Today’s Community Chronicles…
It has taken me 24 hours to get my mind together after attending the “Dismantling the Benefits Cliff” session where I participated in a simulation involving real financial situations families (mine included) in our community faced/face (insert a comma where you see fit).
A few things discussed that alerted me:
•It’s very expensive to be poor
•We trap people in poverty
•We need to figure out how to offer benefit slopes vs. cliffs
•There were a lot of LWS alums in the room (hopefully that means the conversation and action will continue)
•The budget examples didn’t include student loans and many of you know, the ‘guhment’ is going to get their coinage before the church (for those of you still tithing)
•Graphics showed how people eventually come out of the cliff but: 1. No one ever shares that with people experiencing the cliff 2. How quickly will they get the increase in pay they need to get them out?
It took yesterday to help me understand why I have always kept multiple jobs. Prior to yesterday, I didn’t understand it as a “benefit cliff” but did recognize that a “raise” was rarely seen in my bank account. Also that I didn’t miss losing Medicaid and Food Stamps (except when I shopped at Whole Foods) as much because I was already conditioned to work multiple jobs.
It’s a heavy load, and while I already knew this to be true, having a person at my table who is actually living through a benefit cliff further proved, people who use public assistance ARE NOT LAZY; it is sometimes cheaper to not work as much in order to not lose childcare assistance, food stamps or medicaid.
More about this at another time of how the question arose about receiving assistance from churches and my experience of needing a sliding scale for childcare but was judged because “I didn’t look needy.”