Making work supports work, supportively

This past weekend I had the pleasure of traveling with Lisa, one of my dearest friends, to my hometown of Urbana, Ohio (Google map it if you're not familiar). First on our agenda was a visit to my grandmother's house in Bellefontaine (pronounced bell-'Foun-ten), Ohio. Lisa studied environmental science during our Miami years, so I wanted her to meet my grandma, who I consider the essence of sustainability. Over the years, my grandmother and her husband have transformed their yard into a natural, organic garden. They grow pears, peaches, apples, berries of all kind including the rare royalberry (a mixture between a red and black raspberry), potatoes, yams, onions, herbs, watermelon, tomatoes, peppers, okra, greens, alfalfa--get the picture? They make their own compost, and they even raise their own bees, which yield the sweetest honey you've ever tasted.

But that's not the purpose of this post.

When we arrived on Friday, my grandparents were in the process of canning pears for the winter, so their kitchen table was covered in the green fruit. We sat down in their living room to chat. As expected, Lisa and my grandmother immediately hit it off. We talked about all sorts of things--my grandma's childhood chores on the farm, Lisa's summer VISTA position, organic gardening, eating for your bloodtype, and ultimately--welfare (her term, not mine). She and her husband told us stories of meeting people who lived on "welfare" (meaning work supports such as food stamps, cash assistance, etc.) and would buy non-necessities instead of taking care of their basic needs. For instance, they told us about a couple who, in the middle of winter, had splurged on a pair of new Ohio State University coats for themselves instead of buying new shoes for their 4-year-old daughter. And that's certainly a frustrating scenario to witness.

My grandmother is a very kind, generous person, who adheres strongly to Christian principles of love, mercy, and forgiveness. She values social justice and she certainly values the work I do as a VISTA. However, she, like many Americans, has a hard time reconciling how people in low-income families spend their money, especially when they are receiving assistance from the government. They believe people are abusing a system in need of reform, and that to solve this problem, government should make it harder to access benefits, as well as reduce the amount of assistance "handed out."

But I don't believe making it harder to access benefits is the solution. Take it from me--the system is already difficult enough to navigate. I do believe, though, that the system is in need of another reform.

Programs that many consider welfare are actually work supports. As their name suggests, you must work in order to access these benefits. But it would seem that the other half of the name is missing from these programs: support. Once a family secures benefits, there is no support in place to teach them how to most efficiently use this money. There are no supplementary classes on money management automatically offered to people receiving cash assistance; no classes on nutrition for families receiving food stamps; you get the idea. Why should we expect people to perfectly prioritize their spending just because they are receiving extra help from the government? If they didn't have parents, teachers, or neighbors to model good spending habits and money management, how are they to learn what it means to spend wisely? Besides, that kind of money-mismanagement happens across all income levels--but do you hear the same outcry for people making $50K with $50K in credit card debt? Think about it. People are people regardless of income--they want to fit in, they want to be accepted, and that usually involves spending. I'm not saying it's right. Certainly, when the desire to spend comes ahead of meeting basic needs, that's a problem. We can solve the problem by treating it at its source, not just treating the symptoms.

For work supports to really work, they need to actually support people. The government can not just throw money at people without teaching them how to use it effectively and expect them to magically know how to save. That doesn't mean we need to police all people receiving benefits, but we need to mindfully offer support in the way of education and guidance. That's the kind of "welfare reform" worth looking into.

As a person who has personally experienced how beneficial these benefits are for families with little expendible income, it's difficult to hear criticisms of these programs. Sure, I know that people can abuse the system--that can happen anywhere, no matter what safeguards you have in place. And yes, I've seen the family outfitted in designer jeans and handbags while they stand in line to access food stamps. But where do we draw the line? I bought a new vacuum cleaner after 3 months of borrowing a vacuum from family. Does that make me undeserving of receiving food stamps? Am I abusing the system? It may be easy to generalize about people receiving public benefits, but remember that people come from a variety of situations. Slow down before you apply labels and judgments to people--their lives might not be as transparent as you think.