The proposed budget cuts by the governor are very real and closely affect members of our community. Here are 2 stories of how the proposed changes would affect lifes. Both presented this to the legislators that met at MRCTC on Friday:
"Hi my name is Lindsey. I am a working single mother with 2 children.
When I had my son I could work only one full time job and barely made ends meet. With rent, utility, food and childcare I would run out of money at the middle of the month. A friend told me about MFIP for the food and childcare, and thanks to MFIP I have a little money for diapers, wipes, and clothes for my kids. I tried going back to college but there were no openings for childcare and my friends couldn’t provide reliable daycare with their changing schedules so I had to quit school. I grew up in foster care so I don’t have family that can help me out. I finally got daycare assistance and now I am going back to school this summer to get a degree in human services, so I can better my life for my kids and myself.
I acknowledge that there are people out there who are lazy and don’t want to work so they take MFIP assistance for granted. But there are a lot of people in my situation who abide by all the rules MFIP has. For example: we volunteer or job search 25 hours a week. The volunteering helps us get the experience we need to find a job either at our volunteer site or someplace else; it gives us the experience and work references we need for other employment opportunities. We turn in time cards, paystubs, or anything that our financial workers or employment counselors need. My employment counselor got me into an office works program to update my skills with computers so I can have something recent to put on my resume. I was fortunate to take that program because it landed me with the organization I am doing paid work experience for now.
I don’t plan on being on MFIP for long. I can’t take care of 2 children on $387 a month. I do need the food support and childcare though. I have been working since I was 15 yrs old. I enjoy working but these days you need a degree to get any decent paying job, I intend to find that job but I know I need to finish school and I wouldn’t be able to be going back to school and work if it wasn’t for MFIP and the support systems they help people with in my situation.
If the Governor cuts child care assistance, I won’t be able to go to school or to work. My MFIP check is $387 – it would be $437 but the State takes out $50 because I live in subsidized housing – if the Governor’s proposal passes to cut $100 because of my housing subsidy, I don’t know how I will pay for diapers – you cannot buy diapers with food stamps and I have to pay my rent, utilities, and phone bill, there’s nothing left for my children’s needs.
I don’t have a car. A volunteer driver with AEOA’s Rural Rides program brings me to work every day and brings my children to daycare. The Governor’s budget proposes cutting people off MFIP if they have a car worth $7,500 – He doesn’t understand that I need reliable transportation when I’m driving in cold weather with young children. Besides my monthly budget doesn’t have room to have a fixer-upper that I’m always bringing in for repairs. I don’t have money to buy a car, but it seems crazy to kick me off MFIP if somebody were to donate a car to my family to help us get ahead.
Thank you for listening. All I want for myself and my children is an opportunity to work and go to school and build a life for ourselves. I don’t need hand-outs but I could use a reliable hand-up. If given a chance, I will work hard to be a contributing member of society."
"Good afternoon, My name is Stef and I’m the single mother of two beautiful children. Thank you for being here to hear impacts on the Governor’s proposed budget. My family was directly affected by his 2003 budget cuts to childcare. I made $36.00 a week too much to receive any kind of childcare assistance, leaving me in a dire situation. 3/5 of my weekly paycheck went to pay for childcare. I was left with nothing to feed my kids after rent and utilities were paid.
I made a very difficult choice to leave my employer of 5 years to go back to school to make a better living for my family. Now here I am almost finished with school and living in public housing. I’m working, going to school, and I give back to the community with my time each month. I pay rent and utilities and already there is a 50.00 deduction from my monthly grant just for living in subsidized housing.
Just to give you an idea, this month’s grant is $400. After paying rent that drops to $310 and after utilities it leaves me $210 for the month. Even if I include my income from working I have $410 this month to purchase just the necessities such as toilet paper, laundry soap, garbage bags, diapers, car insurance, phone bill, clothes and shoes for kids and the gas to get to and from school, work, and lets not mention any car repairs that may happen. Now the Governor wants to increase the $50 housing penalty to $100 – that is, people on MFIP who live in subsidized housing will have to pay $100 per MONTH to fix the state’s budget problem. It’s hard to face the reality that another $50.00 could be taken away just because I live in subsidized housing. I would have to work another 7 ½ hours to make $50, which would raise the State’s portion of the daycare bill by $43 for the month. So, the $50 the Governor will take from me, will cost the State an additional $43. It would make more sense to just raise my taxes by $7 a month.
By not raising taxes the Governor’s budget segregates specific groups, like people on MFIP or people who need childcare, or people who need health care, or even just the working class. Raising the income tax would affect all of us equally. I’m happy to pay, but I don’t want a disproportionate part of the cost to fall on my family and on other families in the same or similar situations.
Thanks again for being here."
