Just as Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington has been meeting a growing need for food assistance in the wake of the financial crisis and rising unemployment following government mandated shutdowns to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, the agency is now helping poor residents in the Washington area receive government stimulus checks that they are eligible for.

The effort is being offered through Catholic Charities’ Financial Stability Network.

“These are people as eligible for these payments as you and I are,” said Deacon Jim Shanahan, the director of the Financial Stability Network who also serves as the senior manager for Catholic Charities’ Parish Outreach Program. And he added that some of those who might miss out on receiving the stimulus checks “are people who need it the most and don’t know they’re eligible.”

The Financial Stability Network of Catholic Charities provides free financial literacy mentoring and other services, including tax help, to people in need. The network is now reaching out to low-income people to let them know that they can register to get the federal stimulus check, the Economic Impact Payment that was part of the coronavirus aid package recently passed by Congress and signed by President Trump to provide financial assistance to people in the United States after the severe economic downturn following the coronavirus shutdown.

Many of the poor might assume they are not going to receive the $1,200 stimulus check for individuals. Citing examples of low-income people whom the agency hopes to help get their stimulus checks, Deacon Shanahan noted they reflect the clients that Catholic Charities typically serves, including people in homeless shelters, or people seeking rental assistance, or the working poor who might be making less than $12,200 a year and don’t need to file tax returns. Formerly incarcerated people assisted in Catholic Charities’ Welcome Home Reentry Program would also be eligible for the stimulus checks. 

The poor especially at risk of not receiving the federal stimulus checks they are eligible for include those who haven’t filed taxes in the past two years or are not receiving Social Security payments, so the government doesn’t know where to send their Economic Impact Payment. Financial Stability Network volunteers are available to help them register.  They can help individuals navigate the IRS website, or even complete the forms for them. 

According to background provided by Catholic Charities, the government estimates there are 10 million non-tax filers in the country, including thousands in the poorest sections of the District of Columbia and Maryland. For those who don’t typically file taxes because they’re not required to based on their income level, the IRS has launched a web portal where Americans who did not file a tax return in 2018 or 2019 can submit basic personal information to the IRS so that they can receive payments. They have until Dec. 31 to register.

Deacon Shanahan said helping those low-income members of the community register for the federal stimulus checks reflects Catholic Charities' mission and the Catholic social teaching emphasizing a preferential option for the poor.

“It’s what Catholic Charities is all about,” he said.

The deacon, who also serves at the Church of the Little Flower in Bethesda, Maryland, noted that “these Economic Impact Payments are limited to people with a Social Security number, so sadly, many, many of our undocumented brothers and sisters who do not have a Social Security number” are not eligible to receive that help. A significant number of those residents work at restaurants or cleaning homes or in other service industries and have lost their jobs during the coronavirus shutdown and are likewise not eligible for government unemployment benefits.

“It breaks my heart, because there’s no federal safety net” for them, the deacon said. He hopes that some people receiving the government stimulus checks as a windfall if their financial situation is very secure might reach out to help the poor in this crisis.

Deacon Shanahan, a former tax partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers who specialized in corporate taxation, was ordained as a deacon in 2013 and retired from the corporate world the next year and began working for Catholic Charities, first as a tax lawyer doing immigration work.

Catholic Charities’ Financial Stability Network began during the tax season of 2017 and was patterned after the agency’s Legal Network which has a volunteer network of lawyers providing pro bono legal help to the poor. The Financial Stability Network has about 200 volunteer accountants, financial planners and tax specialists providing pro bono financial assistance to about 350 clients a year. 

The Financial Stability Network’s volunteers provide free tax assistance to low-income clients through the IRS-certified VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) program.

Mike Littman, an entrepreneur and marketing consultant who volunteers with the Financial Stability Network, noted that volunteers assist poor clients with a variety of needs, including helping them with their tax returns, and offering them advice in paying student loans, rent, and credit card bills. He noted that the poor receiving tax help sometimes don’t know they are eligible for the Earned Income Credit, which can mean a tax benefit of an average of $2,ooo to $3,000 for them and their families.

He said the federal stimulus checks can likewise be a financial lifeline for the poor in this challenging time, possibly providing thousands of dollars to them during the crisis.

“That for a family struggling during a time when someone may have been laid off, and they’re trying to get food on the table and pay rent. That could cover food and rent for a lot of people trying to make it week to week,” Littman said.

The Financial Stability Network volunteer added, “We will walk you through the process and even complete the form for you, to get the money (from the federal stimulus) that you deserve… We’ll do whatever we can” to help, he said.

For information on Catholic Charities’ Financial Stability Network’s outreach in helping the poor register for federal stimulus checks, email fsn@cc-dc.org . The Financial Stability Network can be reached at (202) 772-4300 ext. 153.