The Voices Project

Update...

I have not blogged in a very long time and before I write any further I want to appologize to everybody because even though being in a shelter can be very stressful this part deffinately helped......

Ok enough with the babbling because I have great news "I GOT HOUSING"!!!!!!! Finally. I sign my lease on Friday the 31st and get my keys, then as of Sunday September 2nd I will be in my own appartment.

The reason I stopped blogging is because I started loosing faith in everything. Seriously. Everything just seemed so negative. I felt like the more applications I was filling out I was getting absolutely nowhere. 1 year and 2 months to long (thats how long I have been in the shelter). I want to thank each and every person from CWU, for a number of things #1 being for putting up with me, lol. Especially for guiding me and my daughter, and  helping us when we needed it. I don't know how far this blog has come and if any other residents participate, but if they do and you the reader happen to be a resident, stay strong and especially stay focused. I can't stress that enough. If I was asked what my advice would be that would be it, because your stay there can be as long or as short as "YOU" want it to be. It all depends on you. I'm going to miss alot of the residents to, people tend to grow on you and alot of them deffinately have a place in my heart, They know who they are. God bless and good luck to each and every one of you.

Hopefully this will not be the last time you see my face though because I plan on trying to help out any way I can and deffinately get back involved with the advocacy part. So anyway, once again thank you to everybody.

~Jill G.~

More help for families facing the new school year?

It's back-to-school time for Massachusetts families, and it was announced that low-income families receiving Transitional Aid to Families with Dependent Children (TAFDC) benefits can receive a little additional help with this to purchase school clothing for their children to the tune of $150 per school-aged child under 19 years.

This sounds generous, but how much clothing and shoes does $150 really buy today? Even shopping at discount clothing stores during a good sale—and I mean a good sale—$150 buys, maybe, 15 items. Mind you, that's 15 items of clothing for the entire school year. The thought is nearly preposterous, let alone families needing to purchase school supplies. In high school alone, I don’t recall the cost of my supplies each year being less than $120 for notebooks, requisite calculators, equipment, and supplies—all required by my school. These purchases each year were certainly cause for financial struggle for my family with two working parents.

Is this clothing benefit helpful? Absolutely. It is a little extra money for school supplies families may not have had otherwise. However, I can’t help but think that families, living in unsubsidized housing in, say, the Boston area, will not find this benefit nearly as generous as the State thinks.

For a single-parent family of 3, to qualify for cash benefits, their gross income must be less than $1171.05 a month. These families will receive no more than $633 of assistance. According to the latest FESS reports, rent alone costs about $1300 a month. These are troubling numbers, and  doesn't leave the family much to work with to keep themselves fed and utilities paid, let alone purchase needed clothing and school supplies.

What do you think the government and/or non-profit family support services do to help children and families meet their back-to-school needs?

Visit CWU's Self-Sufficiency Calculator to find out your family's cost of living in Massachusetts.

Stop the cycle of violence

The following appeared in the Boston Sunday Globe on August 5, 2007:

Crime consumed a family, and an 8-year-old is lost

"Liquarry A. Jefferson probably didn't have a chance. His father was in prison the day the boy was born, emerging long enough from his manslaughter sentence to commit a string of armed robberies. His four half siblings were born of three different fathers, all gang members, and, currently, all inmates."
[Click here to read the full story.]

This front-page article in the Boston Sunday Globe was both depressing and thought-provoking. It focused on the recent accidental shooting of an 8-year-old boy by his 7-year-old cousin. How much sadder can it get?

The quote below from the story kind of sums it all up:

"Crime in many neighborhoods runs in families, where elders bequeath gang membership, drug abuse, joblessness, and brutality to their offspring like a toxic inheritance." 

What can be done to interrupt this vicious cycle?  Is there any hope?