Taking on TANF

Yesterday was the annual budget hearing for the Department of Human Services (DHS), the agency that administers the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program, which provides cash assistance, job training, and other critical services for vulnerable families facing a period of unemployment. The hearing is one of the few opportunities each year for the public to engage in discourse about how the city administers TANF.

So the advocates were out in force -- SOME advocate (and friend of Bread) Joni Podschun delivered testimony along with DC Fiscal Policy Institute, DC Women's Agenda, and Legal Aid. I'm told that things got lively -- and for those of us who hope to see the TANF program revisited and improved, the transcript is indeed encouraging.

Last week, Joni wrote a post on this very blog about TANF. DC receives $88 million worth of TANF funding from the federal government. But it's in the form of a block grant, which means that the city has discretion as to how the funding will be used. The core of the program is cash assistance ($427/month for a family of three) and employment services, but the $88 million is also directed towards anything from teen pregnancy prevention to college tuition, from foster care to ESL classes. Joni explained in her post that DC's TANF program is actually "stable and robust" when compared with many other states; and yet, she concluded, "as the economic downturn threatens to push more D.C. residents into poverty, the TANF program needs to be revisited and strengthened."

With the budget process under way, now is the time that the City can act to improve the system.

All of the advocates who testified yesterday called for the same action: increase the cash assistance by $19 a month, as a cost of living adjustment (known as a COLA). (This action is also recommended by the Fair Budget Coalition, which Bread for the City supports, and which has its recommendations in PDF form here.)

Now one might think that the level of cash assistance from TANF would be set to rise regularly in order to track with inflation -- but this practice ended in 1991. Since then, the benefit has lost 34% of its value.

The COLA that the advocates called for would represent a 4.4% increase. Though that's still a long ways from what it was decades ago, to TANF families this $19 represents a new pair of shoes for their kids, bus passes, school supplies, etc. It would cost the city a total of $2.7 million. Unfortunately, the Mayor's proposed budget does not include such a COLA.

Toward the end of the hearing, there was an exchange between Clarence Carter, the Director of DHS, and Councilmember Tommy Wells that is worth reading to get insight into why the TANF cash benefit hasn't increased in the face of a rising cost of living.

Wells: We proposed last year to hold off on the [TANF cash assistance] increase. For two years straight now we have had the same benefit amount. Why have you not proposed a cost of living increase?

Carter: Instead of an approach which provides a meager amount of dollars for a family, we believe that to work more intensively to grow their capacity beyond their need is a better use of the dollars. ...This is opposed to taking a relatively small amount of money to increase their benefits.

Wells: …I realize that we certainly don’t want to pull back from growing people’s earning capacity. How long should we leave it at this amount? What is the decision making process or the principle for ever increasing the TANF benefit rate?

Carter: The question should be how long will we focus on insuring the family doesn’t have to exist at that capacity. …

Wells: As you know we are approaching the 10% unemployment rate. As you and I both know the number is likely larger than that. The job opportunities seem to be diminishing. It is not a job rich time to say that we’re not going to increase the TANF benefits. Everyone knows that in Maryland they have a larger benefit and the cost of living is smaller there. Here our TANF benefits are lower and we have a higher cost of living. At some point we are going to need to increase it. Would you ever—10, 20, 30 years from now—increase the benefits?

Carter: I would hope that by then we would have developed a robust mechanism that would aggressively move them beyond their current capacity so the focus would not be on the benefit amount.

[UPDATE: Joni points us here, where the conversation can be seen on video, starting at 2hrs:51minutes. Thx Joni!]

Now, Carter's initial point is well-taken: TANF is supposed to function as a channel that will bring people into the workforce, and ultimately lead to self-sufficiency. Few would disagree with him that these are in fact important.

But people need to be healthy and safe today in order to get a job tomorrow. And to maintain that health and stability, people need a sufficient income. And as Councilmember Wells notes, we're at a moment in which job opportunities aren't really there to be had even for those who have gone through job training and are model candidates for employment. If there was ever a time to increase the level of cash assistance to families who need to survive in the face of unemployment, it's now.

And in any case, it seems like Carter is presenting the Council with a false choice. It should be possible to increase the cash benefit of assistance and simultaneously work to improve the programs that will expand people's capacity for work. SOME will soon release a report, along with DCFPI, that will have more detailed recommendations on how DHS could improve the efficiency of workforce programs -- but in the meantime, our city leaders need to take a hard look at how the numbers add up between what it costs to live in DC and what assistance is available to families who don't yet have a source of income.

During the hearing, Councilmember Wells (as well as Councilmember Michael Brown) pointedly considered the negative impact that an insufficient income has on a family, and even a community. By keeping the TANF benefit flat, the city would save $2.7 million, and thousands of DC families will face that much more instability and stress, which affects their children's education, their physical and mental health, and their future earning potential. Penny-wise and pound foolish, indeed.

So please express your sentiment to Councilmember Wells, who showed real leadership in asking these questions. You can send him your thanks by email, or call (202) 724-8072.

Grok the Budget: Attend a Community Forum to discuss

Earlier this week, in "Grokking the Budget," we mentioned a couple of ways that laypeople can go about wrapping their head around the DC budget. With hearings underway, now is the time to get your learn on!

Here are a couple of events with particular focus on disability services and housing, respectively:

What’s in the Proposed 2010 Budget for the DC Department on Disability Services?

WHEN: Monday, March 30, 2009, 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM

WHERE: Room A-5, Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library, 901 G Street, NW. By Metro, between Gallery Place and Metro Center

RSVP / QUESTIONS: RSVP preferred, but not required. Please RSVP and send any advance questions for Director Heumann to advocacy@arcdc.net or 202-636-2963 by 12 noon on Monday, March 30th.

This is a chance to learn more about how Mayor Fenty’s proposed FY 2010 budget affects the Department on Disability Services (DDS). Because time is limited, please send in questions in advance if at all possible by 12 noon on Monday, March 30th to advocacy@arcdc.net or 202-636-2963.


Also, next week:


What’s in it for Kids: A Community Briefing on the Proposed FY2010 CFSA Budget

WHEN: Wednesday, April 1, 2009, 2:30pm - 4:30pm
WHERE: 441-4th Street, NW, Room 1114, Washington, DC

Registration will begin at 2:15pm

Presentation by Dr. Roque Gerald, Interim Director, Child and Family Services Agency

This is your opportunity to ask questions about how the Mayor’s budget is going to affect CFSA programs and services. Please forward questions for Dr. Gerald to abonder@dckids.org by COB, Friday, March 27th.

Sponsored and Facilitated by DC Action for Children. Location information will be sent as soon as confirmed. Please register here.




Educational budget briefing sponsored by the Affordable Housing Alliance and the Coalition for Nonprofit Housing and Economic Development

WHEN: April 2nd, from 2-430pm

WHERE: True Reformer Building at 1200 U Street

The DC Fiscal Policy Institute will be in the house, giving an overview of the entire budget, and representatives from DC's housing agencies will be on hand to discuss the budget's housing-specific aspects. If you would like to attend please RSVP to Bettina Myers.




Any others? Put 'em on our radar, please!

Another installment of Helping other people help people

Former BFC staffer and community member Jessie Posilkin continues our weekly series:

Welcome to our second installment of “Helping other people help people.” Our request this week comes from Greater DC Cares.

Greater DC Cares’ major event, the Servathon, recruits up to 3500 people to volunteer over a two day period (May 1st and 2nd this year). These volunteers go to a variety of direct-service non-profit organizations and public schools across the metro DC area. In the past volunteers have done anything from repainting classrooms to repairing playgrounds to re-landscaping worn down areas. Schools that typically could not do these sort of large-scale projects depend on the thousands of hands provided during Servathon, so this is certainly a good cause.

According to helpful DC blog WeLoveDC:

They’re looking for power tools, ladders, paint brushes, paper towels & drop cloths, gardening gloves and Home Depot Gift Cards.

Stop by the Greater DC Cares office from April 1st through the 3rd to make your donation to their tool box (here). Or, take them to the Community Tool Chest on Saturday April 4th from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and tour the Community Tool Chest (located here).

So you could let those things collect dust in your garage, or you could help multiple organizations at once. Tough call!

Speech from Michael Blue, Bread for the City patient

We invited one of our patients, Michael Blue, to share his experience with Bread for the City today at our Groundbreaking ceremony. He did a fantastic job speaking after Delegate Norton, Councilmember Catania, et al, but by that point we were running late and I know he cut his speech short out of consideration. However, I liked his prepared remarks enough to want to share them here. Many thanks to Michael for joining us!

I'm a lifelong Washingtonian. Good gosh there aren't many things I haven’t done. I worked in the automotive field for a while, I had great health insurance there, but I left because you really have to cheat people to get by. So I went into bike messaging for 17 years, where the money was good but there were no real benefits.

And that’s how I first came here – as a courier, to pick up the DC [HealthCare] Alliance applications, which I’d then take to the Alliance. Bread for the City was one of the only stops that would have the package ready for me when I got there—and time is money for a courier, so I appreciated that. And I also came to like the feel of the place. I asked some questions and ended up as a medical patient here, then a legal client, and a food client. Now I’ve started training for my CDL (Commercial Drivers License), but in the meantime I still come here while the money isn’t flowing.

At the medical clinic I can get treatment for bike injuries, and other medical attention, but also I find here a wealth of knowledge. There’s information everywhere. From just the stuff on the walls, I learned how to read food labels. I’ve learned what it means to have high blood pressure, hypertension, high cholesterol.

And that Dr Randi: She’s woken me up. She’ll say ‘hey guy, you gotta take care of yourself.’ Pardon my French, but she’s one hell of a good doctor. Not just for her knowledge, but for her way of getting to you. She gives you one of these looks, that just gets right in to you.

My wife was sick, and we didn’t know what was wrong. She weighed just 98 pounds, and GW had her on all kinds of medications. When Dr. Randi worked with her, she focused on her diet, on her mental state. took her off of all that medication, and gave her hope instead. That did more good than all the prescriptions. Now she’s 175 pounds – a new woman! And I’m loving every inch.

At one point I’d fallen behind on rent, and my landlord was threatening to lock me out without going through due process. Dr. Randi noticed that something was wrong, that my blood pressure was high, and she asked about what was happening. I told her about my problems with the landlord, and she referred me to the legal department and they wrote a letter the next day to him, and that was that. Problem solved, and I was able to catch up on my rent. When I was having employment problems, they don’t do that work but they sure would put me in touch with someone who would, and I wouldn’t have to wait a year for it.

How you guys work in this sardine can so efficiently, I don’t know. I can get medical, legal, counseling, food, and it doesn’t take forever. It’s standing room only but the bathrooms are always spotless. And it can be a difficult clientele – people are sick, and they’re frustrated.

But the people working here aren’t just there for a job. They’re here to help. And you’re not just a problem to be solved, or put aside somehow. You’re a human being and they’re here for you.

As part of the community, this is an oasis. And word is spreading rapidly. My job keeps me in the streets, I know all kinds of people – and the need for these services is growing rapidly. People don’t have cell phones but the word gets out. There’s a lot of people who really need help, and they depend on Bread for the City. And now that it's expanding - you ain't seen nothing yet!