Mennonite Central Committee News Service
(7)
March 31, 1972
LOBBYING FOR WELFARE RIGHTS
by Ray Maynard, VS, Atlanta, GA
Lobbying sounds a little shady and not
like an activity that a VSer might engage in. This week, however,
I was a lobbyist at the State Capitol in Atlanta, GA, where I
serve with the Mennonite Central Committee. It was really a very
simple matter once I got my mind and nerves set on doing it.
I did not go to the Capitol alone. Mrs.
MacDowell, a welfare recipient and member of the Emmaus House
chapter of the National Welfare Rights Organization in Atlanta
went with me. Mrs. MacDowell and I were to see three men on the
Joint Appropriations Committee. Social workers in Atlanta were
attempting to speak to all of the 70 legislators on the Appropriations
Committee.
Too often legislators never see a welfare
recipient, or have a chance to talk to one face to face about
his problems. The lobbying that we did this session was an attempt
to educate legislators about the needs and problems of welfare
recipients, so that when they appropriate money and vote on other
welfare-related matters they will known more of what is involved.
By pairing off as we did, one recipient and one social worker,
we hoped to give the legislator our two points of view.
The regular legislative session was
in progress, so we had to have each legislator paged individually.
Because no space is provided, we had
to talk to legislators in the crowded noisy hallway in front
of the legislative chambers. We certainly did not have their
undivided attention during our conversation and their time was
at a prernium, so they rushed off after three or four minutes
of conversation.
The following article from "Poor
People Speak," published by the Welfare Rights Organization
where I work, gives some background on the welfare situation
as it affects welfare recipients with whom we are working:
"Our present system of public welfare
is designed to save money instead of people and tragically ends
up by doing neither. It has critical deficiencies.
"First, it excludes many people
who are in great need and who, if provided a decent level of
support might be able to become more productive and self-sufficient.
No funds are available to many needy Georgians who are not eligible
for welfare under the present system.
"Second, for those who receive
public assistance, Georgia provides much less than the minimum
level of existence. Furthermore, restrictions are imposed that
encourage continued dependency on welfare and undermine self-respect.
"There are many myths about welfare
recipients--popular misconceptions that have no basis in fact.
Here are several:
"Hard work is the answer to the
welfare problem. This is a myth. Work might be a solution if
the welfare recipients really were lazy men and women dodging
jobs. But the US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare
reported in 1969 that less than one percent of the nations' welfare
recipients are able-bodied men, and these men have to be seeking
jobs through their state employment agencies in order to qualify
for welfare at all. In Georgia, no family with both able-bodied
parents in the home is eligible for assistance.
"Most welfare mothers are needed
full time by their own families. However, about 2.3 percent of
all welfare recipients could work, if conditions permitted.
"One condition that does not permit
mothers to work is lack of day-care facilities for their children.
According to a recent statement by Georgia's Governor Carter,
there are 55,084 children in Georgia under age six who are receiving
public assistance through the Aid to Families with Dependent
Children (AFDC) grant. Of these, only ten percent are enrolled
in a day-care program. Not only is day-care scarce in Georgia,
but many mothers cannot afford the high cost of private day-care
services.
"Another condition restricting
welfare mothers from working is that only 18 percent of all AFDC
mothers nationwide have completed high school. Nearly 34 percent
never got beyond eighth grade. Considering what it takes to find
a steady job, most AFDC mothers would have to both finish high
school and complete a training program before even trying to
enter the job market.
"If a welfare mother could find
child care, complete her education and obtain a skill, it would
still be hard for her to find work. Recent national statistics
of employment show that unemployment has oeen consistently more
severe among women over the last decade. Three year's ago, the
unemployment rate for women was 5.2 per- cent, as compared to
3.1 percent for men.
"Furthermore, women are often underpaid
for doing the same kinds of jobs that men do. Even if a mother
is able to secure a skilled job, this is not guarantee against
poverty.
"Welfare is the good life--color
TV and Cadillacs. This is another absurd myth, though a popular
one. A person receiving Aid to the Disabled (AD) in Georgia receives
a maximum grant of $91 a month, according to the latest report.
At least $40 of the welfare check goes for rent, leaving the
disabled person $51. If he spends a minimum of $9 a week for
food, he has $15 with which to pay his utilities, the cost of
public trans- portation and any medicine not covered by his Medicaid.
He seldom has enough money left to buy new clothes, much less
a down payment on a color TV.
"Owning and operating a car with
an income of $91 a month is impossible. Most AD recipients, however,
do not even receive the maximum grant. The average grant for
a Georgia AD recipient is $65.44 a month, according to the Public
Welfare Statistics bulletin of June, 1971. In 1971, the Federal
Bureau of Labor Statistics released Three Standards of' Living
for an Urban Family of Four. This publication stated that a low-income
family of four needs $6,500 for the maintenance of health and
social well-being, the nurture of children and participation
in community activities.
"Based on the maximum payment of
$149 a month, a family of four in Georgia would have an accumulated
annual income of $1,788. This is guaranteed annual poverty.
"What do these facts and figures
mean to a real welfare family? They mean that the family will
probably live in a crowded sub-standard house or apartment, and
that they will send malnourished, ill-clothed children to school.
They will eat starchy, unbalanced meals.
Because of this diet they will tend toward
obesity and suffer from high blood pressure, requiring medical
care. Day in and day out, they will live with the shame of poverty,
feeling that it is their shame, not ours.
"Welfare is the good life only
for those who have never experienced it."
This is part of the welfare situation
that motivated the local Welfare Rights groups to draw up a list
of requests and to talk to Georgia legislators.
Our efforts may not have had much effect
on the legislators to whom we spoke, but I don't think our time
was wasted. The legislators at least saw and heard someone in
support of the welfare program. I am sure it will be some time
before the Georgia welfare lobby will have an effect on legislation,
but a beginning was made this session.
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dz31march72