wfn.org | Lutherans Consider Women, Children and Welfare Reform

[Brenda Williams <BRENDAW@elca.org>]

Reply-To: ElcaNews <ELCANEWS@ELCASCO.ELCA.ORG>
ELCA NEWS SERVICE

July 8, 1998

LUTHERANS CONSIDER WOMEN, CHILDREN AND WELFARE REFORM
98-25-148-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "I heard you say that you want to undertake this
awesome task because you are Christians," Sheila Radford-Hill told about 80
church, public and private professionals who came June 26-27 to the central
offices of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) "to reaffirm,
modify and prioritize the ELCA's strategy on women and children living in
poverty in light of welfare reform."
     Radford-Hill was the lead facilitator for the consultation sponsored
by the ELCA's Division for Church in Society with the support of the ELCA's
Church Council.  Radford-Hill is division administrator for Alternative
Learning Partnerships, Chicago.
     "This was just the beginning," said Tina Dabney, ELCA project
director for ministry with women and children living in poverty.  "The
consultation will not be a success until we implement the plan of action
that will be produced from the consultation."  Dabney organized the event.
     "Few people live closer to the grim realities of hunger,
homelessness, family instability and unemployment than women and children
living in poverty," Dabney told the group.  The ELCA and its women's
organization, Women of the ELCA, have recognized their need to be involved
to "reduce the grim realities of poverty," she said.
     Since the ELCA was formed in 1988 women and children living in
poverty have been a concern of the church, said Doris Strieter, program
team leader for Women of the ELCA.  Research revealed that there were
already many ministries in place, but they involved little or no
collaboration with women and children living in poverty, she said.  So, in
1993, the church adopted "a plan to listen and act" with an emphasis on
listening.
     A panel of four women spoke to the consultation of their experiences
as participants in welfare programs.  Two of the women, Awilda Quinones and
Loretta White, are members of The Witness Group -- former and current
welfare participants who share their stories as a service of Protestants
for the Common Good, Chicago.
     Quinones told the group that her rent nearly doubled, but her grant
for housing did not change and would not cover the increase.  In the
process of trying to find a new place to live, she said her furniture was
taken from her.
     A mother of eight and grandmother of six, Quinones is enrolled in a
life skills training class at Chicago Commons -- a community-based
employment training center.
     White recently completed training at Chicago Commons and earned her
high school diploma.  She told the consultation that she has found
employment after 20 years of public aid.
     "Going to church and having faith in God is what got me through," she
said, challenging all churches to reach out to their members and to others
in their communities who need help. "If you can help someone, as a
Christian, do it."
     "Are you going to get out there and help?" she asked.  "Open your
heart and let God use you."
     Delores Johnson Keppel, program facilitator for the South Bronx
Ministries/Neighborhood Development Corporation, Bronx, N.Y., said she was
feeling helpless, hopeless and lost while receiving public assistance.  She
remembered being taught that God is always with her, she said, so she
turned to her church for help.
     "I learned that I was not alone.  At church I learned to organize ...
and to teach others to organize," said Keppel.  "A lot of the women I deal
with do not know they are loved.  They are lost."
     South Bronx Ministries helps women deal with the stress that
accompanies poverty, said Keppel, and it provides information on such
topics as HIV/AIDS.  An after-school program provides tutors, meals and
lessons on self-esteem and non-violent conflict resolution for about 60
children.
     Janice Parker-Underwood, representative payee program supervisor,
Indiana County Community Action Program, Indiana, Pa., told the
consultation about circumstances that took her away from her middle-class
lifestyle.  "I'm the side of welfare that most people don't think about,
but it can happen," she said.
     Parker-Underwood left college after her junior year to get married
and raised two sons.  At the age of 46, after 18 years of marriage, she
left her husband and wound up on the street.  "I had always known about
'them' -- people in shelters, people on welfare -- but not personally," she
said.
     "I was shocked.  The only thing that changed was I had a little less
money, but the way people treated me changed.  They assumed I was lying to
them," said Parker-Underwood.
     "I desperately want to get on my own two feet, but the system seems
to work against me," said Parker-Underwood.  Living in a shelter was such a
stigma that no one would hire her, she said.  Any hint of finding work
meant that she would lose all assistance.  She said she wanted to finish
her college education but could not afford it.
     Through a series of speakers and small-group discussions the
consultation organizers compiled the rough draft of "a faith-based response
to welfare reform."  Proceedings from the consultation will be edited by
Dr. Rebecca Judge, associate professor of economics, St. Olaf College,
Northfield, Minn., and distributed to the participants before the end of
the year.
     Noting the ELCA's "plan to listen and act," the Rev. Daniel B. Hahn,
ELCA director for Lutheran Statewide Advocacy, Albany, N.Y., said New York
held hearings on dairy reform to hear from the state's dairy farmers.
"Before welfare reform, did we consult those in poverty?" he asked.
     Millions of people no longer receive temporary assistance because of
welfare reform, said Kay A. Bengston, assistant director for public policy
advocacy, Lutheran Office for Governmental Affairs (LOGA), Washington, D.C.
They were not dropped because they found work but because states put
greater limits on those who could benefit.
     "Thousands are falling through the 'safety net,' and no one knows
where they've landed or if they've survived," said Judge.  The goal of
welfare reform should be the self-sufficiency of welfare participants, she
said, but that would require comparable reform in labor practices.
     Welfare reform would be more successful if it provided more
incentives to become self-sufficient and fewer punishments, said Judge.  "I
can and do recognize the earthly power of the marketplace," she said.
"People do respond to incentives."
     "You want to become self-sufficient, but the system will just not
allow it," said Pamela Hickman, office manager for the Seminary Consortium
for Urban Pastoral Education, Chicago.  A mother can't find a job without
child care for her children, and she can't afford child care without a job.
She can't find a job without a car, but her benefits are cut if she has a
car, she said.
     "The goal of welfare reform is not to enhance the family situation,"
said Hickman, a former welfare recipient.  "It's purpose is to strip away
your dignity."
     Hickman said the system intimidates many people who could benefit
from it, and the church could stand by them in getting the information to
which they're entitled.
     "We've been responding to the need in the community before welfare
reform," said Nya Berry, executive director, Lutheran Family Mission (LFM),
Chicago.  "It's important that we continue to respond."
     LFM has been helping women start child-care businesses in their
homes, providing employment for some and safe places for others to keep
their children while they find work, said Berry.
     "We've got to let people know that welfare reform is not a good
solution to poverty," said the Rev. Samuel Mann, St. Mark's Union
Congregation Church, Kansas City, Mo.  "Rich folks, white folks, call your
own culture into question."
     "Jesus bore the pain of the world," said Mann, challenging churches
to get involved.  "It wasn't a program.  It was a relationship," he said.
"The church ought to bear the pain."
     Dabney added that four synods of the ELCA will be involved in a pilot
program to either develop new projects or enhance existing projects that
help women develop their leadership skills: Metropolitan Chicago Synod,
Metropolitan New York Synod, Southeastern Synod and Texas-Louisiana Gulf
Coast Synod.  (The Southeastern Synod covers Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi
and Tennessee.)  One component of the program will be to strengthen the
synod's partnership with its synodical women's organization in assisting
women and children living in poverty.

For information contact:
Ann Hafften, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html