wfn.org | Faith Gps Say Welfare Policy Should Not Hinder Workers

["Carol Fouke" <carolf@ncccusa.org>]

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA
Contact: NCC News, 212-870-2252/2227
E-mail: news@ncccusa.org; Web: www.ncccusa.org
NCC3/18/02 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WELFARE POLICY SHOULD HELP, NOT HINDER
NEW WORKERS, FAITH BODIES SAY

March 15, 2002, WASHINGTON, D.C. - One hundred church people from 26 states
spent March 13-15 in the nations capital to press for changes in welfare
policy to help ensure that everyone who can work moves successfully from
welfare to work.

Conference participants affirmed the benefit to the entire community of
helping people move from welfare to work when possible and appropriate.
But they expressed concern that inadequate support is leaving new workers
poorer than when they were receiving public assistance.

Their meeting, under the auspices of the National Council of Churches (NCC),
was a mix of Bible study, policy analysis, strategy development and
appointments with members of Congress to share their concerns as 1996
welfare reforms come up for review and reauthorization.

We as the faith community have something special to say, asserted Kay
Bengston of the Lutheran Office for Governmental Affairs, Washington, D.C.,
a conference speaker.  While statistics are important, we can approach the
issues from values and not just statistics.

When you talk with your members of Congress, she said, dont be afraid to
tell them you are here because of your faith, and that faith causes you to
care about poor people.

Under 1996 welfare reforms, many have lost supportive services that are
essential to maintaining their households, agreed conference participants -
who included faith-based social service providers, public policy advocates,
denominational staff with domestic poverty portfolios and representatives of
state and local ecumenical agencies and community ministries.  Several
current and former recipients of public assistance also brought their
personal testimonies.

Many new workers have jobs that do not provide a family-sustaining wage
and/or health insurance, but have lost cash, housing, child care, food
assistance or other benefits that sustained them while on welfare.  Access
to drug, alcohol, mental health and domestic violence services; education
and training for employment; help with job placement and retention, and
transportation can make or break a new workers success, conferees noted.

Now the 1996 welfare policy - the official name is Temporary Assistance for
Needy Families (TANF) - is up for review and reauthorization, providing an
opportunity to ensure that no new worker receives less in combined income
and benefits as a result of working than they received while they were on
welfare, conference participants affirmed.

Released during the conference was a Call to Poverty Reduction in the
Context of Reauthorization of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families,
endorsed by 25 Christian, Jewish and other organizations and asserting that
the call to end poverty is central to our religious traditions, sacred
texts and teachings.

The call urges Congress to provide more funds for TANF to ensure its
ability to act as both a work support program and a safety net for those for
whom work is not an option and offers 10 principles for strengthening U.S.
welfare policy, including providing training and education necessary for
unskilled workers to get and hold jobs.

Policy should help, not hinder peoples efforts to better themselves,
conference participants agreed.  For example, participation in
post-secondary education should count as work, they said.

The interfaith Call to Poverty Reduction and the NCC General Assemblys
November 2001 Resolution on the Reauthorization of TANF and Related
Programs articulate the need for more case-by-case flexibility in
application of welfare policy.  They recommend that the current system of
time limits on participation in TANF (two years running, with a five-year
lifetime limit) be replaced by a more flexible approach in which there is an
individualized plan for each participant.

The Rev. Dr. Peter W. Peters, of St. Lukes Episcopal Church in Fairport,
N.Y., told the story of a 42-year-old woman with an 11-year-old son in his
area.  She has been receiving public assistance for four years.  She is two
months away from earning an associates degree in food administration, which
will boost her earning power from her current $5.25 an hour to $8 to $10 an
hour.

This woman is almost ready to be self-sufficient, Dr. Peters said.  But
the Department of Social Services has notified her that unless she quits
school and gets a 40-hour-a-week job, she will lose her assistance.  Shes
appealing the departments edict, he said, but she shouldnt be put up
against a wall like that.

Ruth P. Rideout of Faith Matters in Greensboro, N.C., a United Methodist,
told of a 30-year-old client who is piecing her life together with Medicaid,
Food Stamps and a 15- to 19-hour a week job in a fast food restaurant.  Her
Section 8 subsidized housing voucher covers just over half of her rent,
and her earnings are inadequate to cover the balance, Rideout said.  She
has a voucher for a six-month certified nursing course, and we are trying to
get her a break on housing for six months so she can take the course and get
a better paying job.

The conference participants heard from U.S. Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) and
staff about efforts to strengthen anti-poverty work through legislative
advocacy, and were introduced to ecumenical curricula (Hunger No More and
Micah 6) useful in undergirding churches social justice and advocacy
ministries.

The conference was part of the National Council of Churches 10-year
mobilization against poverty.  Particular emphasis this month embraces this
conference and a special March: On Poverty 2002 section of the NCCs Web
site (www.ncccusa.org/poverty/).  The NCC Web site also includes resources
on the reauthorization of TANF and related programs, at
www.ncccusa.org/publicwitness/tanf.html

-end-