The Reason for the Season Petition

The Reason for the Season Petition

Do you agree with the speakers/endorsers listed below from the CHANGES Real Majority Project's Ninth Annual Holiday Interfaith Candlelight Vigil for the Poor on these four important ways to help low-income county residents?

1. Make sure that all county residents who are eligible for benefits get them.
2. Fully fund child care for all working families who need it here in
our county.
3. Make sure companies doing business with county pay employees a living wage.
4. Renew/expand first-month security deposit loans for low-income residents.

Sign on to this petition-- join Lateef Islam, Mae Parker-Harris,
Marion Vines, and Willye Bromfield, Rev. Gail Burger (Presbyterian
Church USA), Rabbi Paul Golomb (Vassar Temple), Fr. Frank Alagna
(St Margaret's Episcopal Church), Rev. H. Dwight Bolton (Smith
Metropolitan A.M.E. Zion Church), Rev. Philip Carr-Harris (St. Paul's
Church), Rev. Kay Greenleaf (Unitarian Universalist Fellowship),
Brian Riddell (Dutchess Outreach), Jacki Brownstein (Mental Health
Association), Maggie Van Vogt (Grace Smith House), and County Legislator Joel Tyner.

Contact our County Legislature at 486-2100 or [email protected]

Contact NYS Legislature at (877) 255-9417.

Contact Congress at (800) 839-5276.

Real Majority Project: 876-2488 or [email protected]

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ELDERLY PHARMACEUTICAL INSURANCE COVERAGE & FOOD STAMPS FOR ALL ELIGIBLE

One third of our state's seniors who are eligible for EPIC (Elderly Pharmaceutical Insurance Coverage) program haven't even heard about it. [CMWF.org/publications/publications_show.htm?doc_id=221313]

"As a result of lack of coverage or inadequate benefits, one-fifth of
all New York seniors and one-third of seniors without drug coverage
reported that they skipped doses of medication or did not fill a
prescription because of cost concerns...New York's two key public
programs to supplement Medicare for seniors-- Medicaid and Elderly
Pharmaceutical Insurance Coverage (EPIC)--in combination reach just
one-third of seniors with incomes at or below 200 percent of the
federal poverty level...Only 60 percent of seniors with incomes that
would potentially make them eligible for EPIC had heard of it...In
2001, New York Medicaid drug benefits covered fewer than half (45\%)
of seniors with incomes below poverty...One-third (34\%) of poor
seniors who indicated they were aware of Medicaid but not enrolled in
it thought they had too much money to qualify."
[New York Seniors and Prescription Drugs: Seniors Remain at Risk
Despite State Efforts" also from the Commonwealth Fund:
www.cmwf.org/publications/publications_show.htm?doc_id=221313]

There are also now 11,000 people in Dutchess County who are eligible
for food stamps but aren't getting them, according to the Nutrition
Consortium of New York State).
[www.hungernys.org/programs/foodstamps/trendreport.html]

"When more eligible people receive food stamps and use them at local food retail stores and farmers markets, the infusion of federal food stamp dollars boosts local economies and creates jobs. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates that each $1 spent in food stamp benefits generates about $1.84 in economic activity." [Nutrition Consortium of NYS press release 12/03 is still quite applicable: "Localities in New York Lose More Than $1 Billion Per Year in Federal: ww.hungernys.org/programs/foodstamps/trendreport.html]

Recall as well cover story/series of articles in the Times Herald-Record November 21st...Good example of Chemung County (re: outreach for food stamps-- we need to make sure our county is doing the same)--
"How One County Does It" by Victor Whitman
[www.recordonline.com/archive/2004/11/21/vwfoodsi.htm]

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HEALTH INSURANCE AND UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS FOR ALL WHO ARE ELIGIBLE

Less than half of the New Yorkers who are actually eligible for
unemployment benefits are getting them.
[www.nelp.org/ui/state/states/nyui082603.cfm]

About half of our state's residents without health insurance actually
qualify right now for Child Health Plus, Family Health Plus, Health
New York, or another health insurance program-- it's just the red
tape that stops this.

"A study by the United Hospital Fund concluded 410,000 children are
eligible for Medicaid and Child Health Plus coverage but aren't
getting it, along with 870,000 adults who are eligible for Medicaid
or Family Health Plus...an estimated 1.3 million of the state's
uninsured are eligible for coverage under existing programs -- enough
to close the ranks of the uninsured by an astounding 44 percent...New
York has 2.9 million uninsured residents, who last year cost
hospitals $1.7 billion in so-called uncompensated care." [$908,000
last year alone at Northern Dutchess Hospital]
"New York's Uninsured Need Not Be" by Mary Beth Pfeiffer
PoughkeepsieJournal.com/projects/uninsured/index.shtml

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CHILD CARE FOR ALL WORKING FAMILIES WHO NEED IT

"In New York 54\% of children under six have both parents in the labor
force. In New York State, the average cost of childcare for a
four-year-old is $8,060 a year - almost twice the cost of tuition at
a four-year public college ($4,350). In New York working families
with incomes below 200\% of the poverty level (about 30,000 per year
for a family of three) may be eligible for help paying for their
child care. However, there is not enough funding to serve all the
families eligible for a child care subsidy. According to the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, only 18\% of the 880,900
eligible children in New York State receive child care assistance."
[Children's Defense Fund: www.cdfny.org/Issues/CDFIssues_ChildCare.htm]

The Child Care That Works Coalition, co-convened by the
Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy and New York State Child
Care Coordinating Council, recommends that "New York should increase its eligibility ceiling for subsidized child care from the current
200\% to 275\% of the federal poverty level"; the coalition includes
AFSCME New York State, Children's Defense Fund - NY, Citizen Action
of NY, Citizens' Committee for Children of NY, Family Child Care
Association of NYS, Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, Fight
Crime: Invest in Kids- NY, Greater Upstate Law Project, National
Association of Social Workers, NYS Chapter, NOW Legal Defense and
Education Fund, NY Child Care Association, NYS Association for the
Education of Young Children, NYS Child Care Coordinating Council, NYS Head Start Association, NYS League of Women Voters, SENSES, and United Way of New York State. [www.scaany.org/cctw.html]

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A LIVING WAGE FOR ALL EMPLOYEES OF COMPANIES DOING BUSINESS WITH COUNTY

It was the Republican-led Suffolk County Legislature who led the way
on this, in many ways, three years ago when they passed a living wage
ordinance there. As the Working Families Party notes-- "All work has
dignity, and should be paid as such. No one who works should earn
poverty level wages. Since our founding in 1998, we've won living
wage ordinances in New York City, Suffolk County (the first ordinance
in the country to be passed by a Republican legislature) and
Westchester County."
[www.workingfamiliesparty.org/issues/livingwage.html]

Over a hundred other municipalities across the country have also passed similar ordinances. [www.livingwagecampaign.org]

Don't forget what happens when companies don't pay their workers properly-- local taxpayers end up footing the bill for taxpayer-funded health care, food stamps, and subsidized housing anyway-- see:

"New Study Finds Wal-Mart's Miserly Wages Cost Taxpayers"

"California taxpayers are spending $86 million a year providing
healthcare and other public assistance to the state's 44,000 Wal-Mart
employees, according to a new study by UC Berkeley's Institute for
Industrial Relations. The study, "Hidden Cost of Wal-Mart Jobs,"
found that the average Wal-Mart worker required $730 in
taxpayer-funded healthcare and $1,222 in other forms of assistance,
such as food stamps and subsidized housing, to get by."
[NewRules.org/retail/news_slug.php?slugid=258]

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HELP LOW-INCOME COUNTY RESIDENTS-- RENEW/EXPAND FIRST MONTH LOAN PROGRAM

Nevill Smythe [email protected]>, Vice President of Programs for the
www.communityfoundationdc.org) recently wrote this description of the effective program he has managed helping county residents with first-month security deposit loans-- and the good work that could be done helping more low-income working folks in our county pull themselves up by their bootstraps if the county moved to wisely invest more funding into this program:

"Helping the Homeless in Poughkeepsie"

"Since 2003, The Community Foundation of Dutchess County has managed a fund named The Dean Family Fund. This fund provides grants through local nonprofit organizations to assist low and moderate income residents of Dutchess County in obtaining affordable rental housing.

The goal of the fund is to loan some amount of rent, usually the
security deposit and maybe the first month's rent, to an individual
which would be paid back to the fund over an agreed upon time
schedule. In this way the fund would be replenished and other loans
made available to others for the same purpose.

The Community Foundation of Dutchess County has utilized the services of Hudson River Housing to identify qualified candidates and to maintain contact with the borrower. In addition, Hudson River
Housing provides counseling on financial and other housing issues to
educate the borrower on "home ownership."

The program currently runs as follows: HRH identifies the potential
borrower. HRH notifies the Community Foundation, who provides the
payment to the landlord. HRH follows up with the tenant regularly to
hopefully keep them paying back the loan. Payments are forwarded to
the Community Foundation to replenish the fund. HRH receives a fee
of $25.00 for each loan that involves financial counseling.

To-date, thirteen loans have been made, three have been paid back,
three are new, one is actively paying back through payroll deduction,
three have made some payments but not recently, one is still open but
no payments have been made and two are closed and not fully paid back.

The fund opened with $5,010.02 with an additional $2,772.60 added
to total $7,782.62.

A total of $7,905.00 in security deposits/rent have been paid out.

$2,255.61 in tenant payments have been made to-date.

We would project that at least $1,600 to $2,000 more will be paid
back from this group of tenants.

There is a current balance of $1,870.43 available in the fund.

We will likely make the following change to the relationship with HRH
as we go forward. We are considering granting the funds to HRH in
advance and they would be responsible for monthly reports to the
Community Foundation. Their continued performance in maintaining a
reasonable payback of the loans would be one of the criteria in
assessing their continued participation in the program.

Additional Funding

Should significant new funds become available for this program, we
would recommend the following course of action. In order to make
sure that full coverage of the county is obtained, we would develop a
request for proposal which would be sent to relevant agencies in the
county like, Hudson River Housing, Dutchess Community Action
Partnership, Dutchess Outreach, etc. They would need to propose
programs that would utilize the funds in a similar way to the
existing program or in a manner determined by the source of the funds.

A review committee would be selected to review the proposals and
recommend the selections based on an approved set of criteria. The
Community Foundation of Dutchess County could act as a
repository/distributor of the funds and monitor the progress of the
program(s) if desired. We would expect that a combination of
agencies would be utilized in order to maximize geographic coverage
and provide a way to compare the success of various agencies in
managing the program."