Save Our Safety Net: What the People are Saying

In just a day, more than 1,000 people have signed our petition calling upon City Council to Save Our Safety Net. Please make your voice heard--sign the petition to stop cuts to safety net services--and help us spread the word.
Here are some samples from the many comments we've received from the petition:

~These cuts would disproportionately impact low-income families who are working hard and still struggling to make ends meet. Don't make DC's achievement gap any wider...save the safety net.

~Please save programs critical to the well-being and economic advancement of low-income DC residents.

~Slashing funding for critical safety net services disproportionately impacts low-income DC residents at at time when we need to be dedicating as many resources as possible to reducing inequality and health disparities. A safety net is KEY to prevention and saving money in the long term.

~These are not programs to cut. Our community needs them.

~As a public health professional, I strongly urge you to consider the grave losses when the most vulnerable families in the District are compromised because of funding cuts.

~We have to protect the most vulnerable in our city, it is 100% wrong to abandon social programs at a time when people need them most.

~DC's vulnerable residents need somewhere to turn.

~In this time of economic hardship, we should be raising revenues and cutting back on programs that don't affect the most vulnerable residents. Otherwise we'll be digging ourselves into a deeper hole of debt by causing huge demands in the areas of shelter and homeless services, emergency room costs, police and foster care.

~As a resident of DC for the past 10 years, I would rather pay higher taxes than see cuts to services and benefits for my most vulnerable neighbors.

~Please examine revenue resource options before slashing funding for important support and low-income programs.

~Social services are the first thing people need in this recession.

~We can't afford to ask the least fortunate to bear the brunt of the economic downturn. It's a matter of justice.

~Investing money in building communities and strengthening families is the smartest use of government funding. It will yield tremendous results and long-term benefits for the future of DC.

~Individuals and families are reliant on these services for survival. They cannot be cut!

~Hitting the worst off the hardest makes no sense.

~Cutting core safety-net programs will only send our city's low-income residents into further poverty, and make it even harder for the city to climb out of the economic crisis. Please consider other ways of raising revenue before slashing the safety-net services.

~I am a social worker at a community health clinic. I refer participants to these vital services everyday. These supplemental programs and supports are essential to ensuring that families can survive in this increasingly expensive city. I seriously fear for DC's health and safety if we start cutting social supports.

~It is crucial that the Council not balance the budget on the backs of the District's most vulnerable citizens. Cutting the safety net will ultimately cost the District more in emergency services to people made homeless or otherwise forced to suffer through these cuts.

~It's ridiculous that the economic crisis that already disproportionately affects the poor will now be affecting them even more harshly.

~DC's low-income and/or elderly citizens will be thrown into increasingly difficult situations without this safety net!

~We won't take these budget cuts lightly. It matters that you all care and stand up for what is right, because you are OUR leaders. Do the right thing---create solutions to our problems by not creating MORE problems.

**Mayor Fenty has proposed massive cuts to programs that help low-income residents in DC. Please visit Save our Safety Net to learn more.

Save our Safety Net: Attend Our Campaign Meeting

Community event announcement! Save Our Safety Net campaign meeting at Busboys and Poets (5th and K NW) on September 17th, 6pm. RSVP here.

This summer, when the recession brought DC into a fiscal crisis, the Mayor proposed to balance the budget by divesting public funding from critical safety net programs. We took a stand, and in just under a week's time nearly 2,000 DC residents stood with us to urge City Council to save our safety net.

Our voice WAS heard: City Council restored some of the worst cuts to safety net programs. But the final budget was still severely imbalanced against the poor.

And this crisis is not over. Revised estimates of the city’s projected revenue will be released this month, and this could trigger a new round of cuts. Furthermore, we know that next year’s budget deliberations will be even harder.

Now is the time to start building pressure for smarter and more responsible leadership. You can help us make a difference.

Along with the Coalition for Community Investment, we are hosting a special "Save Our Safety Net" community event on September 17th, 6pm at Busboys and Poets (5th and K street NW).

We’ll meet to learn about the budget crisis and discuss alternative courses of action for our city’s leaders. We’ll also identify opportunities for concerned residents to take action and stay involved. RSVP here.

City Council votes tomorrow. Ask them to save our safety net today.

The City Council votes tomorrow on the budget for Fiscal Year 2012. Chairman Kwame Brown, responding to public pressure, showed leadership to restore a portion of the cuts.

Save Our Safety Net reports that his budget will include $24 million to partially fund Interim Disability Assistance, homeless services, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. But there are still $32 million in cuts on the table, and instead of using all progressive revenue to fund the safety net, the Chairman and others are planning to use a portion of the money to reverse the marginal income tax increase proposed by the Mayor.

Please take a minute today to email your Councilmembers to ask them to fully fund safety net programs. They need to hear from you. If you have time, call their offices as well. The numbers are below.

Take a look at this amazing video from Save Our Safety Net. It will inspire you as you talk to your elected officials:


Here's what Save Our Safety Net reports is still being cut:

-- $2m from childcare subsidies
-- $2m from Local Rent Supplement Program, eliminating the vouchers
-- $18m from the Housing Production Trust Fund
-- $900k from Children's Mental Health Services
-- $1.3m from Domestic Violence Services
-- $600k from the Low-income Heating and Energy Assistance Program
-- $3.3m from Interim Disability Assistance, leaving 1000 on the waiting list and 600 removed from the program
-- $3.5m million from homeless services, for transportation to shelters, feeding, and supportive services

And here are the numbers to call the City Council as well as email:

Kwame Brown (Chairman) 724-8032
Vincent Orange (at-large) 724-8174
David Catania (at-large) 724-7772
Phil Mendelson (at-large) 724-8064
Michael Brown (at-large) 724-8105
Jim Graham (Ward 1) 724-8181
Jack Evans (Ward 2) 724-8058
Mary Cheh (Ward 3) 724-8062
Muriel Bowser (Ward 4) 724-8052
Harry Thomas, Jr. (Ward 5) 724-8028
Tommy Wells (Ward 6) 724-8072
Yvette Alexander (Ward 7) 724-8068
Marion Barry (Ward 8) 724-8045
Jen Budoff, Council Budget Director 724-8139

Michelle says: Save Our Safety Net!

Last week I sat down with Bread for the City client, computer literacy peer educator, and Save Our Safety Net lead volunteer, Michelle Washington, to learn a little about her story.

Michelle taught at DC Public Schools for many years, but one day about 10 years ago she fell on the steps at school and was seriously injured. She needed surgery and extended recovery — and when the new school year rolled around, Michelle's principal fired her and refused to sign off on her workman's compensation. She ended up with no job, no workman's comp and no health insurance.

Here's some of what she shared with me:

When you can't work, you risk getting to a place where you feel like you're not worth anything. My elderly parents were taking care of me for years in which I had no income. I became very depressed - never even had the lights on because I couldn't afford the electric bill. My friends would come over and sit in the dark. I remember being down in Eastern Market and some guy was singing "Nobody Wants you When You're Down and Out." And I turned to him and I said "I only have one dollar but I'm going to give it to you because you're so right."

I'd believed in the system but the system was failing me -- and I was coming to be just like the people you see on the street. I needed counseling and I needed education. And I needed support. And that's when I found Bread for the City.

They have a holistic approach, a multi-disciplinary team that worked not only on your health, but on your mind and your soul. The doctors knew my name and always treated me with respect -- which is just what I needed at the time. They were also able to refer me to all kinds of different programs that I needed.

That's how eventually I obtained my Social Security Insurance. SSI denied me at first, as I was having trouble validating my injury. Bread for the City's case manager helped with the paperwork and arranged for me to see a medical specialist who confirmed my disability.

Eventually I came to the point where I wake up at 5:30am and dress like I have somewhere to go. And then Dr. Randi gave me a real reason: through the new computer literacy course, I'm able to share my computer skills with other Bread for the City clients. It's a new niche for me. And I'm so thankful for that, because when you go out to help somebody, you forget about the problems that you have yourself.

Think of someone not as strong as myself, without parents to turn to. People you see walking around, failed by the system, with no one to trust.

Today, the safety net that saved me is itself in need of saving. Case managers can't manage the flood of cases. It's so hard to get food stamps, housing waitlists are stalled, and shelters are full.

It's a trickle out effect: when people get desperate, relationships between individuals deteriorate. Community falls apart.

Now the city's budget deficit is even worse. But the Mayor is downplaying the situation, and the articles about what's happening to the city's services aren't front page any more, or even front page on the Metro section. You have to read that whole paper to find the little article that says "this is getting shut down."

So that's where we come in. Our mission at Save Our Safety Net is to convey this reality to people. We have to shake things up. We have to let the Mayor know that this is a crisis that demands better leadership. Stand with us and Save Our Safety Net!

Save Funding for DC's Poorest Residents--We Need Your Help!

Save Our Safety Net

Last week we posted on Mayor Fenty's proposed budget cuts, which will slash a number of programs providing critical support for low-income residents of DC. Critical safety net services (like affordable housing, assistance for families with children, and literacy programs) will be affected, and no serious actions to raise revenue have been proposed. Moreover, the cuts are imbalanced--cuts to services for poor residents make up nearly half of the mayor's proposal.

These cuts will prolong and deepen this recession.

Save Our Safety Net is brought to you by Bread for the City and the Coalition for Community Investment, a broad array of community leaders and business owners in DC who support humane and responsible fiscal governance. Please visit Save Our Safety Net, learn about the cuts, and sign a petition asking the mayor and the council to change course and invest in our future.

Sign our petition today!

Building a Human Safety Net

Standing at the Wilson building today, chanting phrases like “Save Our Safety Net,” holding a net, and the hands of fellow advocates from across the city, I felt renewed in my commitment to serving my clients each day. I have journeyed this year with clients like Mr. S., Ms. N., and Mr. K. I have sat down with them, listened to their stories, and together, we have gone to their Social Security disability hearings hoping to win them Social Security benefits. Each day at Bread for the City, I meet with walk-ins and take calls from many people across the city calling because they have found themselves in need of an attorney. I have listened to their stories and have seen the effects of both personal choices and structural inequalities.

In the last month, the Wilson building has become quite familiar to me. Together with Eli and Legal Clinic for the Homeless attorney Scott McNeilly, we have gone door to door to Council Members, asking them to reconsider the proposed cuts to IDA, the program our SSI clients need to survive each month. I have helped the Fair Budget Coalition plan a budget briefing on housing, and have attended a previous rally urging City Council members to vote for progressive tax reform so that our social safety net services might be spared in the $500 million of proposed budget cuts this year.

Today felt different than those previous visits to the Wilson building. Today we stood, holding hands and nets, circling the entire building. This literal joining of hands, the literal act of building a human safety net, was a public testament of how important these services are to our clients. It is more than just about progressive tax increases or fighting for what I believe is right. It’s about making sure our clients can simply live.

Standing around the Wilson building, seeing familiar faces of the advocates I’ve met this year, holding hands and passionately chanting, my heart was flooded with emotions of connection, passion, dedication, and increased vigor. I felt a sense of renewal and recommitment. I am here for my clients, and for the ways we are growing together.


For more information about the Save Our Safety Net Campaign or for more pictures of this rally, please click here.

Gearing up for the Budget

It’s crunch time for the Mayor. Mayor Vince Gray’s first budget comes out Friday, April 1. This is the last opportunity for constituents to let the newly elected mayor know what choices we want him to make with the budget.

Gray’s job isn’t easy. The local budget, which totals around $7 billion, has a shortfall of $322 million. In events during the last two weeks, the mayor’s Budget Director, Eric Goulet, has said that the cuts will come from health and human services, even though safety net programs have already been cut by one-third in the last three years. He also said that they won’t cut health and human services if they fill the gap with revenue.

One of the programs that could face cuts is affordable child care. According to the Grassroots Media Project, funding for the District’s Child Care Subsidy Program, which benefits community-based child care providers as well as parents in need of affordable child care, has been cut each of the past five years. We see many families, particularly at our Southeast Center, that are unable to get and keep good jobs without a child care subsidy. (More here)

We think it’s time to share the burden. That’s why we support Save Our Safety Net, Invest in DC, and the Fair Budget Coalition in asking for a more progressive income tax structure.

If you agree, send an email or call the Mayor now at eom@dc.gov or (202)727-6300. Let them know you support progressive taxes to pay for safety net programs.

Come to one of these events to raise your voice with Bread for the City and our partners:

Empower DC Show Us the Green Rally for Child Care
On Facebook
Tomorrow, 10:00 am - 1:00 pm
Wilson Building, 1350 Pennsylvania Ave NW

Take the Safety Net Off the Lunch Table with Save Our Safety Net
On Facebook
Monday March 21 - Friday March 25, 1:00 pm
Wilson Building, 1350 Pennsylvania Ave NW

Budget crisis: DC's safety net is in danger

DC’s budget crisis is coming to a head. Our elected officials have proposed budget-slashing actions that are far more severe than we had anticipated, and we are alarmed.

Mayor Fenty’s proposal puts massive amounts of funding for the city’s social safety net on the chopping block: some $54 million worth of funding for programs that provide assistance for families with children, affordable housing, services for the disabled, etc. Proportionally, the proposed cuts to the safety net are dramatically larger than cuts to other government services – according to the DC Fiscal Policy Institute, they are at least three times larger! Meanwhile, the Mayor has proposed hardly any measures that would actually raise revenue.

Let it be clear that by raiding the social safety net, the Government will send thousands of our neighbors lives into crisis. These are programs that keep people off the streets, keep children safe, keep the vulnerable secure, and so on. As a result, these are programs that save the city lots of money. Ultimately, cuts to these programs will make this recession more prolonged and painful for the City as a whole.

Bread for the City receives funding from the city to provide some of these critical services – like our Court Based Legal Services Project, which helps prevent evictions and keeps people out of shelters. At a time when people need help more than ever before, and funding for our work is already threatened by the economy, these cuts would force us and our partner organizations to scale back our services. Rather than turn to the safety net as a first resort for freeing up capital, the City should be doing everything in its power to protect these programs.

The City has other options. The DC Fiscal Policy Institute has proposed alternative solutions that would raise revenue, tap special sources of funding for the city, and maintain DC’s safety net. Bread for the City, along with the Coalition for Community Investment, urges our elected officials to consider more humane and responsible strategies for this budget crisis.

It’s not too late. The Mayor and the Council still have time to change course. The Council will vote next Friday the 31st, so this week and next are our only opportunities to weigh in. You can also join us at the Council’s budget hearing this Friday, July 24th, 1350 Pennylsvania Ave, Suite 500, at 10am. You can also email and call city leaders to express your support for an alternative course of action that will protect the safety net - and let us know that you’ve done so.

Bread for the City will keep our community updated about the process from here on out. Please spread the word that this crisis is looming.

In the meantime, here is a list of the proposed cuts:

Enhancements previously secured for the 2010 budget that now face rollbacks include:
$2 million for rent supp
$1.5 for TANF grants
$750k for Housing First
$5.4 million for adult job training
$2 million for literacy
$1.5 million for grandparent caregivers
$500 k for rapid housing (this cuts half of the enhancement)

Cuts to existing programs include:
$6.2 million cut to TANF benefits for poor families with kids
$1.8 million for legal services to poor/poverty loan program,
$3.5 million taken from HPAP special purpose fund (not sure what impact is in 2010)
$340,000 from Office of Victims’ Services
$4 million from libraries
$1.9 million “supported work program” within income maintenance administration
$575,000 from school mental health programs
$5 million from “community health administration” (not sure the impact)
$3 million cut to neighborhood investment fund
Cut to health care contract at DC Jail
$2.5 million cut in grants for the Children Youth Investment Trust Corp
$5 million from the Dept of Disability Services

The only revenue enhancement measure is $7 million from raising a tax applied to phone bills that pays for 911 and 311 services.

Budget Basics, Briefly

Budget season is well underway, and in the run-up to the April 1st release of the Mayor’s proposed FY2012 budget, there are plenty of opportunities this week to get involved.

But what is the budget anyway and why should we care about it? The budget itself is a massive document that lays out in detail the amount of money required to implement all DC government policies, programs, and strategies over the course of the next fiscal year. (A fiscal year for DC government, by the way, is Oct 1st - Sept 30th.) It outlines how DC government plans on getting the money to pay for those programs (eg. income, sales, or property taxes, as well as federal funds) and determines funding levels accordingly.

As budget blogger extraordinaire Susie Cambria puts it, the budget is arguably “the most important of all legislation considered by the City Council and mayor each year.” It determines funding levels for all DC-government activities, shaping everything from school food to TANF to legal services to public works, and everything in between. (See past testimonies from Bread for the City staff and clients about the importance of programs funded by the city budget.)

Currently, the Mayor’s office is working on its proposed budget for the 2012 fiscal year (and is seeking input on their website – check it out). Starting in April, City Council works within agency committees to make additions, subtractions, and revisions to the budget before they vote on it in May. During this time, the different committees host a series of budget hearings – the public’s chance to give input directly to the council. The schedule of budget hearings is available online in PDF form and anyone can testify. See this how-to guide from So Others Might Eat for more, or call Kristi Matthews at the Fair Budget Coalition (202-328-1262) for help preparing your testimony.

Another round of projected shortfalls in revenue means that more than ever, all of our voices are needed to protect the programs that serve our city’s families. Thankfully many of Bread for the City’s allies have useful guides and resources that make it easier for all of us to get involved. Here are a few that I’ve found helpful:

• Susie Cambria’s has some basic resources: What the Budget Is and Isn’t (PDF) and DC Budget Process Explained (PDF) Her blog, Susie’s Budget and Policy Corner is a top spot for up-to-date info on the budget.
• Fair Budget Coalition recently released its annual budget report, in which it outlines the Coalition’s analysis of what programs make up the bare minimum safety net to meet most basic needs of District residents and help them to move towards providing for their own basic needs.
  
• DC Fiscal Policy Institute's research and analysis highlights how DC budget impacts low-income residents. Their most-recent report focuses on last fall’s gap-closing measures. Look for an updated budget toolkit soon!

Ready to start taking action today? Here are three ways:

• The Mayor’s office is seeking input on their website – fill out their survey today.
  
• Save Our Safety Net can also help you send a message to the mayor – click here!
  
• Take your lunch to the Mayor’s office anytime this week with the Save Our Safety Net Campaign!

Contact Joni Podschun (jpodschun@breadforthecity.org), Bread for the City’s advocacy coordinator, for more information about what Bread for the City is doing and how you can get involved in the future!

Budget update -- RALLY TODAY

Save Our Safety Net

[Rally today at the John A Wilson Building today at noon. Meet us in front of 1350 Pennsylvania Ave, NW!]

Yesterday morning, we delivered the www.SaveOurSafetyNet.com petition to all City Councilmembers. Nearly 1,500 names in support of smart, responsible leadership that protects DC’s safety net.

Several Councilmembers thanked us for this display of support, and expressed their agreement with our position that the government must act responsibly during this budget crisis, fairly balancing cuts and revenue.

We still don’t know what was said in the course of yesterday's proceedings, since members of the public were not allowed in the chamber. But early reports indicate some promising movement in the right direction: the Council restored some of the Mayor's proposed cuts to programs including TANF, job training, legal services for the poor, Rapid Housing and Grandparent Caregivers. Also, several revenue raising measures (like a minor increase in the sales tax, and taxes on cigarettes and gas).

There are still severe cuts on the table to affordable housing, senior services, and legal services. In the meantime, the Council made few cuts to economic development, public safety, or public works. So we must take our message one step further.

You can help protect safety net services by coming to the John A Wilson Building today at noon. Meet us in front of 1350 Pennsylvania Ave, NW.

Join together with community leaders, business owners, service providers and fellow citizens, as we urge City Council to to invest in the safety net. After we hear from a brief set of speakers, we will divide into groups and meet personally with Councilmembers and staff.

If you aren't able to attend, you can still make a difference! Please call your Councilmember (or call Chairman Vince Gray or an At-Large Councilmember) to express your support for more balanced budget cuts and responsible revenue enhancements.

Save Our Safety Net: Ongoing Coverage

Our petition to stop the City Council from slashing services for DC's most vulnerable residents is getting more signatures every hour, but we need every one of our supporters to back us up on this crucial issue. The proposed cuts will do inestimable damage to DC's ability to propel people out of poverty. If you have not yet signed the petition, please do so!

Thank you to the many blogs, organizations, and individuals in the District who have helped us spread the word about the danger we are in. Please continue to forward these emails or post links on your blog to the Save Our Safety Net site that has all the information about the cuts.

Special thanks to Greater Greater Washington, DCist, The Center for Non-Profit Advancement, Jews United for Justice, Washington Grantmaker's Daily, Pink Banana World, Poverty & Policy, The CKP National Blog, and DCBlogs for your coverage and support!

Through the Coalition for Community Investment, we are presenting the petition in all its lengthy papery glory to City Councilmembers this morning. We will continue to keep you updated about our efforts.

City Council votes today. Here's what we're saying.

Today is the vote on the city's budget. We blogged about it here at Beyond Bread, and the budget cuts and their impact have been covered by news outlets and the blogosphere. If you still need to email your Councilmembers about this, don't worry -- there's still time. Take action now.

Here are a few letters from people close to Bread for the City, to inspire you as you share your thoughts with our elected officials.

From Leonard Edwards, Bread for the City client:

Dear City Council,

My name is Leonard J. Edwards, and I have been a resident of Washington, D.C., for over thirty years. I have a disability, and at the present time I am working towards my Associates Degree, in Health Care Administration.

I used to work construction, but I cannot do that work any longer because of my disability. I take on-line classes, and I depend on the disability services and other parts of the safety net to help with just about everything. This is where I am in my life right now, and if it was not for places like Bread for the City I can truly say that I do not know where I would be right now.

How am I supposed to complete my education if my utilities are disrupted? How can I keep my strength and health to study if I do not have a place to live, or food in my refrigerator? How am I supposed to improve my situation if I cannot even get back and forth to school?

I am not asking for hand outs, just a hand. These few services help me to keep some dignity. These few services are the only thing, at the present time, that are keeping me from being homeless and helping me to complete my studies. When I complete my education, I will get that job in the health care industry, so I can get back on my feet and help others.

I have always worked, and I enjoy working, and I have always been a good employee, with many letters of recommendation. With my disability, I had to re-tool my skills for the 21st century. If the cuts are as bad as I hear, I am afraid that I will become a statistic.

Sincerely,
Leonard J. Edwards

From Burke Stansbury, Ward 1 Resident and Save Our Safety Net volunteer:

Hi Councilmember Graham,

I live in Mt. Pleasant and have been active in advocating against safety net budget cuts over the last year. I'm also likely among those who would pay more taxes if rates for high-income earning DC residents were raised. And I want to say that I fully support such new tax proposals.

I also want to thank you for introducing new brackets at $350,000 in the spring. I'm writing because I believe we need even lower brackets for meaningful, new revenue to fund safety net programs. I support two possible solutions: a 1% increase on income over $200,000 a year or Tommy Wells' plan for comprehensive tax reform.

Please do the right thing and take a stand this week in favor of increased income taxes.

Thank you,
Burke Stansbury

Take a moment to send your own email now.

2010: a Year in Review

As we wrap up this crazy holiday season, let’s take a moment to reflect on the year that was 2010. It was a busy one for Bread for the City, filled with challenges, loss, innovation and growth. Have a look:

For most of the year, we watched the ongoing construction on our new Northwest Center facility (which includes a major expansion for our Medical Clinic). The expansion was finally completed in November, and we’ve moved in this month. (The Grand Opening is next Friday - you should come!)

But even before the move, our Medical Program was busy innovating - developing health-oriented literacy classes for both kids (with childrens’ books) and adults (with computer classes). Our cooking and nutrition classes ventured into ethnic cuisines, and even launched weight loss support groups.

Meanwhile, our Legal Team won some major victories for tenants that resonated across the city - like pressuring the Powers that Be to create a docket for tenants to file complaints about housing conditions in Landlord/Tenant court, and successfully representing the rent-striking tenants of Marbury Plaza as they demanded improvements to one of the largest housing complexes in the city. Other Big Wins included the Jerrold Scoutt Prize (Lord High Legal Director Vytas V. Vergeer) and Jeopardy (power-blogger Stacy Braverman).

Our food pantry saw both great steps forward and a devastating loss this year. Our Southeast Center introduced a whole new model of distributing food called “Client Choice,” which we've subsequently worked to improve, and ultimately permanently adopt, to widespread approval from staff, clients, and volunteers. Our second annual Glean for the City season was such a success that we actually had to put surplus fresh veggies out for anyone to take as much as they wanted; we even hosted a Free Farmers Market (which we hope to reintroduce and expand next summer). Amid all this, however, we said goodbye to our Food Pantry director, Ted Pringle, who built Bread for the City’s pantry into what it is today, and whose legacy will stay right with us in the future. Rest in Peace, Ted.

Even as we dealt with loss in our own family, we also took note that this was an especially difficult year for many of our clients. As the Great Recession trudged on, this blog recorded the dramatic rise in the need for utility assistance, the diminishing stock of affordable housing, and the devastating impact of budget cuts to critical programs such as disability benefits. Our social services staff worked furiously to meet new needs; for instance, Southeast’s Sherita Evans developed specialized protocols for working with low-income veterans who are increasingly turning to us. We also took more active advocacy responses to rising poverty, helping to launch the Save Our Safety Net campaign, and championing the expansion of food stamps in the District. You could even turn to the blog to hear it directly from our clients themselves, like Patty Anne, who is becoming something of a Beyond Bread regular.

That’s just a sampling of the year behind us; and, of course, we considered many issues that we’ll have even more to say about in the future (like our seedling rooftop garden program!). Here’s a huge thank you for everyone who helped us over the course of the past year. Your support makes all of this work possible.

If you haven’t yet, please consider making a year-end donation -- and share that with your friends and loved ones. And to all of us, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Save Our Safety Net: A letter from a constituent

Longtime donor, volunteer, and former BFC Board Chair Roger Kuhn shared with us a letter that he sent to Mayor Fenty yesterday about the proposed cuts to the city's social services, and gave us permission to share it here.

Mr. Mayor:

Your proposed budget cuts are grossly unfair to the City's neediest. While the wealthy move into the growing number of luxury condos around town, more and more of our neighbors are heading for shelters. While some eat $100 dinners at DC's finest restaurants, others line up at food pantries. And now you are proposing cuts in support for food pantries, shelters, and other services needed by more and more newly individuals and families.

The fair approach is to cut support for luxuries enjoyed by the fortunate -- support for ballparks and the like -- and to raise revenue from those who are most advantaged: a new top income tax bracket, a new sales tax on sports tickets, concert tickets, DC lottery winnings -- you could name a lot of sources if you looked around. (I'll add that many of these taxes would affect me personally, but I'd pay them willingly if I knew the revenue was preserving the safety net for people in need.)

I'd like to feel my city was dealing fairly and humanely with all of us who live here. Right now, I'm feeling angry.

Roger Kuhn

Roger urges you to take action as well: email City Council today to express your support for programs that help our most vulnerable neighbors survive. (And share your email with us!)

We are currently attending the hearings at the Wilson Building - stay tuned for more...

Contemplating a future without hunger

[Cross-posted at the DC Food For All.]

In celebration of their 30th Anniversary, the Capital Area Food Bank hosted a Hunger Policy Forum last Friday, January 15 at the offices of The Washington Post. Entitled, “Ideas & Inspirations for the Future,” the forum centered on a discussion by local and national experts about hunger in our nation and in the nation’s capital.

A few central themes emerged from the discussion. First and foremost among them was the notion that hunger is a problem that we can solve. Jim Weill, president of the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), noted that “the recession is the worst since the 30’s, but we’re rich enough to end hunger overnight. It’s a political problem.”

In other words, as a society we are capable of ending hunger. But do we have the will? And what roles do food pantries play in the problem?

"The time has come to maximize our impact in the political arena,” added Janet Poppendieck, professor at City University in New York and author of several books on poverty, but this mandate has a double edge: if we fail in that, Poppendieck said, then we “allow the marginally concerned to feel much better about hunger, and we are in danger of functioning as a moral safety valve.”


The other theme I noticed was that this potential political willpower for the pursuit of policy change can only be realized through the development of community. John Cook of the Boston Medical Center noted that we are infringing upon a "great awakening in the United States about our community." He spoke hopefully about the opportunity that could come with a dawning awareness that "we are not individuals pursuing our own needs, but rather we are all connected."

From my brief time studying hunger in America, I've seen a little bit of both sides of this issue. In college, I interviewed 15 administrators at small food pantries in Salem, OR, and what I found was, honestly, a little disheartening: many viewed the food pantries solely as a place to receive emergency food and had little interest in moving beyond charity and towards the community-building that would make social change possible. To a number of administrators, hunger was viewed as a personal problem that individuals needed to deal with. The role of these pantries, then, was just to help needy individuals, instead of working collaboratively with others to identify and change the greater societal issues that perpetuate of hunger.

Yet in just a few months here in DC, I have seen something different. I've seen the ways that Bread For the City takes its role as a charitable distribution center as just a starting point, from which it works to identify the needs of the community it serves. As George Jones, Executive Director of Bread For the City, mentioned on the Food Bank's panel, the Save Our Safety Net was launched here; we've also supported the efforts of groups like DC Hunger Solutions to expand food stamp eligibility. We are not alone. Many locally-based organizations (like Miriam's Kitchen, and the Food Bank itself) are working to empower making structural changes in our society. And in just a few months, this blog itself has brought people together from different parts of our still-fragmented community landscape, opening up new possibilities for partnership and action.

Thirty years after the founding of the Capital Area Food Bank, people need help more than ever before. Given the overlapping arrival of the Great Recession alongside an era of powerful new tools of sharing and community building, perhaps this really is the dawn of a new chapter.

Amy Johnson is an Emerson Hunger Fellow. Photos courtesy of Kevin Allen.

City Divests from Supports for Low-Income Families and the Local Economy

The Income Maintenance Administration announced yesterday that TANF cash assistance will be cut by 20% for most households that have received TANF for at least five years. This benefit reduction, which impacts about half of the 16,000 households on TANF, was decided at the last moment as part of the budget shortfall decisions by the City Council in December. It goes into effect April 1.

The TANF program is the primary source of support for women who are raising children and struggling to get and keep good jobs. One in three children in DC is raised with a parent in the TANF program. Beyond Bread blogger Patty Anne wrote about the shortsightedness of removing supports for TANF recipients, and Save Our Safety Net added that the decision was made even as high-income households -- those who have suffered the least in the recession -- were not asked to invest in a strong safety net.

Families face many different situations -- waiting for job training, dealing with a domestic violence situation, recovering from a health problem, looking for work, etc. Regardless of their different timelines, needs, and goals, families need enough cash assistance to stay stable. At an event last month, TANF recipient and Academy of Hope student Ernestine McSwain said, “It helps you to buy food and puts clothes on your children’s back.” Given all the expenses these families face, nearly every penny leads to even more local economic activity. This reduction will put assistance at $342 for families that have been in the program more than five years and do not meet one of three very narrow exemptions. (The benefit is currently set at $428 for a family of three.)

The notice from IMA about the reduction says, “We want to help you find a job so you can leave TANF. If you got a letter to go to a work program, you should go to the program.” Unfortunately, TANF is not set up to support women as they work toward their goals. Program administrators, TANF recipients, and advocates have pushed for better assessments to determine the appropriate mix of education, job training, and support services (like mental health treatment) for each recipient. There’s also an education and job training capacity issue. While additional funding for training was put in the budget voted on last fall, the DC Fiscal Policy Institute reports that “even if every new adult training slot went to a long-term TANF recipient — which is not required under the current plan — only one of eight affected families could participate.”

Suggestions for how the District could better provide opportunity and stability to TANF recipients were identified by TANF recipients themselves in a 2009 report that I authored along with the DC Fiscal Policy Institute. While the administration has been receptive to the changes we suggested, very little has been implemented. Why punish TANF recipients for the District’s shortcomings? Instead, our city should invest greater oversight and funding for these programs to ensure we can emerge from the recession with healthy families and a strong local workforce.

New Budget Info and YOU!

The more we learn about the Mayor’s proposed budget, the less we like. We here at Bread for the City believe it’s the responsibility of the DC government to fund the safety net programs that keep families healthy and make our city strong. Instead of this vision, our Mayor proposed a budget with alarming and disproportionate divestment. Two dollars out of every $3 cut in the budget comes from human services, even though these programs make up only one fourth of the total budget. We need more money – not less – for homeless services, affordable child care, adult literacy, mental health services, affordable housing, and support for disabled residents.

Here’s more information on the specific issues our clients and staff are working on right now:

TANF
The Mayor wants to cut cash assistance for about 7,000 families with children. The benefit for a mother and two children would be reduced to $257 per month, a reduction that's on top of cuts enacted last December. Also, household where parents don’t attend the required work or work-readiness activities would lose all TANF benefits, whereas in the past children remained in the case load even if their parents weren't fulfilling the requirements. This policy change that harms children rather than supporting TANF recipients meet their goals.


Housing
The Mayor proposes major cuts to housing programs.
- Elimination of the Local Rent Supplement Program by not issuing any new rental vouchers, which creates a savings of $4 million in FY2012.
- Cut of $18 million from the Housing Production Trust Fund, which is used for construction of affordable housing and loans for tenants to buy their buildings.

Interim Disability Assistance Program
This program provides temporary cash assistance as DC residents with a disability wait for approval or denial for SSI. The budget eliminates this vital program.

If you’d like to join us in our fight to save safety net funding, come to a Bread for the City Budget Lunch. They happen every Wednesday in our Southeast Center and every Friday in our Northwest Center. We eat at 11:30 am, then start sharing information and working on projects from 12:00 to 1:00 pm. It’s a great way to meet our clients and staff, and spend an hour each week getting things done. If you'd like to learn more, contact me at jpodschun(at)breadforthecity.org or 202-553-7248.

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Roz Cohen!

Board Member Roz Cohen at July's Save the
Safety Net Rally at the Wilson Building

Roz Cohen has done everything you can think of for Bread for the City. She has served on our Board of Directors since 2002, where she currently holds the office of Vice-President. Roz has rallied at the Wilson Building in support of safety net services, packed grocery bags to be distributed in our food pantries, and attended countless fundraising events encouraging friends and strangers to support our programs—programs she has personally supported for almost two decades. Most notably, Roz has helped coordinate our annual fundraising event, Art with a Heart, for almost ten years—six as Chair of the planning committee.

Roz Cohen is a tank of an event planner. Frankly, that’s the best way I can think to describe her abilities, which then causes me to chuckle since she’s so petite. Roz knows how to rally the troops into action, she excels at recruiting new supporters, and she has such an amazing eye for detail—a gift that has saved my butt on more than one occasion.

Now, there are many people who have worked more closely with Roz over the years. When they learned she was receiving a Good Hope Award, here is what they had to say:

"Roz helps to organize Art with a Heart in a manner that manages to be both reassuring and galvanizing. I could never have pulled off the event without her hours and hours of patient help and advice. The best part, though, is that Roz…cares passionately about the organization, the clients, and the staff...She inspires me with her commitment and her energy."
Adrienne Ammerman, Former Development Associate

“My favorite thing about Roz is her ability to meet the ever diverse needs of all Bread for the City stakeholders, whether she's protesting to protect the housing rights of our clients or ensuring that al dente veggies don't go flying off the table during Art with a Heart and ruin the fancy outfits our guests.”
Andrea Messina, Former Associate Director of Development

“I'm trying to think of just one word to describe Roz, and I can't. "Diligent" comes to mind, as does "focused". "Committed" is another good one, and not as in "should be committed” either! But I think the best word is 'generous'. Abundantly generous with her time…her many talents and skills, her resources and her tremendous energy."
Leslie White, Former Grant Writer & Development Director

"Roz is one of those rare people who organizations like Bread for the City depend on. She exemplifies what Margaret Mead said, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
Scott Schenkelberg, Former Development Director

“I love Roz because she could plan Art with a Heart blindfolded and with one arm tied behind her back…Because she loves Bread for the City so very much. Because she's a great friend, sounding board, mentor, and organizer.”
Valentine Breitbarth, Former Development Associate

For all these reasons—and many more—Bread for the City tips its hat to Rosalind C. Cohen, Esq. as our 2009 Program Volunteer of the year. We love you!

Save IDA!

This post brought to you by BFC legal clinic coordinator Eli Sevcik-Timberg.

Yesterday, advocates from the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, So Others Might Eat (SOME) and Bread for the City joined a group of men and women who currently receive Interim Disability Assistance (IDA), and the group paid visits to the offices of six councilmembers.

Their goal: to save IDA.

We’ve been blogging about IDA here a lot recently, because it is one of the most heavily-cut items in Mayor Fenty's proposed budget. IDA is a city program that provides $270 per month to individuals waiting for Social Security disability benefits. It's fairly common for people to wait for years.

Like my client, Dexter, who came along on our visit to City Council. NPR actually profiled Dexter in a story about delays in Social Security; at the time, Dexter had been waiting for Social Security for almost three years. That was in early 2007.

In the meantime, Dexter subsists on $270 a month in IDA support. Hundreds of DC residents like Dexter (perhaps even more than 1,000) now face the prospect of life without Social Security or IDA.



So what does that $270/month mean to those who receive it? For many in DC, $270 is the price of a monthly pass at the yoga studio or a bar tab after a big night out.

$270 means something more to James, who had been addicted to drugs and homeless for years prior to receiving IDA (“All that society don’t want to see…I was that”). IDA benefits allowed James to pay the $81/month that his subsidized group-home charges for rent, and bus fare for his therapy appointments. It gave James enough stability to concentrate on kicking his addiction. James has been clean for over a year now, but when talking with city council members, he didn’t talk much about himself: “I’m worried about the people who aren’t able to get [IDA] now…they’re gonna be on the street for good.”

$270 means something more to Christina, who is able to buy toilet paper because CCNV, DC’s largest shelter, often runs out. She is able to buy her medication—only $1/prescription through Medicaid—but she has ten different medications to treat asthma, bi-polar disorder, and high blood pressure. In the past, she had to beg for change on the street to buy her medicine. Most importantly, she was able to buy a cell phone with a few minutes in order to receive calls from her doctor, social worker and the pro-bono attorney who was representing her in her Social Security hearing—calls that she can’t reliably get at a shelter.

And $270 means something more to Dexter. Bread for the City has represented him for three of his five years of waiting, as his application was kicked from office to office, from Social Security court to Appellate court and then back again to Social Security court. Joseph receives dialysis treatment three times a week but he missed Monday’s appointment to tell his story to councilmembers and their staffers. Dexter realizes that if it weren’t for IDA, he wouldn’t have been able to survive. “I’m 56 years-old and my liver doesn’t work. IDA gives me a place to live, and combined with foodstamps, I make it work. [IDA] might be small to other people, but it gives me a chance to survive.”

These are not unique stories. These are the stories of the approximately 1,500 people who won’t be receiving IDA next year if new revenue sources aren’t found. You can help save IDA by supporting the Save our Safety Net campaign. Call your Councilmembers. Let's save IDA.

—Eli Timberg

Give it up for DC Fiscal Policy Institute

Wonks make the world go round, and the world needs more wonks like Ed Lazere and his all-star staff at the DC Fiscal Policy Institute: Katie Kerstetter, Jenny Reed, and Elissa Silverman.

Bread for the City works with the DC Fiscal Policy Institute as part of both the Coalition for Community Investment and Fair Budget Coalition. We also look to DCFPI as we organize the Save our Safety Net Campaign, for which we’ve talked a lot about here.

DCFPI conducts research and public education on budget and tax issues in the District of Columbia, with a particular emphasis on issues that affect low- and moderate-income residents. It’s DCFPI’s research that we refer to when talking to funders and policy leaders about why different government programs, policies, and public benefits are critical to the stability of our clients and our community.

In the coming years, as DC must find its way out of fiscal crisis and into economic recovery, DCFPI’s role will become ever more vital. While Bread for the City has a vivid on-the-ground perspective on the need for greater investment in our community, Ed and his staff are able to describe that need in ways that the budget-crunchers will actually understand.

It is our pleasure to name the DC Fiscal Policy Institute as Bread for the City’s 2009 Community Champion of the Year. We are looking forward to continuing our partnership in the years to come, as we strive to make this city a better place for its most vulnerable residents.