I am here to announce the state’s new policy on food — YOU: Will Work For Food.
We see this sign on roadsides. We avert our eyes or we dig for some change to give to that guy who is begging. We are uncomfortable and we should be really, really uncomfortable. What kind of town do we live in that grown men are turned into beggars? What kind of state do we live in that intentionally creates beggars? It’s the Dairy State, Wisconsin, whose motto is “forward.”
I have always been amazed that in America’s heartland, in a state widely recognized for its food production, that some people have all the food they want while one in four children in the city goes hungry. Many of us have grown complacent. We believe the talk radio folk and petty bureaucrats who want us to blame the poor for their plight. We blame people for what they don’t have while we cheat them from access to decent housing, food and jobs.
Starting April 1, able bodied adults ages 18-49 will be required to work for their FoodShare. If you don’t have a decent excuse for not working, like having a child, or being disabled you will be required to work 80 hours a month to keep your FoodShare buying power. If you don’t work and report that you were working your FoodShare will be cut off after 90 days for three years. Yes, I said three years.
What is FoodShare? It is a federal program that provides food buying power to poor people. You can use FoodShare for food only and contrary to what the talk radio and petty bureaucrats say you can’t use it for cigarettes, alcohol, at casinos or for trips to Hawaii. You can use it to buy food. Here in Wisconsin 836,118 people used FoodShare to buy food in 2014.
Wisconsin expects that 66,701 citizens will be cut off of FoodShare after they are enrolled in the work program. FoodShare benefits are 100 percent federal funds. So the goofiest part of this whole thing is we are spending $57.5 million in state tax dollars in order to lose $88 million in federal tax dollars. Fiscal conservatives should agree, the math on this just doesn’t add up.
FoodShare has required work for able bodied people since welfare reform in the late 1990s. The nation’s stale economy spurred 45 states, including Wisconsin, to request a “waiver” of work requirements when unemployment was high and jobs were scarce. In 2013, Gov. Scott Walker withdrew the waiver and budgeted $57.5 million in state tax dollars to establish the mandated FSET work program.
Wisconsin has hired a for-profit company called ResCare here in Milwaukee. ResCare does not appear to have any ties to our community or to local employers. ResCare will receive bonuses as part of their contract. This company will recommend who gets to eat and who goes without food for three years based upon people’s ability to prove that they worked 80 hours each month.
Hunger Task Force calls this new policy “YOU: Will Work For Food.” And today we are notifying people on FoodShare what the state has not — FoodShare is officially time limited. People will get 90 days of food buying help and after that if they aren’t working and proving it they will not get food buying help from government for three years.
Look around you. Is charity really supposed to shoulder the duty of feeding everyone? Can food pantries and soup kitchens operated by churches and volunteers be relied upon as the sole source of food for people cut off for 3 years? When do we reach the tipping point? About a year from now, if state estimates for disenrollment are correct the Hunger Task Force and its network of charities will begin to fail in the spring of 2016. “YOU: Will Work For Food” will take on a new meaning across Wisconsin when greater and greater numbers of desperate people will become the beggars whose eyes we seek to avoid.
Sadly, and perhaps most important today is that the state hasn’t bothered to notify people of its plan. There hasn’t been any effort to inform people, tell them of their new work responsibilities or their rights. It like kicking someone when they are down.
This is not the Wisconsin I know so I wanted to notify everyone in harm’s way that the state is serious. If you don’t work, they will close your case and relegate you to this sign, making you a beggar. If you can’t work, find a way to prove it and be sure it’s in writing. If you care, know that charities can’t shoulder this burden over the long haul and think about what you say and do about hunger in the Dairy State. Don’t tolerate the maltreatment of the poor. Spend some time wondering what it might be like if you didn’t have enough food or if someone you knew was forced to beg for help.
Tell everyone you know that Wisconsin’s new policy on food is “YOU: will work for food.”
Here is a copy of our Policy Paper. It outlines the new requirements, time limits and exemptions. It concludes with 4 key findings:
- Mandating work does not create jobs.
The problem confronting Wisconsin is a lack of jobs, especially jobs that lift people out of poverty. Currently 39 percent of adult FoodShare participants work but are still eligible for FoodShare because their wages are so low. - Mandating work does not result in employment.
The FoodShare training program will mandate participation in job-seeking skills training, educational programs and volunteerism, none of which will pay. - Food Stamp Employment and Training has had poor outcomes in Wisconsin.
Of the 6,021 individuals that participated in the training program in 2011, 179, or 2.97 percent entered employment. - Welfare reform in Wisconsin increases hunger.
When FoodShare training program participants have their case closed the burden for helping them will be shifted to charity. Hunger will become more pronounced in our communities and will harm the quality of life for everyone.
These work requirements are real. Adults ages 18-49 without children or a verified reason not to work will be required to work or suffer loss of food for three years. Hunger Task Force has a lot of information and is willing to help educate your workforce. Our goal is to keep Milwaukee healthy.
Sherrie Tussler is executive director of the Hunger Task Force in Milwaukee.
