Community’s Welfare Rests in Our Hands

Often when I tell people what I do, I am greeted with an incredulous stare. Then comes the inevitable response: “Are there any poor people in Orange County?”

I soon came to realize that it is not such a silly question. Orange County is much better off than other parts of California. There are, however, extreme, if isolated, areas of need. Of the more than 23,000 families receiving cash assistance, over half are residents of just four cities: Santa Ana, Anaheim, Garden Grove, and Westminster. At the same time, the 12 cities that make up South County account for one-fifth of the county population, but just one-twentieth of the welfare caseload. We are truly a county divided in two: one affluent and secure and the other that struggles daily.

Also, the federal welfare and immigration reform laws of 1996 dramatically altered the impact of immigrants, the most vulnerable members of our society. Most are ineligible for federal means-tested programs until they either become citizens or work 40 quarters. California is using state funds to cover needy immigrants, though whether the state will be so generous when the economy takes the inevitable turn for the worse remains to be seen.

The old welfare program has now also been replaced by Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, or TANF (called CalWORKs in California)--and “temporary” is the operative word. No longer is cash assistance a federal entitlement. Dollar amounts available to the program are fixed, and adults face a five-year lifetime limit on benefits. There are also, for the first time, strict work requirements: 32 hours a week in Orange County.

Certainly, today’s historically low unemployment rate, together with the increased public funding for training and child care that accompanied welfare reform, provide a unique opportunity for jobs. Unfortunately, these “success stories” will earn little more, and many actually may be worse off.

This brings us back to Orange County. It is a tough place to be poor. The 1997 federal poverty line for a family of three was $13,330. A family with an income at the federal poverty line cannot even cover the most basic necessities of food and shelter in this county.

Of course I don’t need to tell anybody from Orange County that housing costs here are high. We have the dubious distinction of having the worst ratio of affordable housing to low-income population in the country. Nearly half of renters pay more than 30% of their income in rent, the definition of a high cost burden. The typical wait for subsidized housing is eight to 10 years.

What is a mother supposed to do when her 3-year-old gets the chicken pox and she doesn’t have any sick days? Which leads us to the matter of child care. The retail jobs we see advertised in every Orange County strip mall typically have schedules that don’t match up with the schedules of most day care centers. Neither, come to think of it, do Orange County bus schedules.

Welfare recipients typically have low levels of education and work experience and many lack facility with English. Many are disabled. Others lack “life skills” for the workplace. Most welfare recipients can get a job. But it’s keeping the job that’s difficult.

Of all the barriers, however, perhaps the one that we’re least aware of, but could actually start doing something about today, is the attitude of the general population. In a recent opinion poll, more than half of respondents said they hardly ever, or never, entered an area of the county where poor people live. It is easy to see how an “out of sight, out of mind” mentality develops.

It’s not, I’m convinced, that our more affluent residents are not charitable, though Orange County does rank notoriously low, nationally, in terms of charitable giving. Rather, it’s that in our comfortable surroundings and our everyday hassles, we just don’t realize the real struggles going on a few miles away. Unfortunately, Horatio Alger stories are more the exception than the rule. Even if welfare reform is wildly successful, we still will have nearly as many poor people as before, and they will be poor for a long time.

The assumption that charity belongs at home implies that private individuals, congregations, businesses, service organizations and nonprofits will rise to meet the needs of those the federal government is no longer assisting. This view is consistent with the most noble aspects of the conservative political philosophy typically associated with Orange County.

Those of us who are more fortunate have a responsibility to those less fortunate. We are now at a critical juncture. If we are to be true to our moral principles we must broaden our definition of “community,” recognize the true need that exists in Orange County, and begin to focus our energies on compassionate and innovative responses to that need.