Poverty is the driving cause of food insecurity and hunger, which take an enormous toll on people’s lives and our communities.
Most Americans ages 20 to 75 will face poverty for at least a year of their lives. This is typically due to a sudden change in life’s circumstances and a lack of family wealth.
Aside from it being immoral for a nation of such immense wealth as ours to tolerate rampant poverty, it is a tremendously costly social problem that affects us all in one way or another. Poverty can’t just be ignored.
Addressing Poverty
Every human being deserves a living wage. In the U.S. and in Pennsylvania, the minimum wage doesn’t come close. Meanwhile, our governments fail to provide for workers what most other developed nations do: paid sick leave, family leave, maternity leave, affordable child care, and affordable housing. It is the lack of these things, along with centuries of systemic racism, that has led to rampant wealth inequality and poverty.
It is critical that when facing poverty, people are not forced to rely on charity. Charity helps, but it can’t come close to meeting the needs of the roughly 38 million Americans – including 11.6% of Allegheny County residents, more than 1/3 of them children and seniors – who were living in poverty at last count.
Only government programs have the power and reach to help people afford the basics like food, medical care, and housing. They ensure a humane standard of living in this country and also provide necessary investments in under-served communities.
Government assistance helps people on a fixed income, like seniors and people with disabilities. These programs also lift up low-income working adults and families.
Unfortunately, the existing “welfare” system is often humiliating, frustrating, and unfair. It suffers from insufficient funding, poor policy implementation, administrative inefficiency, and misguided policies. This all denies, delays or deters many eligible people from receiving the public aid they need.
Welfare is a Right
For years, Just Harvest has been helping Allegheny County residents understand their welfare rights and overcome the obstacles they run into when applying for government benefits that reduce hunger and poverty. These benefit programs include nutrition assistance (SNAP/food stamps) as well as cash assistance( TANF), medical assistance, and home heating assistance (LIHEAP) through Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services.
Just Harvest and its members also advocate statewide and nationally for a more compassionate government benefits (or “welfare”) system. We believe that everyone has the right to a dignified life, a voice in the decisions that affect them, and a clear path to self-sufficiency.
How We Strengthen the Safety Net
Through one-on-one client support and advocacy we strive to eliminate unnecessary barriers to government assistance in times of need.
We also aim to improve the quality of human services programs by:
- lobbying for more sensible, compassionate, and fair government assistance policies at the federal and state level;
- holding policy-makers and government agencies directly accountable to assistance clients;
- educating the public about the realities of the welfare system; and
- working to improve DHS customer service and to make high-quality service more accessible.
