A different perspective on the new work requirement in FoodShare
| Comments
Wednesday is the go-live date throughout the state for the full reimplementation of the work requirement for Able-Bodied Adults without Dependents (ABAWDs, or the government’s way of saying, "single adults without children who are not disabled") in the FoodShare program. If they aren’t exempt and they don’t meet the requirement of being engaged in at least 20 hours of work, workfare or job training/search, they will be limited to three months of FoodShare benefits every three years.
Who would be opposed to this? Work is great. It gives people purpose and we all know that a good paying job is undoubtedly the best tool in the fight against hunger.
And besides, with our state’s Midwestern work ethic, hard work is one of our fundamental values. In fact, it’s so core to us that a majority of the people in Wisconsin enrolled in FoodShare live in working families (53%). This is higher than the national average of 42%. This tracks with our study that showed that within the last year, 59% of people who visited our food programs report having at least one member in the family working for pay.
So the majority of the people who need food assistance are just like us, they work, work hard, but just are not paid enough or have enough hours to pay all the bills. As for the people who aren’t working, it has been suggested that they don’t want to work and that reinstating this requirement this is the solution to that problem.
While that might be true for some, let me tell you a story about my wife. She grew up on a farm in Central Wisconsin and she knows hard work. It is deeply encoded into her DNA from those 5 am mornings milking cows before school and the summers weeding in ginseng gardens baking underneath those black tarps soaking up the heat from the summer sun.
That work ethic helped her to lead her high school to the state championship in volleyball, become valedictorian, go on to college and then get a PhD (with no debt – more Wisconsin values). But then, all hell broke loose with her body. Her jaw locked up. Her back seized up. And she basically spent the better part of five years in pain, unable to talk, barely able to move and definitely unable to work.
We went through doctor after doctor and no one could help or diagnose her and thus, no disability and no help.
Thankfully, I had a job that could support us both through her physical therapy and recuperation. We have been extremely lucky.
However, had we not been married, she would have been one an ABAWD. And if the requirement had not been waived during that time, she would have only had a total of six months of food stamps during the last five years as one of the only public benefits available to her.
I am not saying that all 38,000 of the projected people that will be affected by the reimplementation of the work requirement are cases like my wife but I am willing to bet that there are more than a few. Life can be really hard, despite our best intentions. And that’s why we think it’s important to better understand the ABAWD population, their challenges and needs, and how best to ensure that they have the help they need to improve their lives.
My wife has made such miraculous progress over the last five years. She’s had some help from some great people but she’s mostly figured it out herself and worked with dogged determination to get better. She’s worked harder at this than most people work at their jobs. That’s that Midwestern work ethic for you.