Poverty: Easing the Pain, Part 2

NOTE: This entry continues two previous posts--"Poverty Sim: Walk in My Shoes" and "Poverty: Easing the Pain, Part 1."

REMINDER: The ideas included in this blog post are not terribly new—most have been at least attempted. And, keep in mind that my goal in sharing these ideas is NOT to end poverty, but simply to remove some of the stresses that are added to poor people’s lives because they are poor. Most of these ideas are met with skepticism, others with outright hostility. Alas. I can’t let a negative reception keep me from putting all of these ideas together in writing in a publicly available forum.

ODJFS: Burn-out prevention Thanks to cutbacks in almost every program for poor people, county Job & Family Services departments across the state are under great stress. They have laid off workers to cut their budgets at the same time that the number of people requiring services has soared. This puts the remaining workers—the ones charged with helping the poor—under great stress.

          I call upon my own memory of the poverty simulation I participated in recently. I was the mortgage banker in this valuable role-play experience, collecting rent and mortgage payments from poor people. The rapidity with which I developed an intolerance and even a scorn for the people I served was shocking to me. It was stressful to see that I was powerless to help and was often the agent of pain for my customers. I don’t know if this bears on the stress carried by JFS caseworkers, but I have seen some workers treat some clients with the same rudeness and eye-rolling that came over me in the simulation.

          These workers need help. They need a plan for burn-out prevention. I don’t know what the plan would be—massages at work? Weekly debriefing sessions? Free coffee and bagels every morning? New desk chairs? (OK, the desk chair thing is personal—I know a new desk chair would be valuable to me personally.) I think regular infusions of food from our local wunder-chef, Chef Mary from Flutes & Peppercorns, would be a welcome stress reliever. Anyway, something needs to be done for these dedicated professionals to help them feel like something other than a paper-pusher or payment policer.

Expand OBB (Ohio Benefit Bank) The Ohio Benefit Bank (OBB) is a wonderful computer program that determines likely eligibility for various programs, from food stamps to FAFSA, from TANF to tax filing. (TANF is “temporary assistance for needy families,” pronounced TAN-iff.)  Individuals may process themselves through the OBB program, but usually a trained volunteer guides the data collection and entry. OBB is a one-stop application process; applications are generated and sent directly to appropriate agencies, whether it is for your Golden Buckeye Card or for WIC for your baby.

          OBB can be used anywhere there is a computer and internet service (like our shiny new McDonalds in McArthur). Or, it can be used at your bedside at a retirement home. Or, you can use it by yourself on a computer at the library. The casualness of the settings removes barriers for many people, especially people who are dropping painfully out of the middle class and cannot face going “up on the hill” (as we say about Vinton County’s JFS) to apply for assistance.

          Some Job & Family Services offices see OBB as a competitor—something that is eroding their authority. OBB counters that the program only allows people to apply for benefits more easily—JFS still has total control over determination and administration of benefits. I hope that these two entities can find a way to co-exist or even cooperate in bringing services to poor people.

Appalachia last in line: 2-1-1 The twenty or so counties who still do not have 2-1-1 information line service are all in counties designated as poor and Appalachian. The Appalachian counties that do have 2-1-1 are often serviced through neighboring non-Appalachian counties—and that’s fine.

          But a county like Vinton is surrounded by other struggling counties. Who is going to step up? Where is the funding going to come from? The United Way is the implementer of 2-1-1 in many counties, but my United Way only has one part-part-time employee—me.

          I think It’s funny that between United Way and my other employer, I am sort of a mini-2-1-1, a referral service to a range of callers. And my efforts pale compared to the real 2-1-1 woman in Vinton County—Brandi Betts of the Chamber of Commerce. Thank you, Brandi, for your patience with so many random requests for information.

          2-1-1 would assist every resident to navigate among care providers, find the food pantries, find Sojourners for runaway and homeless youth services or for Youthbuild or work programs. 2-1-1 would focus only on helping and not be torn by numerous other responsibilities. When are the poor people of Appalachian Ohio going to get it?

Subsidize family activities: The free ride I remember from my own impoverished childhood what it felt like to  be left out, what it meant to never go to the amusement park everyone else was excited about, to never ride the rides at the county fair. That’s just one reason I am proposing that we find ways to subsidize rides at local events such as McArthur’s Wild Turkey Festival (no, not THAT kind of Wild Turkey) and the Vinton County Junior Fair.

          When I mention this idea, many people respond with outright hostility. They refuse to consider it. As I often observe, there is a feeling that the poor must be punished for being poor.

          But I insist. Let’s find funding for all children to ride free. It shouldn’t be necessary for families to sacrifice food or rent money to make sure their kids can ride the rides.

         In Vinton County, where 90% of schoolchildren qualify for free lunch (highest percentage in Ohio), the school district recently decided to just give free lunch to every child. Everyone gets to eat. No more stigma of being identified as one of the free lunch kids. This generous act may have been the result of financial realities, but it is the free lunch for all attitude of the schools that made me think about free rides at local events. Now, where do we apply for the free tilt-a-whirl grants?

My parents used a pencil and
ruler to make their own
spreadsheet.

Sidebar: The Frugal Poor--My Parents

          My family was poor--poorer than my sisters and I really understood. As with all children, our own family was the norm--we couldn't believe what went on in other families! Others were "less" normal than us.

         What set my family apart from other poor families is that my parents had a plan. From their church, they learned about budgeting and tithing and record-keeping. (To figure your tithing, you had to keep track of your income and expenses--sort of like God was your shareholder.) We always asked whether something was a necessity--and the opposite of "necessity" was "no." There was always a big sheet of paper magnetized to the fridge, on which my mom or dad would record anything we spent individually or as a family. This was a good thing and kept us off public assistance and kept us housed, clothed, and fed. We even had some savings. 

         However--yep, there's a "however"--the budget of my parents didn't allow for much extravagance in the fun-having department. Our gifts from Santa were a bit on the practical side (while our poorer neighbor kids received a lavish haul every year--we were jealous). And only once do I remember going on a non-church-camp vacation. (We hardly knew what to do with ourselves.) And we seldom rode the rides or saw the latest Disney movie.

We always got "books" of Lifesavers for
Christmas--and socks and underwear, of course.

         I felt that I was privy to some deep knowledge in terms of how my parents handled money. I knew my parents were doing the right thing. But I hated it. I had wants that just wouldn't go away--my wants had way more to do with not seeming peculiar than about a deep urge to ride a Ferris wheel or eat an elephant ear or see a movie. I became my own outcast, went about in my own world, became mentally inventive, grew into a writer. But I have never lost the outsider mentality fostered by my parents' budgeting zeal (and other family peculiarities, of course). I'm pretty frugal, too, and it has kept me marginally afloat during the past several lean years. But it's still not fun. Free rides would be great.