The Generational Wealth Gap

If you graduated from college in the last few years, then you know how tough the job market is. Young adults have been among the hardest hit by the Great Recession. This generation, commonly referred to as “millenials,” have faced one of the worst job markets since the Great Depression. Many struggling graduates have been forced to take part- time jobs or jobs with uncertain futures. As a result, their ability to build wealth has diminished.

In recent years, there has also been a large increase in "boomerang kids" or young adults who live at home. Many are forced to live at home out of financial necessity. According to Pew Research Center as many as 3 in 10 young adults now live at home. In 1980, only 11% of young adults lived at home. Now, nearly 30% of 24 to 34 year old adults live at home.

All of these factors have contributed to the generational wealth gap: older Americans continue to gain wealth while the net worth of younger Americans is decreasing, which David Francis writes about in his article, “The Far- Reaching Effects of the Generational Wealth Gap.”

The Pew Social and Demographic Trends Report found that the average net worth of people under age 35 decreased from $11,521 in 1984 to $3,362 in 2009, a 68% drop. Compare that to an increase of 42% in average net worth among people 65 and older during the same time.

Paul Taylor, executive vice president of the Pew Research Center, says that the inability of young people to build wealth has resulted in a nationwide case of arrested development. Young adults who cannot find work are returning home and opting not to get married. “These are patterns that are decades in the making and they were accelerated by the bad economy,” Taylor says.

You may have heard the term “funemployment” used to described this time in young adults’ lives. Funemployment is defined as “a happy time in one’s life when one is not employed and not wanting to be employed.” However, this is not an accurate portrayal of the current economic climate. Most young adults would like to find a decent job but graduated during a time with a gloomy employment outlook. When they do find jobs, they are less willing to take risks, and they value security.

Can you see effects of the generational wealth gap in your household? What challenges have you faced as it has become more difficult to find employment?

Homeownership Offers Social and Economic Benefits

A study conducted by the UNC Center for Community Capital finds what New Century IDA has been promoting all along. Homeownership brings a wide range of social and economic benefits to low income communities.

Even though homeownership has long been thought of as a way to revitalize neighborhoods and build household wealth, the foreclosure crisis has caused some to question this in recent years. But this new study confirms that homeownership offers many benefits to a community.

For example, there is a clear link between homeownership and how low income homeowners perceive the level of crime in their community. Homeownership leads residents to take steps to protect and secure their neighborhoods which reduces crime levels. 

Mark R. Lindblad, the center research director, stated that “The housing downturn and foreclosure crisis have raised questions about the role of homeownership in stabilizing low- income communities. Our findings demonstrate that, when coupled with traditional, fixed- rate mortgages, homeownership reduces residents’ perception of crime as a key problem for their neighborhood.” Perceptions of crime are important because they affect residents’ mental and physical health.

Homeownership has faced critiques amidst the mortgage crisis, and some critics have said federal housing policy has unwisely promoted homeownership for lower- income households. However, there are several problems with this critique. One problem is that it neglects more compelling causes of the housing downturn and foreclosure crisis, particularly the lack of financial regulation of mortgage products. The root cause of the foreclosure crisis was not homeownership, but unfavorable subprime mortgages.

The second problem is the tendency to conflate lower- income homeownership with sub- prime mortgages. While lower- income and minority families did receive disproportionally higher rates of subprime mortgages, the unfavorable mortgage terms were largely to blame for the higher rates of mortgage delinquency among subprime borrowers. Research has found that low- income households with traditional, 30 year, fixed rate mortgages do sustain homeownership.

Since its beginning in 1999, New Century IDA has promoted homeownership as a means to build wealth and break the cycle of poverty. This study conducted by UNC affirms that homeownership does produce socially desirable outcomes for lower- income households. The study concludes that it is in everyone's best interest to develop policies and practices that promote homeownership.

For further reading, results of the study can be found in the article "Sense of Community and Informal Social Control Among Lower- Income Households: The Role of Homeownership and Collective Efficacy in Reducing Subjective Neighborhood Crime and Disorder" published in the American Journal of Community Psychology.

The Growing Problem of Concentrated Poverty of NC

A growing number of North Carolinians are living in concentrated poverty neighborhoods. If your neighborhood in particular hasn’t been affected, you may wonder why this is important. The North Carolina Justice Center released a report this month, “Barriers to Opportunity: The Growing Problem of Concentrated Poverty in North Carolina’s Neighborhoods” to detail this issue and explain why it matters.

Using data from the United States Census Bureau, the NC Justice Center found that as of 2006 to 2010, there were 100 areas of concentrated poverty in North Carolina- nearly triple the number from 2000. Data also shows that 143,445 poor residents live in these extremely poor areas, which is 3.5 times the number in 2000.

Areas of concentrated poverty are defined as census tracts with poverty rates of 40% or more, using the federal poverty level.

Patterns of concentrated poverty have persisted for decades because of factors such as rapid suburbanization, deindustrialization, commercial disinvestment, and racial discrimination in housing markets. Government policies, such as home ownership subsidies, public housing location decisions, interstate and highway subsidies, and deterioration in local services, have also contributed to concentrated poverty.

Being poor and residing in a poor neighborhood is known as a “double burden” because it magnifies and perpetuates the problems that poor people face. Research shows that residential segregation of people who are poor leads to negative neighborhood effects, which are community influences on individual socioeconomic outcomes. Neighborhood effects include low- quality educational opportunities, weaker employment networks, and higher rates of crime.

Data also shows that in 2006- 2010, 10.4 percent of the state’s impoverished children lived in concentrated poverty neighborhoods. This is particularly alarming for a number of reasons. Research shows that regardless of family income, children raised in these neighborhoods have less access to good quality schools, early education programs, and social networks that foster healthy development. They are also at higher risk of poor outcomes, including higher stress levels, higher dropout rates, and more emotional problems.

Opportunity structure is deeply connected to the neighborhood. As a result, concentrated poverty neighborhoods have great implications for the families that live there and particularly for the children that grow up there.

For this very reason, New Century IDA is proud that its graduates can purchase a home any where in Forsyth County. By not limiting its clients to certain neighborhoods, the IDA program gives people more options and does not contribute to creating poverty concentrated neighborhoods. However, there is still much work to be done and this is an issue that we should all be aware of.

Growing Number of Americans Living in Poverty

It’s no secret that more Americans are struggling to stay in the middle class. However, the number of Americans living in poverty are quite staggering. The Census Bureau released a report that shows a record number of Americans are living in poverty- 46 million. This is the highest number reported since the Census Bureau began tracking poverty rates in 1959.

The Census Bureau also reported that the number of families living below the poverty line increased by 18%, from 7.3 million in 2006 to 8.6 million in 2010. In 2010, the poverty line for a family of four was a household income of $22,314 or less. 

There is also a trend of more poor people living in the suburbs.  The number of poor people living in the suburbs of metropolitan areas increased by 24%, from 14.4 million in 2006 to 17.8 million last year. As a comparison, the number of poor living in cities rose by 20%.

As the number of Americans living in poverty are growing, the faces of poverty are changing as well. Timothy Smeeding, director of the Institute for Research on Poverty at the  University of Wisconsin- Madison says “It’s all about joblessness. There’s just not enough work.” The Great Recession has left many Americans struggling to find employment. According to an article in the USA Today, it has not only made the poor poorer, but it has affected those who thought they had escaped poverty as well as those who never imagined being thrust into poverty. The college-educated, the former middle- class worker, the suburbanite, and the homeowner can now all be found among the poor. 

For stories about families that are trying to escape poverty, read the article Poverty Affects 46 Million Americans by Marisol Bello and watch the video below.

More Americans Can't Afford Food

An article in The Huffington Post by Alexander Eichler reveals a disturbing statistic. More Americans are struggling to afford basic necessities, including food. A report from the Food Research and Action Center said that more Americans struggled to buy food in 2011 than in any other year of the financial crisis. 18.6 percent of people reported that they couldn’t always afford to feed their whole family in 2011.

Despite the economic recovery, incomes for many Americans have failed to keep pace with the cost of living. According to the Census Bureau, 46 million people lived below the poverty line in 2010, a record number that some estimates project is actually much higher. Another study done by Wider Opportunities for Women found that 45% of people have reported not being able to cover their basic living expenses, including food, shelter, and transportation.

Even though the official poverty rate is about 15%, over two-fifths of Americans are unable to save adequate amounts. One financial emergency is all it would take to push them into poverty.

Financial insecurity is being felt all the way down to the level of everyday spending. The Center for Housing Policy recently found that a growing number of middle income owners and renters are paying more than half their earnings just for a place to live.

As a result, people are sacrificing in other areas. A report published recently by the Employee Benefit Research Institute found that in 2009, one in five Americans over 50 years old were skipping doctor visits, switching to cheaper medications, or forgoing medicines entirely out of financial necessity.

It is concerning that so many Americans are having to sacrifice basic necessities. As hunger is becoming more widespread across America, it is important to realize that the entire country ends up paying one way or another. While the people who can not afford food suffer the most, the social costs incurred are great. It is estimated that social costs- from money spent to operate food pantries to the diminished earning power of impoverished children- come to about $167  billion a year, or $542 for every man, woman, and child in the country.

These are eye opening statistics. They serve as a powerful reminder of how important it is to promote financial security through saving and asset building.

To read the article “Growing Number of Americans Can’t Afford Food, Study Finds”, click here.

What Does It Mean To Be Poor?

What do you think of when you think of being “poor”? In his article “Working Poor,” Alexander Eichler talks about what it means to be poor.  If being poor is defined as living at or below the poverty line, then 15% of Americans- or about 46 million people- are poor. But if being poor is defined as living off a decent income but hardly any savings, then it is  nearly half the country. These are people that do not live below the poverty line, but they don’t have enough money saved to weather an emergency.

Jennifer Brooks, director of state and local policy at the Corporation for Enterprise Development, said, “The resources that people have- they are using up those resources. They’re living off their savings. They’re at the end of their rope.”

The Corporation for Enterprise Development released a report this week regarding liquid asset poverty households. According to the report, 43% of American households are liquid- asset poor. This means that if one of these households experiences a sudden loss of income, it would fall below the poverty line within three months.

The amount of people living asset poor underscores the effects of a struggling economy. Even though the Great Recession officially ended over 2 years ago, unemployment remains high and wages have remained stagnant.  However, you can receive a monthly paycheck and still be liquid asset poor.

David Rothstein of the nonprofit Policy Matters Ohio says that many people don’t realize how close they can be to one interruption to income or one interruption to health benefits. “They’re one paycheck away from being in debt.” Many Americans are not prepared for financial emergencies.

CFED suggests that while more intensive financial literacy is important in addressing this problem, it is also important to look at asset limits in public benefit programs. Some states restrict services like food assistance to households with few or no assets. Critics say that these policies deny help to many people in need. In a state with restrictive asset tests, a middle class family that faced a job loss would have to liquidate all of their assets and savings in order to qualify for benefits.

CFED suggests other measures that could help alleviate liquid asset poverty, such as strengthening consumer protections against payday lenders and making greater assistance available to first time homebuyers.

New Century IDA is proud to be involved in asset building by offering financial education and down payment assistance to first time home buyers in Forsyth County. What ideas do you have for eliminating asset poverty in our area?

Some Stats About the Growing Income Gap

We often hear talk of the growing income gap, but do you really understand what it means? Stanford University recently released a study that presents some startling statistics about the growing gap.

Following World War II, the income gap between the wealthy and the middle class shrunk considerably and remained relatively stable. The growing economy provided opportunities for the middle class to live comfortably, and the country’s wealthy saw their incomes grow at a similar rate to those of the middle class. However, by the 1980’s, the income growth rate began to diverge.

Over the past 30 years, there has been a trend of middle class areas shrinking while wealthy and poor areas are growing. In 2007, 44% of American families lived in middle- income neighborhoods. Compare that to the 65% of American families that lived in middle- income neighborhoods in 1970.

There have also been changes in wages over the past 30 years. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the income of the top 1% of earning households grew 275% from 1979 to 2007. The income of other American households grew just 62%.  Census Bureau data found that since 1980, 5% of income has migrated from the middle class to the affluent. This means that the 5,934 richest households in America saw an increase of $650 billion in income, or about $109 million per home.

Census data also found that the number of Americans living in poverty is growing and at its highest level in the 36 years since the statistic has been tracked. 6.3% of Americans live below the poverty line. For a family of four, that would mean living off an income of only $11,000!

This research really presents the growing income gap in real terms. For more information on these statistics, click here. Do any of these numbers surprise you? Have you felt the strains of the growing income gap? 

The First State to Pass an Anti- Predatory Lending Bill

This is the third post in a series on the poverty industry and Gary Rivlin's book Broke USA.

As Martin Eakes and Self-Help began fighting predatory lending, they met many others who were passionate about reining in subprime lenders and protecting the working poor. Broke USA describes how Self-Help formed a coalition with other organizations to pass an anti-predatory lending bill for North Carolina.

Peter Skillern is an activist from Durham, NC and the executive director of the Community Reinvestment Association of North Carolina, or CRA-NC. He was particularly anxious to get involved because he was aware of a lender who was very close to home, NationsBank in Charlotte. He said NationsBank had a “parallel banking system.” If you were white, middle class, and had good credit, you were taken through one system. If you were lower income and had imperfect credit, you were led to either NationsCredit or EquiCredit, one of their two subprime subsidiaries.

Bill Brennan, an attorney from the Atlanta Legal Aid Society, became another major ally. He had been fighting subprime lending since 1991 and had testified before Congress and the Fed multiple times. Brennan was able to broadcast several human interest pieces on the Atlanta local news and Primetime Live that featured hard working people who had lost nearly everything to subprime lenders. Brennan sent tapes of all of these broadcasts to Martin Eakes who was determined to show them to all 120 members of the North Carolina state assembly.

Mike Calhoun, who works for Self-Help, drafted the legislation with an aim to impose limits on what a subprime lender could charge its customers. The bill was sponsored by Roy Cooper, the senate majority leader at the time and the current state attorney general. Lobbyists weighed in and discouraged senators from co-sponsoring the bill, leaving Cooper as the sole sponsor. Cooper explained that, “North Carolina is the second largest banking state in the country, so the banking industry is a significant engine here. They had a significant influence over the legislature and government process.”

The political fight over this bill lasted for more than a year. Modifications were made, but the legislation banned prepayment penalties on any mortgage less than $150,000 and made it illegal to roll the cost of credit insurance into the loan. While lenders could still charge interest rates above rates given to prime customers, anyone signing a deal that would have them pay interest rates more than ten percentage points higher than a Treasury bill would be required to meet with a credit counselor.

The bill was signed into law July 1999 and was hailed by consumer advocates as a significant breakthrough. Soon, activists from New Jersey, Chicago, and Dayton were calling, eager to pass a similar bill.

What do you think of this legislation? Did the modifications weaken it too much, or was the state overreaching by passing this bill? Let us know what you think!

Leading Up to the Big Fight

This is the second post in a series on the poverty industry and Gary Rivlin's book Broke USA.

The state of North Carolina has led the fight against the poverty industry, thanks to Martin Eakes, the founder of the Center for Responsible Lending. When Eakes began his career by starting Self- Help in the 1980’s, he never imagined it would take him to the forefront of the fight against the poverty industry. In Broke USA, Gary Rivlin provides commentary on how Eakes was motivated to help the working poor create wealth.

While serving the working poor throughout the mid 1980’s, Eakes discovered that the average white family had a net worth of $44,000 while the average black family had a net worth of under $4,000. The real issue was equity, which proved the importance of owning a home. Self- Help was able to help these families purchase homes valued between $30,000 and $50,000 by providing them with a loan almost as favorable as their prime counterparts. Borrowers from Self-Help paid an interest rate about a percentage point higher than the going conventional rate and a fixed 1 percent in fees and points. Eakes found that this was more than enough to compensate for the additional risk of lending to families of moderate income.

Self- Help was so busy serving the working poor that it wasn’t until Freddie Rogers walked into their office in 1998 that they realized industry how much the industry had changed. Rogers owned a home but was talked into refinancing by a company called Associates when he needed money to repair a drainage problem in his basement. Under his new loan with Associates, Rogers was paying 13.7% interest and now owed $47,500 when he had previously owed much less. Self- Help quickly realized that Freddie Rogers’ case was not an isolated incident; there were many more cases just like his.

After much internal debate about whether Self-Help should fight Associates, they decided they had no choice because of its sheer size. While Self-Help only had half a dozen store fronts across North Carolina, Associates had eighty. Associates also had Terry Bradshaw pitching its loans on TV, and they were generating nearly $1 billion a year in profits. Self-Help decided that if they didn’t address predatory lending, they would not really be achieving anything by putting people in homes. Self-Help, who had always been focused on helping families build wealth, decided it was equally important to help families protect their wealth as well. To do this, North Carolina needed to become the first state to pass an anti-predatory lending bill in the country.

Do you think Self-Help was right to fight Associates or did they overstep their boundaries? Let us know what you think, then check back to learn how the fight developed!

The Poverty Industry

This is the first post in a blog series providing commentary on Gary Rivlin's book Broke USA and the poverty industry.

You may not realize it, but the poverty industry is all around you. The business of making money off of the poor has always existed, but it didn’t become a multi- billion dollar industry until the 1980’s. I recently read Broke USA by Gary Rivlin which provides a commentary on how the poverty industry turned the working poor into big business.

The poverty industry consists of check cashers, payday lenders, pawnshops, rent-to-own furniture and appliance stores, and other businesses that make money off the impoverished and working poor. The industry is very profitable. In 2008, payday lenders charged their customers a collective $7 billion in fees and the country’s rent-to-own shops took in about $7 billion in revenue. The same year, pawnbrokers booked about $4 billion in revenue and check cashers $3 billion. Add businesses like auto title lenders and tax preparers that offer instant tax refunds, and the total adds up to $25 billion. That is a staggering figure.

Most of these businesses make money by charging exorbitant interest rates on the loans they provide to the working poor. For example, payday lenders and title loan shops are known to charge close to 400%. Other lenders charge excessive fees for mortgage refinancing and home equity loans. Rivlin tells the story of Lillie Mae Starr, a retired factory worker who borrowed $5,000 to fix her windows. Ms. Starr was paying 23.3 percent interest, and fell behind in her payments. After refinancing twice, she owed Fleet Finance $63,000.

The most angering part of the poverty industry is its predatory nature. Gail Kubiniec ran a CitiFinancial branch that was engaged in predatory lending, and she claimed to boost revenues by packing loans with unnecessary insurance policies. She said, “The more gullible a consumer appeared, the more coverage I would try to include in the loan.” She defined a gullible customer as someone who was very young or old, a minority, or someone who appeared uneducated and inarticulate. The industry preys off vulnerable people that are trapped in poverty.

The poverty industry is typically concentrated in certain neighborhoods and shopping centers. For example, a pawn shop will be next to a rent-to-own store which will be next to a payday lender which will be next to a tax preparer that offers instant refunds. See the pictures below to see how this is true in Forsyth County.

The Rent-A-Center is in the same shopping center as the Professional Tax Service that offers fast cash.

The Quick Cash Pawn Shop is across the street from the Rent-A-Center.

While the poverty industry is still extremely profitable, more people have taken notice of its predatory and abusive nature. What do you think about the poverty industry? Is it in your neighborhood? Have we done too much to rein it in or not enough? Let us know what you think, then check back to learn what steps North Carolina has taken!

Living on SNAP (Food Stamps): Conclusion.

Over 40 million people in the United States depend on SNAP in order to feed themselves. A 2009 study found that of the households using SNAP, 47% of recipients were children, 8% elderly, and 64% of adult, nonelderly recipients were women.

The amount of people on SNAP is rapidly increasing, although program funding is constantly at risk of getting cutback. These statistics do not cover the amount of people who are eligible for food assistance, but do not apply. They may not apply because of pride, they are unaware of programs that can help them, or they do not know where to go and how to apply. Because of this, there are many more uncounted Americans who go hungry every single day. Of these groups, the elderly are the least likely to apply for food assistance.

The millions of people utilizing SNAP are men, women, children, and the elderly. They have different upbringings, educational levels, are mixed in age and race. But, an alarming amount of those on food assistance are single, female heads of household and children, and the amount of elderly in need is far more because the elderly are most likely to not apply for aide. Those who use these programs the most are also the most vulnerable members of our communities.

This blog series shared the stories of three Americans who used SNAP and food stamps in order to feed themselves: a 22 year old college graduate who found herself homeless; an emancipated youth faced with harsh reality of attending school fulltime, and trying to feed herself and her fiancé on two part-time jobs; and myself, a college graduate and AmeriCorps worker, who grew up on food assistance. Although all stories are different, we share one commonality: we previously used or currently use SNAP in order to feed ourselves. Hunger takes on many faces, and the stories shared in this series are not the “typical” idea of who utilizes food assistance in order to fulfill their needs, or as Stacy said, “So I can eat more than a sack of potatoes.” When we open our hearts and eyes to trying to understand who seeks assistance, it is a step forward in finding a solution to eradicate poverty in not only those groups, but for everyone.

My story, along with my friends stories are only three of millions. All three of us are educated, young women who found ourselves in need. Now, with our stories still relatively fresh in your minds, I leave you with these questions: Who deserves to go hungry, why do they deserve it, and what is the true face of hunger; is there one? On that note, why are so many people unable to save their money, despite working several jobs?

Written by:

Andriana Bicanin

AmeriCorps*VISTA 

New Century IDA

2010 - 2011

Living on SNAP (Food Stamps): Part Four

From the time I was 4 – 18 years old my dad worked as an apartment manager in one of the wealthiest areas in the United States. As part of my dad’s job we received a free apartment. My dad was on call 24 hours a day, worked 8 AM – 5 PM (always more), and made $1500 a month. My mom worked 2 jobs. I remember staying up late at night with my sister and waiting for her to come home from her graveyard shift. She would bend on her tired knees, my sister and I ran to her, and she tiredly scooped us in her arms, gave us kisses, and then led us to bed. The little money my parents earned, working a combined 200 hours a week, supported my dad, mom, me and my sister, along with utilities and other daily expenses. We were on the lower economic scale, and I had absolutely no clue.

There are those who grew up poor and knew they were, and there are those like myself, who had no idea. Amongst other indicators, one of the things that should have been a clue were the free lunches I received. My parents always made sure we had food in our bellies, and extravagant breakfasts and dinners. School lunch was sometimes embarrassing though. In the 2nd grade my teacher harassed me because my parents didn’t buy me a $20 punch card and I sometimes didn’t have money with me to buy lunch. On those days I had to go to the office and receive a credit. My teacher rolled her eyes and lectured me in front of the class. This was the first time the defining “P” (poor, poverty) was metaphorically embroidered onto my chest. As a child I didn’t understand why my parents didn’t just give me the $20. I begged them to give me $20 so my teacher would stop singling me out. Later, in high school, I received free and reduced lunch. Although surrounded with my peers who wore designer clothes, drove luxury cars, and went to Europe for their vacations, my homeroom teacher assured me that other students received free lunch; I had a hard time believing it. Walking through the lunch line, choosing food items that did not surpass the 5 free dollars, I grew aware of the “P” searing through my clothing and making my skin sweat. As an already self-conscious teenager I felt a spotlight on me as I inched forward the school line, approaching the piece of paper the cashier held with a list of the other poor kids.

Later in life, I chose to apply for AmeriCorps*VISTA, and in turn chose to live in poverty. Unless you have savings, or family support, an AmeriCorps member is going to need to use food assistance in order to feed themselves. The process of acquiring food assistance is sometimes confusing and emotionally draining. When I first chose to apply for food stamps I made very little money and was not allowed a second job, because of the nature of my work. Here is a breakdown of my expenses:

My 2008 – 2009 Budget:

Income:                       $800

Car:                              $150

Rent:                            $525

Fuel:                             $75

Soap, shampoo,

toilet paper etc.:            $50

Total:                          $800

Perfect! Right? Not exactly. I made exactly enough to pay my bills (not even, my sister paid my cell phone bill). On months when fuel costs exceeded my budget I walked the 4 miles to work and the 4 miles from work. Western Washington is known for its rain. The air holds a lingering scent of rain, and when the gray skies don’t release its steady rainfall, it still clings to the streets. Due to this, when I wasn’t walking through rain on these journeys, my feet were soggy 100% of the time I arrived at my destination. Now, take a second look at my budget and see if you can find anything missing. Did you find it? Food is missing (as well as savings). I had absolutely no money to pay for my food expenses, and that is where SNAP and food pantries came into play.

My first year applying for food assistance wasn’t difficult. I had the other occupants of the house I rented from write a note saying that we didn’t share food (which was true), I had a note from my landlord saying how much I paid in rent, and at that time any assets you owned counted against you, so I brought paperwork concerning my car and pathetic bank account. The caseworker was extremely nice, had worked with AmeriCorps members in the past, and I received my food assistance card in the mail within a month.

I only received $60 to start out. Hungry, often, I left work during lunch in order to get nourishment from a local food pantry. This in itself is a humbling experience. A Church ran the food pantry. Each visit I signed in and waited to hear my name. I waited about 30 minutes. My name called, I sat across the worker feeling ashamed. I wanted to tell her that I worked 40+ hours a week, I’m only there because I’m paid so little but work so much and am not allowed a second job; I wanted to let her know that I’m not a drinker nor am I on drugs. I did not say any of those things, though, and silently sat across the smiling worker as she punched keys on a computer and told me to wait in the waiting room for my box of food.

I started my service year weighing roughly 150 pounds. Although the hunger pangs whenever I saw my coworkers lunches were bothersome, I showed no signs of nutrient deficiency or hunger; not for another 4 months at least. Four months into my service term my skin had a scattering of acne, my hair thinned, and I weighed a slender 140ish pounds. By the end of my service-term, in January 2009, I weighed 128 pounds. The last few months of service I received $90 a month in food assistance. No longer embarrassed, I utilized the resources in my community. I needed food and I didn’t care who knew it. At times, I went to a grocery store and received less than friendly looks, and one time the cashier insinuated that I didn’t work and then sneered at me. She literally sneered at me. Of all the nerve! But those are the types of things that sometimes happen when you are a recipient of social welfare. Look at my own mindset when I first went to a food pantry. I sat in embarrassment and wanted to tell the worker that I worked, didn’t drink, and didn’t do drugs. Why would that cross my mind? Why did I feel the need to explain and prove myself? It crossed my mind because there is a social stigma attached to receiving aide. I held some of those beliefs, and as much as I believe in supporting your neighbors, and in social welfare, in the back of my mind I held stereotypes and preconceived notions of the “type of person” who receives aide, (and cue the irony) despite having grown up receiving such aide.

When a person decides to apply for food assistance it’s a decision that’s made after all other resources are drained, and you find that you just cannot buy enough food to live. My first year of AmeriCorps service was an emotionally trying and character building year. When I was unable to adequately feed myself I sought assistance. My food allowance was $60 - $90 a month. I frequented food pantries. I had no savings. I was hungry. I needed help.

I am currently in my second year of AmeriCorps*VISTA, and in using SNAP. In my two years of use, I have encountered dirty looks and snide remarks; this past year it took three months, 10+ phone calls, two denials due to not turning in paperwork I turned in three times, and a supervisor who works for the county in order for me to cut through red tape and receive benefits before I starved. When I complained on Facebook about the run-around I received trying to acquire SNAP, a college friend commented, “That’s unfair! You’re a college graduate and work 40+ a week!” Well, the same goes for millions of other welfare recipients.

My story is slightly different, but also the same as that of the millions of people who use SNAP. Post-college, my story is different because I chose to live in poverty. I was told how much my pay was going to be. I knew that I was not allowed a second job. It’s also  the same as millions of other people because of the way I grew up. When I talk to my parents they sometimes share their regrets over not having money. My mom sometimes cries over it, and my dad still swears he will win the lottery and we’ll live on Easy Street. Our wealth is one of their greatest heartaches. I know that if they were able they would have made enough money to keep us in the middle class, not reliant on other people, with savings in the bank. I’m sure that other tired parents, individually working 80 hours a week, only able to see their families in the dead of night, in between jobs, would choose a life of self-sufficiency over assistance. I’m sure they would choose a life where they did not need to rely on food assistance; a life where their children’s stomachs are not aching, they can concentrate on their work and not the food they long for, and not have their names on a list, wearing their poverty as a badge.

Written by:

Andriana Bicanin

AmeriCorps*VISTA

2010 - 2011

New Century IDA

Living on SNAP (Food Stamps): Part Two

There are various reasons as to why a person applies for food assistance, and the help it provides in an emotionally trying moment in their lives. The next three blog articles will feature a different person and their story as to why they chose to apply for food assistance, and what they experienced as a welfare recipient. No single case or incident represents the whole, but these stories do reflect an overwhelming trend in social welfare.

The following story is about Stephanie, a resident of Illinois who paid for her food expenses through assistance. In this post, Stephanie shares her experiences as a young college graduate who found herself homeless and in need of assistance in order to feed herself.

The average length of time a recipient of food assistance stays on the program is 9 months, and in the year that Stephanie utilized SNAP (food stamps), 1,625,404 people in the state of Illinois also fed themselves through the aide of the SNAP program. Nationwide, 13% of the U.S. population received aide in the form of SNAP, in 2010; here is one of their stories. (For further information on SNAP statistics, click here).

~Andriana Bicanin
AmeriCorps*VISTA
2010 - 2011

Stephanie

I decided to apply for food stamps because I was essentially homeless and unable to find work.

After I graduated from college in December 2009, I lived with my mother and had major difficulties finding work (this is when the recession started hitting pretty hard). My mother kicked me out of her house in April. I spent a few nights out on the street, but finally got a hold of some friends who agreed to let me sleep on their couch until I found work. At the time, I was struggling with major depression and suicidal thoughts. One of my friends got me in to see a counselor. The counselor was really encouraging and gave me lots of information to help get back on my feet, and demanded that I go apply for food stamps.

The process was pretty confusing and difficult. There wasn’t much information online, except for where to go to get the application. I went (to the Department of Social Services) and waited in line for 30 minutes to get the application and then found out that I had to travel 20 minutes away to another town in the county to actually apply for food stamps. The application was quite lengthy and confusing. When I went to the facility to turn in my application, I had to wait for another 30 minutes until my name was called. An older gentleman was my case worker and very kind. He walked me through the process and since I was essentially homeless with no income, he issued me a card right away (which became active at 3 AM the next day – and yes, I stayed up to go grocery shopping as soon as it was active).

Food stamps did improve my standard of living, mainly because before I had them I was going days without a decent meal… but it didn’t mean I was buying tons of groceries and cooking lavish meals. I still had to watch my budget and clip coupons.

After about a month of getting food stamps, I found a part-time retail job and they reduced my food stamp benefits greatly. I was working 20-30 hours per week. Luckily, minimum wage and the food stamp benefits I was receiving were just enough to get by. The other bills I was paying were rent, electricity, and water.

I remained on food stamps for about 6 months total. I’m really grateful that programs like this do exist; otherwise I’m not sure if I would’ve gotten back on my feet. It’s been over 2 years since my mother kicked me out and for the last year I’ve now got a stable/salaried job with benefits.