February 2008

HB2896 - Increase public assistance grants to account for cost of living.

Sponsored by Rep. Darneille, HB2896 directs DSHS to annually increase general assistance and TANF grant levels to recipients of the program at a rate equal to the annual percentage increase in the consumer price index for all urban consumers as reported by the bureau of labor statistics of the US Dept. of Labor. HB2896 was referred to the Early Learning and Children's Services Committee but has not been scheduled for a hearing. What a TANF grant will pay for has been steadily decreasing. In 1983 it paid for 63% of a . . .

October 2007

by Monica Peabody

What has your local welfare rights group in Olympia been doing since you heard from us in the June Works in Progress (“What’s Up With WROC?”) We have been continuing the daily work of giving information to low income people about their rights at the welfare office, providing witnesses to people for their welfare appointments, doing weekly outreach at the welfare office with coffee and pastries, providing volunteer, intern and work study opportunities for office and community organizing work, insisting the voice of low-income parents be present at legislative and policy . . .

June 2007

by Monica Peabody

I have been involved with the Welfare Rights Organizing Coalition (WROC), for a long time. I have a 17 year old daughter and became aware of wroc when she was an infant and we lived in a studio apartment in Seattle. Her father had abandoned us and no one wanted to hire a woman who refused to put her newborn into daycare, insisting she could work with her on her back.

March 2007

On March 1, 2007 thirty-one families with children living in poverty lost their welfare grants. Thus begins the most mean-spirited welfare reform policy this state has yet known: full family sanction. It means the end of a cash grant for families receiving welfare assistance who are perceived as not following the rules for WorkFirst. A steady flow of families will face full family sanction in the next 6 months, and as many as 1,269 may lose their cash income.

July 2006

by Monica Peabody

Governor Christine Gregoire was the keynote speaker at this year's graduation ceremony at the Evergreen State College. She is strange company in the list of past graduation speakers; Shirley Chisolm, Leonard Peltier, bell hooks, Winona LaDuke, Mumia Abu-Jamal, Ken Kesey, Amy Goodman, to name a few. Stranger still is Governor Gregoire's recent decision to cut the welfare benefits of children whose parents are perceived as not complying with welfare to work rules. Strangest of all is Governor Gregoire's refusal to explain or even acknowledge her decision.

June 2006

by WROC members Karin Murphy, Shannon Blood and Monica Peabody

SANCTION: A penalty intended to enforce compliance or conformity; a coercive measure adopted usually by several nations against a nation violating international law.

Does this seem like a word that should be associated with Washington's poor children? Yes, according to Governor Gregoire. As of March 2007, children living in Washington will be "sanctioned" -- their welfare benefits cut off -- if their parents are perceived as not complying with welfare to work programs. Though it will harm children already facing a lack of support for . . .

November 2005

by Monica Peabody

Do you benefit from taxes? Do you drive? Ride public transportation? Read books from the library? Do your children go to school? Do you receive public assistance? Go to the park? Recycle? Use tap water?

Do you pay taxes? Washington state collects several types of taxes including sales tax, business and occupation taxes (B & O) and property taxes. There is a notion that only property owners pay property tax, however renters pay property taxes, because rents increase to cover the costs of property taxes. Sales tax costs the same for everyone, regardless of income. Low-income . . .

July 2005

Olympia, WA -- 6/22/05 -- Since 1999, WROC has been grading DSHS on customer service and the WorkFirst Program. Olympia WROC members delivered this years grades to Region 6 Administrator, Cindy Mund, on Wednesday, June 22, 2005. We were surprised that the entire management team for the region was also present.

July 2003

by Gabrielle Jordan-Cooley

Money within the state budget is seeing another shift as the legislative session draws to a close. Although projections for the community are often vague, one change deemed necessary by the governing forces, is an alteration to the amount of aid set aside for the poor. In response to the steady increase of welfare cases, Gov. Locke anticipates making a 6% case reduction. To do so, a number of proposals have been outlined:

July 2003

May 30, 2003

Dear Governor:

We are here to meet with you today about your support of low-income families. We are members of WROC, the Welfare Rights Organizing Coalition, and our allies. WROC is a grassroots, nonprofit organization whose mission is to affect social and economic justice by educating and empowering our members to effect positive change in their communities and in their lives.