Lutherans Consider Women, Children and Welfare Reform

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "I heard you say that you want to undertake this awesome task because you are Christians," Sheila Radford-Hill told about 80 church, public and private professionals who came June 26-27 to the central offices of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) "to reaffirm, modify and prioritize the ELCA's strategy on women and children living in poverty in light of welfare reform."
Radford-Hill was the lead facilitator for the consultation sponsored by the ELCA's Division for Church in Society with the support of the ELCA's Church Council. Radford-Hill is division administrator for Alternative Learning Partnerships, Chicago.
"This was just the beginning," said Tina Dabney, ELCA project director for ministry with women and children living in poverty. "The consultation will not be a success until we implement the plan of action that will be produced from the consultation." Dabney organized the event.
"Few people live closer to the grim realities of hunger, homelessness, family instability and unemployment than women and children living in poverty," Dabney told the group. The ELCA and its women's organization, Women of the ELCA, have recognized their need to be involved to "reduce the grim realities of poverty," she said.
Since the ELCA was formed in 1988 women and children living in poverty have been a concern of the church, said Doris Strieter, program team leader for Women of the ELCA. Research revealed that there were already many ministries in place, but they involved little or no collaboration with women and children living in poverty, she said. So, in 1993, the church adopted "a plan to listen and act" with an emphasis on listening.
A panel of four women spoke to the consultation of their experiences as participants in welfare programs. Two of the women, Awilda Quinones and Loretta White, are members of The Witness Group -- former and current welfare participants who share their stories as a service of Protestants for the Common Good, Chicago.
Quinones told the group that her rent nearly doubled, but her grant for housing did not change and would not cover the increase. In the process of trying to find a new place to live, she said her furniture was taken from her.
A mother of eight and grandmother of six, Quinones is enrolled in a life skills training class at Chicago Commons -- a community-based employment training center.
White recently completed training at Chicago Commons and earned her high school diploma. She told the consultation that she has found employment after 20 years of public aid.
"Going to church and having faith in God is what got me through," she said, challenging all churches to reach out to their members and to others in their communities who need help. "If you can help someone, as a Christian, do it."
"Are you going to get out there and help?" she asked. "Open your heart and let God use you."
Delores Johnson Keppel, program facilitator for the South Bronx Ministries/Neighborhood Development Corporation, Bronx, N.Y., said she was feeling helpless, hopeless and lost while receiving public assistance. She remembered being taught that God is always with her, she said, so she turned to her church for help.
"I learned that I was not alone. At church I learned to organize ... and to teach others to organize," said Keppel. "A lot of the women I deal with do not know they are loved. They are lost."
South Bronx Ministries helps women deal with the stress that accompanies poverty, said Keppel, and it provides information on such topics as HIV/AIDS. An after-school program provides tutors, meals and lessons on self-esteem and non-violent conflict resolution for about 60 children.
Janice Parker-Underwood, representative payee program supervisor, Indiana County Community Action Program, Indiana, Pa., told the consultation about circumstances that took her away from her middle-class lifestyle. "I'm the side of welfare that most people don't think about, but it can happen," she said.
Parker-Underwood left college after her junior year to get married and raised two sons. At the age of 46, after 18 years of marriage, she left her husband and wound up on the street. "I had always known about 'them' -- people in shelters, people on welfare -- but not personally," she said.
"I was shocked. The only thing that changed was I had a little less money, but the way people treated me changed. They assumed I was lying to them," said Parker-Underwood.
"I desperately want to get on my own two feet, but the system seems to work against me," said Parker-Underwood. Living in a shelter was such a stigma that no one would hire her, she said. Any hint of finding work meant that she would lose all assistance. She said she wanted to finish her college education but could not afford it.
Through a series of speakers and small-group discussions the consultation organizers compiled the rough draft of "a faith-based response to welfare reform." Proceedings from the consultation will be edited by Dr. Rebecca Judge, associate professor of economics, St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minn., and distributed to the participants before the end of the year.
Noting the ELCA's "plan to listen and act," the Rev. Daniel B. Hahn, ELCA director for Lutheran Statewide Advocacy, Albany, N.Y., said New York held hearings on dairy reform to hear from the state's dairy farmers. "Before welfare reform, did we consult those in poverty?" he asked.
Millions of people no longer receive temporary assistance because of welfare reform, said Kay A. Bengston, assistant director for public policy advocacy, Lutheran Office for Governmental Affairs (LOGA), Washington, D.C. They were not dropped because they found work but because states put greater limits on those who could benefit.
"Thousands are falling through the 'safety net,' and no one knows where they've landed or if they've survived," said Judge. The goal of welfare reform should be the self-sufficiency of welfare participants, she said, but that would require comparable reform in labor practices.
Welfare reform would be more successful if it provided more incentives to become self-sufficient and fewer punishments, said Judge. "I can and do recognize the earthly power of the marketplace," she said. "People do respond to incentives."
"You want to become self-sufficient, but the system will just not allow it," said Pamela Hickman, office manager for the Seminary Consortium for Urban Pastoral Education, Chicago. A mother can't find a job without child care for her children, and she can't afford child care without a job. She can't find a job without a car, but her benefits are cut if she has a car, she said.
"The goal of welfare reform is not to enhance the family situation," said Hickman, a former welfare recipient. "It's purpose is to strip away your dignity."
Hickman said the system intimidates many people who could benefit from it, and the church could stand by them in getting the information to which they're entitled.
"We've been responding to the need in the community before welfare reform," said Nya Berry, executive director, Lutheran Family Mission (LFM), Chicago. "It's important that we continue to respond."
LFM has been helping women start child-care businesses in their homes, providing employment for some and safe places for others to keep their children while they find work, said Berry.
"We've got to let people know that welfare reform is not a good solution to poverty," said the Rev. Samuel Mann, St. Mark's Union Congregation Church, Kansas City, Mo. "Rich folks, white folks, call your own culture into question."
"Jesus bore the pain of the world," said Mann, challenging churches to get involved. "It wasn't a program. It was a relationship," he said. "The church ought to bear the pain."
Dabney add