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Note #7083 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

Presbyterians to push for welfare reform
7-March-2002
02092

Presbyterians to push for welfare reform

NCC churches say anti-poverty programs ought to be just that

by Evan Silverstein

LOUISVILLE - At least a dozen Presbyterians will join more than 80 other representatives of churches and ecumenical groups next week in pressuring Congress to strengthen the nation's welfare system.

The lobbying effort in Washington, DC, is part of a March 13-15 conference sponsored by the National Council of Churches (NCC): "TANF Action Days." TANF, which stands for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, has been the nation's cash-assistance program for low-income families since 1996, when Congress eliminated the old federal welfare program.

TANF and other "safety-net" programs for the poor - the Food Stamp Program and Development Block Grant and Child Care - are up for reauthorization. The church lobbyists will urge legislators to adjust the TANF program to better help low-income families become self-sufficient.

"The church is being called on more and more to help meet the needs of those who are being left behind by welfare reform," said the Rev. Gary Cook, coordinator of the Presbyterian Hunger Program. "This is one opportunity for people of faith to help shape the rules for the future."
The purpose of the NCC conference is not to call for new programs, but to rally around existing projects, share information, and call for action on issues affecting the poor, including housing, health care and public education. 

Cook said TANF has managed to move people off welfare rolls and into the workforce, but has been less successful in alleviating poverty. He said many church people think the goal of the U.S. welfare policy should be "an end to poverty as we know it." 

"The most important first step is to make work pay," he said. "It's good to help people move from welfare to work, but we need to make sure that they are moving into jobs that will actually support their families. That may mean a (greater) commitment to  job training, child care and medical coverage."

In addition to fanning across Capitol Hill to talk with legislators, participants in next week's event will gather at a local church to worship, develop action strategies and hear from anti-hunger groups such as Bread for the World.

So far, 10 to 12 members and representatives of the Presbyterian Church (USA), some of them "Hunger Action Enablers" from the Presbyterian Hunger Program, have registered for TANF Action Days, according to Mary Cooper, a former NCC staff member who is a conference planner. 

More than 80 people representing mainline denominations and other groups intend to take part, including members of the United Methodist Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Representatives of state and local councils of churches and interfaith organizations are also expected to attend.

 The conference is part of this year's "Poverty March," which in turn is part of the NCC's decade-long "Mobilization to Overcome Poverty," launched in November 2000.

"The TANF work is the first major public-policy focus within the mobilization, but there will be others," Cooper said. "It depends a lot on what Congress decides they're going to take up. But housing is clearly a major issue. Health care is a major issue. These are all poverty-related things that Congress is likely to deal with during the decade of the mobilization."

Last November, the NCC General Assembly passed a resolution saying that the purpose of federal programs for low-income people "should be the reduction and elimination of poverty, not the reduction of caseloads." It added: "No family should be worse off as a result of moving from welfare to work."

For more information, visit the NCC Internet site at www.ncccusa.org.
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