The Voices Project

The Voices Project- Enhanced Version

Thank You for visiting our site! We've recently moved to a new URL: www.voicesprojectblog.org. We appreciate your interest and would love for you to visit our new and improved blog. We've added some exciting features to enhance our functionality and discussions; look for our forums, shout outs and polls. New features are continuously being added to improve conversations and usability.

If you have any questions or concerns, please, email kblocker@liveworkthrive.org. We look forward to your feedback and the prospect of a better online experience. Check out the new site now!

Thanks,

Jessica Bavuso
Marketing & Communications Intern
Crittenton Women's Union

Wheels for Welfare

The Patrick administration is making an effort to get families off of welfare and moving, literally, by providing free automobiles. Wheels for Welfare is a program started in 2006, aimed at giving low-income families assistance with transportation.

Eligible families are those residing in areas not close enough to utilize public transportation and who already have or can prove they will be able to attain a job after receiving an automobile; participants are required to submit pay stubs to verify employment. The assistance provided not only includes a free car, but also AAA service, registration, inspection and a paid equity tax. If employment is lost, services end but the car does not need to be returned.

 

The question is whether or not the program can reach its goal. The ultimate purpose is to get low-income parents into jobs that pay family-sufficient wages. The premise is that families living in suburban areas are less likely to qualify for jobs without having reliable transportation.

 

The big debate, however, is that with our current economy it isn't right to be using tax payers dollars to give cars away. Julia Kehoe, commissioner of the Department of Transitional Assistance, concluded that approximately twenty percent of the program participants are ending up back on welfare; in opposition to the expected and much anticipated results.

 

Is the Wheels for Welfare program a good investment for the Commonwealth?

 

Is this program going to inevitably benefit society overall or only certain groups?

 

Jessica Bavuso
Marketing & Communications Intern
Crittenton Women's Union

CWU's Recent Report Release-The "Cliff Effect" Experience: Voices of Women on the Path to Economic Independence

“They designed {the government support system} in a way that you don’t quite get over the hump. You get halfway up the hill and it’s like driving a standard, you let go of the clutch and now you’re rolling backwards.”  

-Joanna, a 30-year-old mother of two who lost Food Stamps and MassHealth when she began receiving child support.

 

Last year we released "Fits & Starts: The Difficult Path for Working Single Parents," which we published in partnership with The Center for Social Policy at UMass Boston. "Fits & Starts" highlights the tough choices Massachusetts low-wage working parents must make between taking higher paying jobs and losing critical work supports before they can afford to meet their basic living expenses. We invite you to download a copy of "Fits & Starts: The Difficult Path for Working Single Parents."

 

We just completed a follow-up study titled, “The “Cliff Effect” Experience: Voices of Women on the Path to Economic Independence.” This qualitative research provides real life examples of the dilemmas women face as they attempt to move forward in their careers and provide for their families, but are challenged by public benefit programs that cut off subsidies before they are able to afford to be fully self-sustaining.

 

To make the path to economic self-sufficiency smoother for families, our key recommendations include:

• Expanding child care and housing supports for low-income parents.

• Restructuring work support programs and eligibility rules to make benefits indexed to cost of living and benefit loss more graduated.

• Providing financial aid and expanded supports to low-income working parents to enable them to pursue the education and training necessary to get jobs paying family-sustaining wages.

We hope you will read both of our policy briefs and invite you to learn more about all the research, advocacy and direct service programs at Crittenton Women’s Union.

 

We invite your comments, feedback and questions on these initiatives. Please contact Deborah C. Youngblood, Vice President of Research and Innovation, dyoungblood@liveworkthrive.org

 

Mary A. Prenovost

Research Associate

Crittenton Women's Union

MA Healthcare Reform; a benefit or a detriment?

Massachusetts launched a new healthcare plan in 2007 in efforts to ensure that all residents have access to quality healthcare. The Massachusetts Reform Plan was designed to guarantee affordable, quality and immediate treatment for patients regardless of inability to pay. The reform also entertained goals of cutting back emergency room visits and extreme heath conditions by utilizing doctor's offices and primary care physicians. 

In order to facilitate the change, with ease, many healthcare providers have changed policies and regulations allowing dependents to be claimed for longer periods of time than in the past. Those who cannot afford expensive policies are able to apply for Mass Health, a state funded program. Residents who do not have healthcare are at risk of hefty fines.

Its two years later and people want to know if it's made a difference. Have positive changes developed within the Commonwealth that can be credited to the reform? How is the economic downturn affecting healthcare and residents?
 
With increased homelessness and stress I think that it is appropriate to conclude that emergency rooms should expect an increase in visits. But, what about out-patient visits that could be easily remedied by a doctor's visit? With numerous factors it may be hard to analyze correlations, but these correlations are important in understanding the effectiveness of our healthcare plan.   
 
Do you think the reform has been a positive addition to Massachusetts? Will the current economy highlight the pros, cons or both of the program?  

Jessica Bavuso
Marketing and Communications Intern
Crittenton Women's Union

Shelter Regulation Changes Spark Fear and Fury

Gov. Patrick's proposed family shelter regulation changes sparked fear and fury as well as requests for immediate revisions. Stricter regulations at a time of increased need are sending people into panic. The proposed regulations would make the prospect of emergency shelter impossible for many, including the removal of some families already in shelter. Fortunately, revisions were made quickly to alleviate some of the frustration.
 
The proposal attempted to shorten the grace period after families exceed income requirements from six months to three and change the maximum age to be considered a child. The grace period change was withdrawn with the ideology that six months would provide families with a better foundation and savings fund for when they move into permanent housing.
 
Past regulations considered any individual 21 years or younger as eligible to reside in a family shelter as a child. The new regulations proposed changing the maximum age to 17, unless they met disability or educational guidelines. This proposal was rejected because of the probability of a continuation of homeless generations.
 
The ultimate goals of the proposed changes were to encourage families to find options other than entering the system and to close the deficit in the department of transitional assistance emergency shelter budget. However, many feared that the strict regulations would destroy any chances families have of escaping poverty. The revisions include regulations changes as well as language usage changes. The changes in language allow for more specific and clarified restrictions. It is hoped that the new changes will allow for continued support and protection of homeless families.   
 
For more information, check out the MA Department of Transitional Assistance website.

Jessica Bavuso
Marketing/ Communications Intern
Crittenton Women's Union

Waiting on Boston Housing

Waiting on Boston Housing is frustrating. Not only is the waiting list long but the amount of time they tell you it’ll be before you actually get an apartment is either inaccurate or a ridiculous time frame. 

I was informed that my expected wait time was 6 to 12 months on one development and up to five years on another. Over a year later, they are telling me my wait time is still 6 to 12 months on one development and five years on the other. Shouldn’t my wait time have changed? Would they tell me five more years if I called five years from now?  

 

It’s great that Boston Housing provides housing for those who are struggling. However, I feel as though Boston Housing doesn’t have the slightest idea of how long it’ll be before applicants on their waiting list will be housed. They give out inaccurate wait times and outrageous time frames, like up to five years.

 

What Boston Housing needs to do is get more housing, get applicants housed faster, and come up with a system where they can accurately calculate how long the wait will be for applicants. In the meantime, they should at least have the decency to tell applicants they don’t know how long it’ll be, instead of giving out inaccurate times. Then applicants will be able to plan around it, take another route, or explore other options if possible.

 

kj

Woman to Woman Participant

Crittenton Women's Union

Affordable housing for single mothers or families!!

I like to start off by saying that I am a single mother of four children and I been living in a shelter in Jamaica Plain, MA. I have been living there for a year now because I am not able to find affordable housing. The issue I am trying to address is I want someone to help with funding for more affordable housing programs so everyone can live comfortably. It is not fair to anyone who has to live like this because people become homeless for many different reasons.

I am now 35 years of age and this is not the life I wanted for myself. I am still a single mother and I never had a stable home. I want to become successful. I attended the career training program run by Crittenton Women’s Union to better myself and teach my children the right way to start their life. When I visited the state house, I was told to speak out and tell my story. So I said if I can write this story maybe it will get a point across and people can help me pursue all my concerns.

 

My mother gave birth to me when she was a teenager. I grew up taking care of myself. My issues now affect my kids because I have 3 children in the shelter with me and it’s very hard. We live in a 16 family house and each family has to share one room with their children. It is very overcrowded since my sons are 16yrs and 13yrs and my daughter is 6 yrs old. There is no living space and no family support. All this becomes a tough issue because the waitlist is too long for affordable housing. I want to find a better paying job to support my family and head for higher education. But, I am having trouble doing this without finding a home for my family first.

 

This is a real life issue that many people are experiencing. We need more affordable housing and funding for programs like the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program (MRVP) that help families leave shelter and make their dreams come true!!!

 

Kimber7377

Woman to Woman Participant

Crittenton Women's Union

Boston Takes a New Approach in the Fight Against Homelessness

Shocking statistics show that over 15,000 children are homeless in Massachusetts. Mayor Menino has announced a plan, Leading the Way III Housing strategy that will dramatically reduce the number of homeless families in Boston. The plan is expected to cut Boston's homeless population in half by 2012.

Menino's plan incorporates adding new affordable homes, saving homes from foreclosures and continuously buying foreclosed homes. The multi-dimensional plan is striving to get families into permanent housing instead of using unreliable, temporary shelters and housing services.

There are many questions as to how and if this project will succeed. Officials report that some of the project will be funded by the federal stimulus package, but an exact amount has not yet been given. Many Mass residents worry that they will be responsible for paying the bills for the post-homeless families in permanent housing.

 

Leading the way III is the third in a series of housing projects since 2000. Can the administration truly reduce homelessness is Mass by 50% in three years? What will happen to the families after being placed in homes? Do you see any major flaws in this plan?

 

Check out more information on the campaign:

 

Homeless Children of America  

 

Spurred into Action by Homeless Children

 

http://www.cityofboston.gov/news/default.aspx?id=4124   

                                                   

 

Jessica Bavuso

Marketing/Communications Intern

Crittenton Women's Union

Food Stamps Crisis

Boston.com reports that currently 600,000 Massachusetts residents are receiving food stamps. This rise in number comes after approximately 100,000 people enrolled in 2008. The number of families receiving food stamps will continue to increase as the department continues to receive about 20,000 new applications each month.

 The increase of families in need of food stamps is paired with the reduction of Transitional Assistance staff and is resulting in longer waits for application processing. Applications are now taking as long as 30 days  to be processed, compared to about a 2 week time span in the past.

 Patience is undoubtedly a virtue, but how can people survive without proper nutrition? What can be done to aid this process or the people involved? 

Click here for the published article in Boston.com

Jessica Bavuso
Marketing/Communications Intern
Crittenton Women's Union

An Act to help close the gap

On June 9, 2008 at Mind the Gap!: The Women, Wages and Work Policy Conference by the Center for Women in Politics & Public Policy (UMass Boston), I had the privilege of hearing, first-hand, the story of Lilly Ledbetter. Her story and subsequent Supreme Court case bought national attention to the issue of gender-based wage discrimination. I thought it amazing that this woman who, less than two weeks before the conference, had the Supreme Court rule that her claim of wage discrimination based on gender was past the statute of limitations for filing such lawsuits. Yet, there she was at the podium—eloquent and serene—continuing her advocacy efforts against wage discrimination.

Ms. Ledbetter’s plight, thankfully, did not fall on deaf ears.

On January 29, 2009, President Obama signed his first bill: the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. This act will

“… provide legislative redress for a 2007 Supreme Court decision that made it extremely difficult for victims of pay discrimination to fight for their rights. The Supreme Court ruled, 5 to 4, that victims must file a suit against their employer within six months of the initial decision to discriminate - an unrealistic standard, given that many workers cannot know within that short timeframe that they are being treated unfairly. The Ledbetter Act would clarify the 1964 Civil Rights Act to state that employees have six months after their last discriminatory paycheck - that is, the last time they were paid unfairly based on a discriminatory decision - to file a suit.” (Source: Women Work! Legislative Bulletin)

Though the fight against wage discrimination is far from over, this is a great leap in the right direction.

 

Kirsten Blocker
Marketing & Communications Coordinator
Crittenton Women's Union

Nonprofit Collaboration Prize

Crittenton Women's Union has been named one of eight finalists as an outstanding model of not for profit work. The finalists were chosen from over 644 U.S. based non-profit organizations all of whom share a desire to impact and inspire others.

The prize winner will be awarded $250,000 to permit further growth and progress.

The winner will be announced on March 5th.

To find out more information about the prize click here.

Jessica Bavuso
Marketing and Communication Intern
Crittenton Women's Union