The stock market may be going up – but, unfortunately, other economic indicators, such as unemployment and homelessness are, too.
This means continued down times for many D.C. families, particularly low-income, women-headed families.
To make matters worse, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty is proposing cuts to key social welfare programs that more and more residents are turning to in their time of increasing need. Specifically:
- Temporary Assistance to Needy Families. Proposed cut: $6.2 million. According to Stepping Stones Grantee Partner, DC Women’s Agenda (DCWA), about 50,000 low-income parents and children in DC receive TANF, and 90% of the adults in these families are women. The current TANF benefit for a family of three is the same as it was in 1991 – and provides families with only 29% of the poverty line;
- Workforce Development. Proposed cut: $5.4 million. According to U.S. Department of Labor (based on data reported by the city), more than half of the adults in the publicly funded workforce development system in the city are women;
- Adult Literacy. Proposed cut: $2 million. According to the DC government, a majority (55.1%) of those served in publicly funded adult literacy programs in the city in 2007 were women; and,
- Local Rent Supplement Program. Proposed cut: $2 million. Originally an addition to the budget by the City Council, this funding would have extended housing assistance to an additional 180 families, mostly headed by women, according to DCWA. Now it is in serious jeopardy, as are the additional families that could have benefited.
Local groups (including many Grantee Partners of The Women’s Foundation), under the umbrella of the Coalition for Community Investment, have organized the Save our Safety Net Coalition to help prevent these cuts from being realized.
I urge you to join them in the fight against these damaging cuts.
Gwen Rubinstein is a Program Officer at The Women’s Foundation.
