People’s Blueprint for Social Assistance Review Update Dec/10
Dec 14th, 2010 | By Cheryl Smith | Category: Campaigns (incl.) Grassroots, Community Resource, Health, Housing
Updates from The People’s Panel on Social Assistance Review
If They Would Hear What We Are Saying
I often wonder if the people in “charge” would make changes to the OW and ODSP programs if they had a chance to actually hear what we are telling them. I am a person with lived experience; I do have my grade 12 and I did take a course at a local college. I consider myself smart, but not smart enough to make the changes. However, I am realizing that people like me are the ones that need to make our voices heard and make sure that they hear what we are saying. I am lucky to have an opportunity in my life to hear these people and I wish the politicians and policy makers had the same privilege as I do. It would be interesting to see how they would approached things if the “walked in our shoes” for a day. I feel if they would visit a places like a soup kitchens for a meal, as a person in need and not a politician, then maybe they would have a chance to hear what we are saying.
I am presently on OW and in the process of going for a tribunal for ODSP. Being in the middle of the 2 different assistance programs I discovered that no one wants to take the responsibility of providing me with proper foot wear for the winter. I am presently wearing a pair of low cut shoes that are starting to show some wear. OW says that if I was doing job search then I would be covered and I am not on ODSP so they won’t help either.
I went to talk to a person from my Community Health Centre that works with issues similar to this. As we discussed my options she suggested to me that she could get me some boots from on of the thrift stores and anything else that I might need. I do appreciated her idea and I also appreciate that these store do exist, however I am not comfortable wearing someone else’s boots. I have some problems with my feet and I am not sure how used boots would affect my existing issues. The other problem is I personally feel that OW should be taking care of this for me, not charity. After our talk she is going to pursue this as much as possible for me. When I do get my boots (covered by OW) I will be able to tell others what they need to do if they are in this situation. I also found out from her that there is a food bank that is much closer to my place; although they don’t give out as much per visit. I can however go every Wednesday and while I am there I can also have a meal.
I decided to go to this food bank the next day because I needed some food and I wanted to see what this place was like. I was pleasantly surprised with all the support this place is providing for the people of this community. I found out that they also have some community gardens, a school (it is a Christian Academy), food bank, clothing, household items or just someone to talk to, they have it all there.
After I found out what the procedure was I entered the area where the food is served and took a seat at a table with some other people. I started to talk to the lady beside e a little and in a few minutes she told me that she had a good job at one time and she was replaced with someone younger from another city. It did not make sense to me because her job was working at our local museum. Who better then someone local and a little older to work at our museum? As we talked a bit more she discussed several things with me and one thing stuck out more then the rest. She does not understand that if we should be buying things made in our country, why are they more expensive then imported items? If you have a fixed income then you have to buy as cheap as possible, being patriotic is not an option when you are poor. Our conversation triggered this older gentlemen to join into our conversation. He was telling me that he had a good job also for several years. The company he was working for one day decided to close the local site and invited any employees to move to the USA if they wanted a job. He is a very patriotic man and was not going to abandon his country for a job; now he feels his country has abandoned him. Our conversation at my table went on for a while and more people joined in with there own stories. This made me think-
If they would hear what we are saying would they change anything or would they just let it go on?
by Paul Fitzgerald
of the People’s Panel
A few words…
It becomes confusing when the word work is used to describe having a paid position; this is a job JOB
Work on the other hand consists of any productive activity and in this sense we can see we all work, whether to survive, by moving from drop-in to shelter to perhaps hospital to food bank to rooming house to food bank to drop-in, in the home with our children, our partners… we all work and some more than others.
If we started to describe our paid positions as jobs we might better respect the work of others without jobs.
It is great to have a great job, where your work is aligned with that of the (your) job. Few among us are that lucky; that it is an exception is sad, as is our innocent excitement at having a little of what is rightfully ours. Opal’s situation should be the rule. Our presence should dominate the hired positions at these agencies as well as our presence on their boards. In fact, a lot of the services “for the poor” could be run “by the poor”. As Pat Capponi said, “Why do we need executive directors, we’re not Bay St” (Zero Dollar Linda)
Once there, we have to be careful not to treat others the way we know we do not want to be treated ourselves, not to buy into their language for us, not to do the agencies bidding. Are we not there to BETTER serve us GIVEN and WITH our lived experience? I have seen many people fall victim to the tyranny of the middle-class model of service designed BY THEM FOR US once they are “given” a little power, respect, and the dignity cash brings one in this western culture of capitalism and consumerism.
The poor have enough ‘management’; we don’t need our community rushing to status and money, wielding power and authority and oppressing us in the same way everybody else does and we need to be mindful of this everyday in our dealings with each other. Enough people will tell us we don’t matter because……..a b c and d (and there’s a long list of why that might be according to how they want to diminish our value. ) I remember an incident where a fellow volunteer was “elevated” to paid staff and did a complete turn around and became your worst ‘welfare worker’ nightmare, like something from the ’50′s, and I see this phenomenon time and time again.
I hope we all continue the fight from the inside, those who dare go in, as we did so gallantly on the outside.
As for volunteering, in most of these places that “service the poor”, the volunteer pool is often drawn from the poor so it’s a double whammy stigma. You’re poor and you don’t have a job. You’re probably stupid, and child like too in need of babysitting/managing.
Funny, volunteers are still “clients” (sic) when using the services they volunteer at but those with jobs are not, even if they use the services of the agency. Why?
Ultimately, it is the way in which we see ourselves and others that counts. If we value and respect our volunteers the same as paid workers it will be reflected, and if we don’t, that will be reflected too.
Any volunteering I did, I brought many skills TO it and rarely if ever gained any transferable skills, learning as I did the runnings and makings of one org/agency all have to be re-learned wherever you go. Nor was I respected.
Volunteering for years on end without ever being offered employment, while your skills and talents are being used as well as your body, is a common occurrence among the poor. These places own our speeches, our art, our loyalty, and while they need us to keep their ‘service’ alive, they tell us in every way but to our faces exactly the esteem they hold us in and just how much control they have over our lives.
As to jobs, even if we were represented at 50% in these services for the poor, there would not be enough jobs for everybody, and some would simply not want to work in these environments. If we are now telling people to “get a job” we better make sure there are good fulfilling well paying jobs for all, because now even far beyond the service industry, everybody is paying ten dollars an hr, factories, warehouses, where once you could make 12 or so, now they’re paying 10. The service industry, bars, hotels etc..now go to young good looking middle class people whereas once a poor woman could always get a waitressing job and feed her family the same day with tips. So we have to be careful about espousing the benefits of having a job when many of us are not having that experience, where in fact, our self esteem is being diminished. Some of us are even being abused, underpaid or otherwise being taken advantage of.
After all, you would still have some who beat the rhythm of their own drum, and we could call them “social entrepreneurs”. They might want to run THEIR OWN drop-ins for EACH OTHER.
I have heard Cheryl Smith and others (Linda Chamberlain, Patrica Diaz et al) describe their work, while not paid, with similar words of satisfaction, accomplishment and even joy though they struggle financially and with the stigma (lack of credibility) attached to grassroots endevours on many occasions. In fact, I think Cheryl said she “felt blessed to be doing it”. This impresses upon me that it is NOT the money or status that provides any movement in real self-esteem or that self-esteem need be enhanced in only one way, if one needs ones self-esteem enhanced (and I can’t answer that for anybody else)
I think we need to embrace this entrepreneurial spirit in activism and make support and respect, incl financial, direct to the people who are birthing some great initiatives that benefit us all in the community here in Toronto and everywhere and not make them beholden to or compromised by it in anyway. Our time has come. Our competencies can no longer be denied. Reach beyond your own stigma and perceived limits.
All the best to the panel- these three great updates that continue to impress and inform me.
“What is the usefulness of social work theories to social work practitioners?
Social Work Theory informs the practice of a Social Worker by giving them a frame of reference to work from in relation to problem solving. Social Work Theory also enhances practice by explaining why Society is the way it is, and also goes further to explain why Clients face the problems they do. Social Work Theory can also help find solutions and inform the social worker about the intricate problems a client faces. For Instance – a client sitting on welfare day after day with no motivation and no desire to find a job – can be explained as being relative to “Structural Theory”. Thereby meaning that the structures set up in society have contributed to the self helplessness of the individual. A structure may be centrelink which simply hands out the benefit without the client not having to do anything in return. Clients who live like this are referred to in Social Work circles as having learned to be helpless through a system that supports and socializes them into this state of helplessness and inability or desire to do anything. Systems theory goes onto explain the holisitic dynamic that a client of family lives in. Say a Family is being investigated by Child Protection. The Child Protectionist would look at that Family and the system in which they live to see what part of the system can be strengthened so that child abuse stops. Part of the Family System includes, School, Employment, Community, Medical, Extended Family and so on. If one part of the system collapses in a family, pressure is put on that family. When pressure is put on a family some times abuse occurs. As employment and work is part of the system, if the father loses his job, he may start drinking. When drunk he may abuse the child. The Social Worker would then identify that in the System of the Family – the fathers unemployment has contributed to the abuse of the child – and would therefore go about fixing the unemployment problem with the father and alleviate the pressure so he would stop drinking and abusing the child. Such Frameworks and Theories are tools that Social Workers use every day. Feminist Theories help explain Domestic Violence. Sociology Theories help inform Social Work Policy. Theory makes a Social Worker Intelligent and informed. All theories are covered in a proper 4 year Bachelor Degree, only partially covered in a 2 year qualifying Masters Degree in Social Work – (which really just lightly touches on subjects and is not as good as the 4 year degree. The two year qualifying Masters is not really a Masters Degree in Social Work. A true Masters Degree in Social Work covers 5 years of Social Work Coursework and research). The qualifying Masters is perceived by employers to be a shortcut. Theory is not covered at all in a Diploma of Welfare.”
Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_usefulness_of_social_work_theories_to_social_work_practitioners#ixzz18U4WPjkW
comment from Star article on RRC Hunger Inquiry story (Dec 19/10)
“Compassion Takes Action
It DOES make sense to treat the causes of poverty, not react to its symptoms. If you give people a hand up and not a hand out, you’re doing that. A guaranteed annual income would be a start. T…hat needs to be tied to training and education programs that would require (‘allow’ rather) people to get employable skills. While we’re at it, let’s not claw back benefits while people are trying to get on their feet. We need to empower people, not penalize them, so that they can become productive, tax-paying citizens. If we don’t collectively summon the will to force governments to change the system, we will continue to see the erosion of the middle class and the creation of a two class society. We are allowing this to happen. We need to start getting involved and not allow decisions to be made by a small group of idealogical zealots whose raison-d’etre is based on self-interest.”
allow-
not require
as require insinuates that we would not make a mad dash at opportunity
and that still again we are beholden and managed
language is everything
Thanks to Paul, Michelle, Opal and Mark for bringing us up to date and sharing your insights and observations with us once again.
Thanks to all the panel members for their courage and conviction, their passion and their hope.
Looking forward…
we need to address food security issues. the states issues food stamps. here, we have food banks. better, more healthy to shop with the stamps, but to demeaning and humiliating. at least at the food bank, we’re all the same, but food inedible, environments for managing -maintaining status quo-poor people and imposition of social working
like to see a debit card for food with adequate mthly loads.
nutritious food basket a joke, a farce, a lie, an insult- take the middle-class average, that’s the way to determine what we need, not by third world measures
measure our poverty by third world measures, measure your wealth the same, everything is relative
a single person needs $70 a week, $300 mthly covers all non-food essentials at grocery store, anything less is a joke and its climbing by the minute
sufficient rent supplements that slide with market value and economy, portable but must be sufficient.
this gov’t MUST answer the question
“Just HOW do you think people are doing it? DO THE MATH!”
Well hello to all my friends in the Big City and especially to Cheryl, who’s diligent work and tireless efforts have given the Peoples Blueprint a format for all to see. I really enjoyed seeing Cheryl at the Dec 10th up-date and was pleased to meet those within the Metcalf Foundation. When I had my chance to thank them I forgot one crucial thing .. WE ARE NOT FINISHED !!! I do not feel that i represented my town to the best of my abilities. The problems with Social Assistance and the application of Social Assistance are not just in the G.T.A, it is a systemic problem . The Facilitators of the P.B.P knew that. They then choose those who are the Panel accordingly unfortunately, we the people didn’t get enough material or evidence to support the statements of the pain and hurt caused by un-feeling workers and un-realistic benefits. So if any of the wonderful benefactors are veiwing this please open the purse once again and allow this effective Panel to do more !
I agree with you Michelle especially in light of the fact that ODSP continues to make changes despite appointing the ministers and sarac -so much cannot even be addressed as changes they grow rapidly and day by day.
Soon after the New Year, i was hit with the announcement that the cut to special diets- everybody and all- would be complete by June end and that we would have to re-apply. With a cancer diagnosis, you have to be
wasting from it before you get the money and of course by then you have pretty much stopped eating altogether.
Again, inconsistency, when some I know with this diagnosis get it and others do not, and again we don’t take into consideration the necessary daily nutritional requirements according to the cancer society or the Canadian food guide when determining food costs and the ever increasing cost of living.
Nor do we base or even take into consideration shelter costs when determining the amount allotted for it.
We have to jump through hoops just to get a transportation allowance because without one we are doomed and the month is too long and I guess for the poor this is deemed a luxury item even with a cancer diagnosis, as if drs and other forms of treatment weren’t on the regular schedule.
My experience with dental coverage I could write a book about, and like my friend Flora Terah says, they wouldn’t believe these (there are so many) stories about the wealthy country Canada in Kenya.
and so I find myself slowly losing faith, tho I surely don’t want that to spread around…but we are starting already so far behind the starting gate- we can’t even feed and house people- and even if we had enough each of us, it would still take a long time to catch up.
and the working poor are in even worse shape, having no health or dental coverage at all and earning at the average rate of odsp-
interesting stuff going on with city social services here in Toronto tho and odsp might want to take a few lessons- how ’bout smaller municipal units under a provincial umbrella -that model more the support and coaching style of Toronto’s new sail program/ and in touch with local trends and needs/ restructure the bureaucratic monstrosity
and money has to be found at the top, and no longer the bottom- administrative cuts and cost cutting must come first, not last- they’re hiring while they’re cutting us; what sense does it make to have some administration costing more than that which is dispersed or administrated?