Welcome to the first online edition of "Linking the Neighborhoods", a newsletter edited by the Welfare Law Center. "Linking" is published four to six times a year and is distributed in print to low-income groups working on welfare issues. It focuses on the organizing activities and campaigns of low-income groups and how groups can use technology in their advocacy and membership development work, highlights selected federal developments, and identifies other helpful resources, such as fundraising information and advocacy and public education materials. The online edition features brief descriptions of activities and information with hyperlinks to corresponding web pages or e-mail addresses for further information. This issue, along with other information on low-income groups and their activities, can be found on the LINC Project website at http://www.lincproject.org.
In this issue:
LINC Project Update ===================================================
The Welfare Law Center's Updated Directory of Low Income Organizations Working on Welfare Issues Now Available Online at http://www.lincproject.org There are 189 listings for groups in 44 states as well as 6 listings for Canadian groups. Over 100 groups have an e-mail address, and 43 groups have a website. This edition also lists the additional offices of groups that maintain more than one office. The updated Directory is posted on the LINC Project website - www.lincproject.org. From now on we will update group listings on the website, so please remember to let us know if the information for your group changes. And thanks to everyone who provided information for the Directory.
Tech Tip #5: Sending and Receiving Email Attachments.
Circuit Rider Dirk Slater has prepared helpful tips on how to make sure that attachments to your email messages can be opened and read by the person to whom you are sending the email and is available at http://www.lincproject.org/toolkit/tech5/tech5.htm
Circuit Rider Case Study: Community Voices Heard.
The Case Study describes how LINC Project Circuit Rider Dirk Slater teamed up with Community Voices Heard (CVH) in New York City to help CVH figure out and implement a plan to build its technology capacity and use technology to support its advocacy and programs for members. The article can be found at http://www.lincproject.org/toolkit/CircuitRider/
News From Groups Across the Country ==========================================
Success in Challenging W. Va. Policy of Counting SSI for TANF Purposes
The American Friends Service Committee/WV Economic Justice Project reports the successful efforts to change West Virginia's harsh policy of counting as income for purposes of TANF eligibility the SSI benefits of children and adults in the family. The change is a result of a successful lawsuit that challenged the counting of children's SSI and state legislation that excludes SSI paid to an adult or child in the family seeking TANF. To obtain a copy of the lawsuit and legislation as well as a summary of survey results of families excluded from welfare because of the harsh SSI policy, send an email to rwilson@afsc.org or csharlig@citynet.net. The survey was conducted by the American Friends Service Committee, the Coalition for West Virginia's Children, the WV Developmental Disabilities Planning Council, and the WV Welfare Reform Coalition.
Montana People's Action is celebrating a victory in its efforts to fight harsh welfare sanctions! The state legislature recently passed a law that provides that sanctioned welfare recipients will no longer lose Medicaid, Food Stamps, and child care services during the sanction period. Details about the victory and the organizing campaign that led to it can be found at the Legislative Update link on their website at http://www.mtpaction.org.
Ohio Empowerment Coalition News reports on their third annual statewide Welfare Conference & Lobby Day in their May 1999 Newsletter. Harsh sanctioning practices were a focus of the event. The article includes descriptions of the press conference and testimony given by recipients to the Ohio State House Human Services Committee. Their article and newsletter is posted on the LINC Project Web Site at http://www.lincproject.org/Newsletters/oec/may99/
Organizing Against Time Limits
The LA Coalition to End Hunger and Homelessness announces the Stop the Clock Campaign set for the week of August 16, 1999. The group asks allies to smash a clock and send it to the President and Congress to call for a moratorium on the five-year welfare reform time limit. To endorse the campaign and get your Stop the Clock Action Kit, contact Bob Erlenbusch, Los Angeles Coalition to End Hunger & Homelessness, 213-746-6511 email: hn1674@handsnet.org. A "Stop The Clock" website is currently under construction at http://www.stoptheclock.org.
ACORN reports on its efforts to get welfare recipients' voices heard in decision making meetings around workfare programs around the country. At a Los Angeles County meeting to develop the county's new workfare program, the participation of 70 TANF recipients who are ACORN members resulted in the county agreeing that workfare will not be mandatory. In Pulaski County, Arkansas, ACORN low-income members now have an official role in the TEA Coalition, the county body that coordinates welfare-to-work efforts. Look for the Welfare & Workfare Organizing Link on ACORN's online newsletter at http://www.igc.org/community/reports/acornrep04.1999.html
Idaho Community Action Network (ICAN) has issued a report highlighting the barriers to access to the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). The report is the result of ICAN's efforts to help 25 families who appeared to be eligible for CHIP and includes recommendations for improvements. ICAN also reports that it has met with the state agency and federal regional HHS staff about the issue and ICAN's recommendations, obtained press coverage of the study, and has accepted an invitation to sit on the state's new CHIP outreach committee. An overview of ICAN's findings and a news article are included. For more information on ICAN visit their web site at http://www.seanet.com/~nwfco/Idaho/icn.htm.
Seeking Services for Limited-English Speaking Individuals
Make the Road by Walking, a Brooklyn, New York group, has released a report documenting the New York City welfare agency's failure to provide translation services to Spanish-speaking clients and the difficulty that individuals have, regardless of the language they speak, in communicating with agency workers. An excerpt is enclosed. The group, along with others, has also filed a complaint with HHS's Office of Civil Rights, complaining of the city agency's discrimination against limited English-speaking individuals. The report can be found on the LINC Project Web Site at http://www.lincproject.org/Newsletters/mtrbw/reprtwb/transrept1.htm.
Other Organizing and Public Education Efforts
The Welfare Rights Organizing Coalition (WROC) in Washington reports on its recent efforts to expand its organizing efforts statewide in its March 1999 newsletter. Also included in the newsletter is an article detailing their strategic technology plan. The Newsletter and other information about WROC can be found on their website at http://www.scn.org/activism/wroc/.
New York City's Welfare Rights Initiative (WRI) gives a description of its work in its Spring 1999 issue. Their programs include: Community Leadership Training, Public Education and Training, Supportive Services and Legislative Advocacy. There is also a report about WRI's initial meeting of a broad alliance of women leaders to convey information about Welfare Reform. A copy of the article can be found on the WRI Newsletter posted on the LINC Project Web Site at http://www.lincproject.org/Newsletters/WRI/spr99/.
Hospitality House in Maine reports on its efforts to combat inaccurate information about low-income people with "Project, End Poverty," a weekly forum held at schools, clubs, civic groups and churches nearly every week. The flyer, seeking funds, volunteers, and places to hold forums, can be found on the Hospitality House Newsletter posted on the LINC Project Website at http://www.lincproject.org/Newsletters/equaltimes/spring99.htm
The Institute for the Elimination of Poverty and Genocide gives an update on Project South's Popular Education Initiative (PEI) programs in their most recent newsletter. These include: the Grassroots Popular Education Pilot Project (GPEPP) which works with various organizing groups in the southeast to develop their own popular education sessions and materials; the Georgia Up and Out of Poverty Now! Leadership Development Initiative, an 18 month long program established to support and develop 60 individuals as they take on local organizing campaigns; the Popular Education for Leadership Development Initiative (PELDI), a two-month summer institute in the DC area that features popular education workshops and cultural events; and the Southern Institute for Popular Education, a four-day training conference to be held in Atlanta this July. The update from the Newsletter can be found on their website at http://www.igc.org/projectsouth/. For more information on the Southern Institute for Popular Education send an email to projectsouth@igc.org.
South Side Welfare Rights Education Association of St. Louis, Missouri is announcing a National Conference on Welfare Reform. The theme for the conference is "Welfare Reform Moving into the New Millennium, Again Where are the Jobs" and will be held on August 20th-22nd at the Downtown Radisson in St. Louis. Details are enclosed. Check the LINC Project web site calendar for future notice on this event at http://www.lincproject.org/calendar.htm for updates on the event.
Federal Developments: HHS Final TANF Regulations Give States Great Flexibility
On April 12, 1999 HHS published final TANF regulations. The regulations, which are effective on October 1, 1999, are published at 64 Fed. Reg. 17720-19931 (April 12, 1999) and are available on HHS's web site: http://www.acf.dhhs.gov/programs/ofa. Various Washington-based organizations have posted extensive analyses of the regulations on their websites. These groups include the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP), 1616 P St., NW, Suite 150, Washington, DC 20036, tel. 202 328-5140, website: http://www.clasp.org and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 810 1st St., NE, Suite 510, Washington, DC 20002, tel. 202 408-1080, website: http://www.cbpp.org. The key feature of the final rules is that they give states great flexibility in how they can spend federal TANF funds and state maintenance of effort (MOE) funds. The final regulations include a number of significant changes from the proposed regulations, and these changes increase state flexibility. The regulations make clear that states can spend federal TANF funds and state MOE on a wide array of programs, in addition to cash assistance, to promote the purposes of TANF. As states consider how they will use this flexibility, it will be important for low income groups and their allies to be involved in letting their states know about the types of programs that best respond to the needs of the low income community. HHS has just issued a guide to help policymakers, community groups, and advocates understand the wide range of programs and services that can be funded with federal TANF funds and state MOE funds. The TANF rules are complex, but the guide seeks to present the issues and options in a clear way. The guide, Helping Families Achieve Self-Sufficiency: A Guide on Funding Services for Children and Families through the TANF Program, is available on HHS' website: www.acd.dhhs.gov/programs/ofa. To request a hard copy contact Bettie J. McClure, Office of Family Assistance, Administration for Children and Families, 370 L'Enfant Promenade S.W., Washington, DC 20447; tel. 202-401-5032; email bjmcclure@acf.dhhs.gov.
What is the Welfare Law Center? ==========================================
The Welfare Law Center is a national welfare advocacy organization. Our major programs are (1) test case litigation, (2) support to low income organizations, and (3) public policy work. The Center was founded in 1965. In the beginning it was lawyer to the National Welfare Rights Organization. It has always been committed to adequate programs of income support and to working closely with organizations of program participants. The Center's Board consists of lawyers and representatives of low income organizations. Until 1995 the Center received most of its funding from the federal Legal Services Corporation to serve legal services offices as a national support center and to bring major welfare cases. In 1995 Congress cut off all federal funding. The Center now relies on foundation grants, individual and law firm contributions, and other sources of income. Until recently our name was the Center on Social Welfare Policy and Law. In March 1997 we changed our name to the Welfare Law Center to re-emphasize our fundamental mission during a time of great change in safety net programs and to simplify our name. We welcome inquiries from organizations of low income persons, and will provide all the help we can within our resources. Free copies of Welfare News, Welfare Bulletin and Linking the Neighborhoods are provided to organizations of low income persons. This activity is supported by the Public Welfare Foundation, the Norman Foundation, and hundreds of individual donors. You can reach us at 275 Seventh Avenue, Suite 1205, New York, NY 10001-6708; tel. 212-633-6967; fax 212- 633-6371; e-mail: wlc@welfarelaw.org; web pages: (1) http://www.welfarelaw.org, and (2) http://www.lincproject.org .