Visit Rural Alaska

Each year, Cambridge Public Library VITA partners with the Alaska Business Development Center to send Harvard University students and staff to rural Alaska.

For most of their spring break, these students provide free tax preparation services to geographically isolated Indigenous communities.

Our Pro Bono Alaska Experience is sponsored by the LSAT Demon and the Thinking LSAT Podcast.

Requirements

Each trip participant must complete approximately 40 hours of pre-trip training.

Pre-trip training includes obtaining the Advanced VITA Certification and completing the Alaska Business Development Center’s state-specific training.

Participants may work long hours during the trip. In some communities, ABDC volunteers are the only in-person tax preparers for the entire tax season.

Unpredictable weather may delay participants’ return to Harvard University. There’s a chance that you may not return to Harvard before the resumption of classes after Spring Break. The Alaskan winter regularly delays and cancels travel plans.

Student participants will be selected from CPL VITA Members.