Peter Lee, president and CEO of John Hope Settlement House in Providence, also spoke yesterday as tax officials promote the earned income tax credit.

The Providence Journal / Steve Szydlowski

Vivian Moreno was doing a pretty good job yesterday.

She was speaking to about 60 people in a converted gymnasium at the John Hope Settlement House, a community center in Providence’s West End.

The point of the meeting was to promote the earned-income credit, a federal income-tax break that’s intended to help the working poor.

Vivian’s job was to talk about what the credit has meant to her and her family.

And she was making steady progress, reading from a speech she had written herself, touching on all the important points, her Latino accent bringing a certain music to her words.

But then she got to the part about financial independence. That’s when her voice broke and she had to pause.

Something had happened, she explained to me afterward.

All at once, she said, she had thought of her own experience. How she had been born in Puerto Rico, then moved to Boston with her mother and three siblings.

There was the later move to Pawtucket, then to Providence.

Trying to raise three children on her own (a son, Ismael Reyes, now 19, and two daughters: Thalia Cores, 10, and Jamie Cores, 7).

Taking college courses at night, first at the Community College of Rhode Island, then at Roger Williams University.

“It’s been hard,” she was saying yesterday, after the presentations had been made, the gym was emptying out and the chairs were being folded up.

The earned-income credit had helped her through the years to put food on the table, to pay the utility bills, to make ends meet. “This money has served as a safety net for my family,” she said.

She had also remembered, in that emotional break in her speech yesterday, the Providence branch of Making Connections, a community organization paid for by the Annie E. Casey Foundation that tries to help inner-city people get a leg up.

She thought about how Making Connections had helped her form her own interpreting business, The Interpreters Network Inc., at 570 Broad St., in Providence.

And she reflected on all of the people whose federal income-tax returns she has prepared through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, a group backed by the Internal Revenue Service.

That’s why, during her speech yesterday, inside the cinderblock gym on the city’s West Side, her voice caught and her speech was interrupted.

“Everything just came in to my mind” at the same time, she told me afterward. “I could see my own stories, and then the stories of all the people that come to the tax site, and what they tell me, and what [the earned-income credit] means to them.”

All those thoughts came tumbling through her mind in a flash, just as she had begun talking about financial independence.

It took only a moment, though, to collect herself. Then she returned to her speech, the one she had originally written for Martin Luther King Day.

And here is what she had to say:

“We all have a dream, and this dream is to be financially independent. I have a dream, too. A dream that our people will be financially free to choose the school of preference for our children.

“A dream that, someday, our people won’t have to worry whether to pay the electric bill or put food on the table.

“A dream that every person, no matter what color they are, will have the opportunity to start their own business with the help of organizations and institutions that do not discriminate against our people.

“And, finally, a dream that everyone in America will have a fair-paying job, with health-care benefits, so that they are able to own a house without having to sacrifice the time they spend with their children — so that no child ends up in jail for the lack of parental care, guidance and love.”

She also mentioned how the earned-income credit can help break the cycle of poverty, and how important it is to have a volunteer prepare your return so that the credit won’t be gobbled up by all sorts of hidden fees and charges.

Then it was over.

A handful of people stood to applaud.

Then the entire room was on its feet, clapping.

One by one, the panelists rose to congratulate her.

There was U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, state General Treasurer Frank T. Caprio, and Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline, all of them advocates of the earned-income credit.

And then there was Vivian Moreno, 38, of Providence’s West End, who all at once yesterday put a human face — her own face — on the earned-income credit campaign.

The last I saw of her, she was at one of the tables in the back of the gym, grabbing a muffin before heading out.

Maybe it was to her business, or to her family, or to her volunteer work at the tax clinic.

Whatever her destination, she had left the room.

But her message lingers.

TODAY’S TIP: The most you may receive this tax-filing season through the earned-income credit is about $4,700.

By filing a federal income-tax return, you may be eligible to claim at least a portion of that, provided you have earned income — in other words, money from a job.

You should think about claiming the credit even if your income is so low you wouldn’t ordinarily file a return. (In general, you may qualify for the credit if you earned less than about $39,800 last year.)

To find out whether you’re eligible, and how the rules apply to your situation, call the IRS toll-free at 1(800) 829-1040, or use this Web site:

www.irs.gov

Also, thanks to backing by the United Way and the Hasbro Children’s Fund, you may find a volunteer income-tax preparation site near you simply by dialing 211.

Questions about your money matters? Call us at 1-401-277-7484 and leave a message, or e-mail:

moneyline@projo.com

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