Welfare Mother Blasts Anti-Poverty Agency’s Goals

A welfare mother of two who sits on the board of Orange County’s largest anti-poverty agency told board members Wednesday that they are failing to help the poor become self-sufficient.

“The agency’s programs for the poor are adequate, but do not speak to the problem of helping poor people become independent,” said Marta Lopez-Digby, who joined the board of directors of Orange County’s Community Development Council in January.

Lopez-Digby, 40, who spoke at a public meeting, said more than half of the board’s 15 members are county employees and business executives who “don’t know what it is to be poor.”

“I’m the only one who is poor who sits on the board now,” she said.

Jim Hamlett, a spokesman for the council, agreed with her but said the board’s role is “only to monitor bylaws.” The staff, he said, runs the agency itself.

The Community Development Council operates with an annual budget of about $6 million. Its mission is to provide vital services, including free food, transportation and health services, to Orange County’s poor.

Agency’s Future

Earlier Wednesday, Lopez-Digby said she had decided to air her opinion publicly because “I’m very concerned about this agency and its future. I believe that the council should have programs designed to make the poor self-sufficient. We’ve lost sight of that goal.”

Lopez-Digby’s statement was made at a time when the board is suffering a “battle of egos” between its members and John Flores, the council’s president, according to a council staff member who did not wish to be identified.

Flores, whose two-year contract expires May 7, recently placed himself on administrative leave when he became unhappy with negotiations over his contract.

Although the board’s chairman, Herbert Schwartz, has expressed confidence in Flores and a desire to retain him, Flores said Wednesday that contract negotiations are still at an impasse.

Lopez-Digby’s complaint about the board echoed criticisms by Clinton Rogers, a board member three years ago and a member of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People. Rogers said he had become frustrated with what he called the board’s failure to solve problems and help the poor become self-sufficient.

Lopez-Digby said the board needs to hear how the poor live to plan programs that will increase the ranks of those becoming self-sufficient.

“I’m the only person that represents the disadvantaged, and I’m always completely outvoted because of the unbalanced nature of those on the board,” she said.