Welfare Reform-Calling All Lawyers

[kelley]

At 10:51 PM 11/29/00 +0000, cleanbyrd 1 wrote:
>I recently quit my job as a prep cook.  I have been going to school full 
>time, and working full-time.  I was compelled to do both because, at least 
>in Indiana, the Division of Family and Children does not recognise 
>full-time school as a legitimate pursuit of self-sufficiency.  My family 
>of five still needed help so I had to work full-time to get the food 
>stamps.  I made eight dollars and hour and still qualified for some food 
>stamps, but not cash working a 32-35 hour week.  My resturant job required 
>me to work weekends, so my fourteen year old babysat for the 7, 5, and 3 
>year old.  It's nobody's business why I have four children and no husband, 
>but I will tell you I get no child support.  Okay, so I quit the job recently.
>
>Now, I will receive a $405 dollar check for December, but I will be forced 
>to either, enter the DFC job training program which is conflicts with my 
>university classes, or put in 12 job applications each week, and document 
>with signatures each job interview.  I have been told flat out that the 
>goal of the DFC is for me to gain full-time employment, and that they will 
>do nothing to support my attending college.
>
>My point is, I am trapped in the one of lowest economic tiers of American 
>society.  I see my only way for social mobility is higher education.  I am 
>a junior now, and if I could get some support for my family for just two 
>more years until I get some credentials, I might be able to move up a 
>notch.  (By the way I have only used two months of my welfare reform time 
>clock, so I have 1 year 10 months left if they would only give the aid to me)
>
>It seems to me that the government wants  to keep a certain segment of the 
>population impoverished, educationally and economically.  I understand why.
>Someone has to cook the food for these busy .com ers.  Someone has to 
>clean the toilets.
>
>Now maybe I don't deserve to advance.  I have wasted other opportunities 
>in the past for various reasons.
>
>I am told over an over again that if I work hard and pull the old 
>bootstraps I will succeed.  I'm writing a poem about those of us without 
>boots, or those of us with rotten bootstraps
>
>Jennifer Young

sweetie, i have been there and still am there in many respects.  it is 
actually people like you who get me through the worst days, because i look 
at my life and think how lucky i am.  when my then husband made me so 
miserable about grad school that i'd get up at 2 am to work so he wouldn't 
be bugged, i thought about the woman i knew who had a husband who beat 
her.  she had to hide her educational pursuits from him entirely.  i have 
only one kid, she had three.

so, let me just say, "thanks" to you.  thanks for plugging away.  thanks 
for trying and thanks for being a kindred spirit, even though you may not 
know you are and even though you may feel all alone in this 
struggle.  there are many people out there doing it.  i meet them on 
occasion and you will too.  and i know it's lonely in college.  i didn't 
figure it out til grad school because i had the good fortune to go to a non 
trad school like the british open university.  but i remember how painful 
it was--and i was lucky to have faculty who supported me and believed in me 
and recognized good work, enough to put themselves on the line for me.

i vowed a long time ago, when i had no home and slept in my car and 
struggled working three jobs to save enough for college that, were i ever 
in the position to do so, i'd help someone else out if i could.  i realize 
that it isn't an answer to structured social inequality or racism or 
exploitation, but... in the meantime.  so, someday i'll have a house with a 
spare room or apt near a university that i let out to some kid working his 
or way through it all like we had to.  or i'll provide a scholarship.  or 
something.

right now, i can't do a whole lot, but i can tell you that i placed an ad 
here for an  assistant.  please apply for it.  no guarantees, but do 
apply.   it's flexible, pays more than you're making now, and is something 
you can do at home in your spare time, at your convenience.

let me know.

if you're not interested in that, at the least i can sign the friggin 
paperwork for the interview.  :)

kelley

kelley