fires, preparing for power outages, winter travel, and more
• Winter driving tips from the National Safety Council 
• Available in several languages: Montgomery County Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security Resource Library

TIP: From the Office of Consumer Protection, tips for safely donating to charities, such as for wildfire victims.

REMINDER: Sign Up for Montgomery County's Winter Weather Alerts: For the latest winter weather and travel warnings and notifications, subscribe to the County’s emergency notification system, Alert Montgomery. Alerts can be sent to one or more electronic devices, including cell phones and email accounts. In addition to weather alerts, subscribers can register to receive alerts about closures and other important notifications. The free service is available to anyone who lives or works in the County.

Residents can also visit MCDOT’s Snow Portal for county road snow plowing status, missed street reporting and other weather-related information.

Office of Community Affairs, Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services:
Past editions of Community Action’s monthly e-newsletter.

African American Health Program

Asian American Health Initiative

Latino Health Initiative

Resource Directories:

Get Help - Gilchrist Immigrant Resource Center, Montgomery County, MD

WorkSource Montgomery - Community Assets Map

Help Is Within Reach:
For a mental health crisis and listening support, call 988.

The Montgomery County Crisis Center is available for call in, walk in, mobile outreach, community referrals, and substance use assessment and referrals (240-777-4000).

311 provides weekday assistance, 7:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m., for health and human services, housing, transportation, and food assistance (311 for local numbers, or 240-777-0311).

For medical emergencies, fires, reporting crimes, disaster response, and life-saving situations, call 911.

For non-emergencies, Montgomery County has a hate bias incident reporting tool. Alternatively, incidents can be reported through 311 for local phone numbers, or 240-777-0311.

The Maryland Office of the Attorney General's Hate Crimes Hotline: 1-866-481-8361 and online reporting tool: https://nohomeforhate.md.gov/. Active incidents should be immediately reported to 911.

Health:

The DHHS Mobile Health Clinic provides integrated medical, dental, behavioral health, and human services to underserved and vulnerable populations and communities. Residents of Montgomery County, with and without health insurance, are eligible for services.

Mental health support resources, from the National Council for Mental Health Well-Being.

Access HEARS, Inc. distributes free over-the-counter hearing aids for County residents who are ages 60 (+) and have moderate to severe hearing loss and incomes below 250% of the Federal Poverty Level. Find out more about how to access free hearing aids.

DHHS testing for sexually transmitted infections in Silver Spring and Germantown.

Pregnant women who meet the other Medicaid enrollment requirements except for citizenship may be eligible for full Medicaid coverage, including those who are undocumented or on visas. Contact the Healthy Babies: Pregnancy and Postpartum Care program of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

Never Use Alone, Overdose Prevention Lifeline: 877-696-1996. Overdose prevention, detection, life-saving crisis response and medical intervention services for people who use drugs while alone. Peer operators are available 24-hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. No stigma. No judgment. Just love! https://neverusealone.com/

Housing – Repairs, eviction prevention, evictions:

For low-income households, the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development has home repair loans that can assist with paying for radon abatement and other repairs.

Rebuilding Together Montgomery County – repairs, aging in place modifications to homes.

Landlord-Tenant Affairs - Evictions information from the Department of Housing and Community Affairs.

Montgomery County Sheriff’s Evictions office: 240-777-7130

Montgomery County Renters Alliance – advocacy, education on tenants’ rights.

Limit on rent increases in Montgomery County. 

Safety and Emergency Preparedness:

Sign up for Alert Montgomery notifications about emergencies in Montgomery County. Alerts can be sent via text, email, or voice message. Use above link or below QR code.

Four steps for Emergency Preparedness: 1) Stay informed. 2) Make a plan. 3) Make a kit. 4) Get involved. Check out the OEMHS website for emergency preparation guides, including special considerations for people with access and functional needs.

Children’s guardianship protection, in case a parent/guardian is unable to care for their children for any reason. Standby Guardianship: https://www.peoples-law.org/standby-guardianship.

The Montgomery County Family Justice Center helps people in domestic violence, child abuse, and elder abuse situations.

Montgomery County Family Violence Awareness and Prevention.

Food and Household items:

Department of Health and Human Services Food Resources website (information available in English, Spanish, Amharic, French, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Korean).

Montgomery County Food Council: Food Assistance Resource Map.

How to protect SNAP benefits from fraud: Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) Fraud - Maryland Department of Human Services

Greater DC Area Diaper Bank : The Nursery Project provides strollers, car seats, and a cloth diaper service.

Diaper distribution at Montgomery County hubs and other partners.

Financial empowerment:

CASHBACK– VITA Services, tax credit information, and financial education resources.

Gaithersburg Financial Empowerment Center: http://www.gaithersburgmd.gov/fec. Phone: 240-454-5199.

WorkSource Montgomery service locations in Wheaton, Germantown, and in the Mobile Jobs Center.

Montgomery County Office of Consumer Protection – A – Z Consumer Advice.

The Montgomery County Commission for Women holds seminars on financial planning, intimate partner violence, separation and divorce, addresses human trafficking, and more.

My Green Montgomery: How to lower your energy costs and much more!

Office of Home Energy Programs: Utilities assistance.

WSSC has several programs to assist customers. Linked fliers are in both English and Spanish: QR codes to all WSSC assistance programs; Customer Assistance Program for water bill assistance; and a loan program for help with water or sewer pipe repairs or replacement.

Ban the Box, or the Fair Criminal Record Screening Standards Law, assists in the successful reintegration of people with criminal records into the workforce by removing barriers to employment and housing. Find out more from the Montgomery County Office of Human Rights.

Unemployment Insurance.

The Community Action Agency is part of the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Community Affairs.