We were lucky to catch up with Anthony Ginsberg recently and have shared our conversation below.

Anthony, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you recount a story of an unexpected problem you’ve faced along the way?

First, here is the backstory. In 2019 I undertook a uniquely structured effort to register homeless citizens to vote in Broward County, Florida. These citizens were both sheltered and unsheltered, though predominantly the latter. The unique aspect was that this was an ongoing effort addressing each element of the voter engagement process–document requirements; registration (consideration of address and past felony issues); ability to update registration; information about the voting process; and access to the polls. These efforts took place at shelters as well as venues where the unsheltered received mail and a few other services. COVID had an initial negative impact, putting a stop to these activities for several months. Yet COVID also contributed to the evolution of my homeless outreach, which is the main point of this story.

In 2021 I had the opportunity to combine the voter registration effort with assistance filing tax returns so that these citizens could receive “stimulus payments.” COVID had caused the foreclosure of other free options to get such help. It was IRS policy to encourage outreach to homeless persons for the purpose of getting the payments. Filing a return was the easy part, though I discovered there were specific kinds of challenges. I was, however, completely clueless about what came after that step. In a nutshell, many homeless persons have to contend with identity verification and identity theft as well as the consequences of frequent address changes, non-receipt of mail in general and from the IRS in particular, loss of debit cards, and closing of bank accounts. The resolution of these challenges is hampered by limited or no access to a computer or phone; loss of a phone; insufficient phone minutes to be placed on hold while trying to contact the IRS; virtually no ability to resolve problems on the IRS website; little access to or recall of past IRS filing or employment information. It also was very important to convey in the strongest terms possible and with relentless frequency how understaffed and overwhelmed the IRS is, such that receipt of a stimulus payment would not happen quickly. For my part resolving these multiple challenges has involved an ongoing effort to identify which IRS telephone numbers were the most efficient and effective, finding ways to enable persons to do as much as possible on their own, and seeking “donations” of phone access. Perhaps the most important element of confronting these challenges has been to encourage people to “follow the process”–to believe that making the effort to address a problem would ultimately bring one kind of resolution or another. This has been the key attitudinal challenge.

Anthony, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

What I do is treat homeless persons as fellow citizens, fellow human beings by engaging with them in just two ways: registering them to vote and helping them receive stimulus payments. I have no illusion that I am involved with “solving” the homeless crisis, though I do believe I am addressing one element of the multifaceted aspect of chronic and circumstantial homelessness. Also, I modestly believe that what I do provides insights into a more general engagement of neglected and underserved groups in society.

I have no professional background in any of this. As mentioned earlier I began with the effort of voter registration, something I believed was the one thing of significance I could do on a volunteer basis as a retired person at the age of 68 in a new state of residency. That led to a focus–not exclusive–on registering homeless persons. That in turn led to assistance getting stimulus payments. All of these efforts have been undertaken through a local non-partisan, non-profit 501(c)3 that is locally based. This non-partisan outreach is, in fact, the only way to be effective in these efforts because the homeless organizations with which I must deal are themselves non-partisan. One of the key unique elements of what I do is that it is continuous. This is important because it has helped me establish and maintain trust and credibility with both the homeless and the organizations that serve them. Follow-up and documentation also are important and in many ways unique as part of the volunteer effort. Registering homeless persons, for example, is not unique; the way I do it and the documentation of it is.

Voting and receiving stimulus payments are important to many homeless persons: they are not focused only on the challenges of their circumstances. They want access to the ballot and to financial resources; they are complete human beings. Helping with this access is my main source of pride in what I do. As mentioned earlier, I modestly believe that these very focused efforts offer insights into the general problem of creating access to underserved groups.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

“Reputation” for what I do is related to establishing trust and credibility with (1) the homeless social service organizations that give me permission to be on their premises and (2) the homeless persons themselves. Keep in mind that I have no background in homeless issues and that I was offering services (first voter registration, then help obtaining stimulus payments) that were peripheral to the main efforts of homeless service organizations–entities that face constraints regarding their own resources. Understanding this tangential nature of my efforts in their eyes helped me navigate the road to establishing my credibility and to defining the nature and limits of what I was doing. It helped me define the uniqueness of my intentions; it forced me to document carefully my efforts. It was important to be relentless and continuously present. For the organizations and especially for the homeless themselves, it was important to demonstrate that I was there for the entire process: for voter engagement that meant following through on each element of the act of voting, making sure that ultimately a person could get to the polls; for the stimulus payments it has meant following through on resolving the challenges that arise once a tax return has been submitted. On this latter point, it often has meant helping with the follow-up even when someone else helped file a return but did not offer the follow-up. This follow-through has been a key characteristic of what I provide; a key element helping establish my credibility and overall reputation.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Following up from the previous question, I would note that working in the world of the homeless quite often means communication through word of mouth. Being present regularly at given locations, offering a follow-through for services that mean something to people are qualities that are literally spread “on the street.” It is that simple and that daunting.

Contact Info:

• Other: Email: [email protected] Mobile: 646-662-8378