PROVIDENCE — Local faith leaders gathered at a State House press conference?June 2 to urge lawmakers not to cut 3,000 families and their 5,000 children from the R.I. Works Programs at the end of June.
As a result of new time limits that were passed last year, affected Rhode Island families will soon be dropped from the program that provides cash assistance ($554 a month for a family of three) — money that helps to pay rent and put food on the table.
The Rhode Island Interfaith Coalition, along with other anti-poverty advocates, encouraged lawmakers to postpone the cuts for 12 months, so that qualified families can continue to receive the necessary assistance to get by in this troubled economy.
“The Interfaith Coalition was created to help reduce poverty in our state,” said Rev. Dr. Liliana DaValle of the American Baptist Churches of Rhode Island. “We are counting on our elected officials to protect these families by postponing for 12 months the time limits that they enacted last year.”
The Rhode Island Interfaith Coalition emphasized that saving R.I. Works benefits for families is a main priority for this legislative session, in hopes of preventing thousands of children and their parents from sinking further into poverty. The coalition includes more than 50 faith and advocacy organizations in Rhode Island.
Father Bernard A. Healey, governmental liaison for the Diocese of Providence, explained that economic conditions today are very different than they were when the R.I. Works law was passed last year imposing shorter time limits for the delivery of benefits. The lifetime limit was reduced from 60 months to 48 months, and for the first time, families are limited to receiving assistance for 24 months in any 60 month period.
“Then the unemployment rate was 7.5 percent - no one could have imagined that it would jump to over 11 percent,” said Father Healey. “The changing conditions call for a change to the policy – the short time limits that were enacted last year just don’t work in today’s environment. Postponing the time limits is a practical and common sense solution that will protect our children.”
The coalition is not only worried about the damage that the loss of benefits will do to families; there is also concern regarding the strain on community and faith-based organizations, such as food pantries and homeless shelters, that are already serving record numbers of Rhode Island families, according to a press release from the Interfaith Coalition.
The coalition expressed that, “there are over 6,700 people using the homeless shelters across the state — including almost 1,600 children. The food pantries have seen a 20 percent increase in request for assistance. And the United Way’s 2-1-1 help line reports that requests for assistance have jumped by over 50 percent in recent months.”
“We stand united today to express our concern to voice the hope the legislative that postpone by at least 12 months,” said Rabbi Alan Flam, of Brown University’s Swearer Center for Public Service. “Our economy is in crisis. Our families are in crisis. The faith community is on the front line in meeting the day to day needs of families and we cannot meet a new demand from 3,000 families. We need a systemic solution, and that is to postpone the cash assistance time limits for 12 months.”
Rev. Jeffrey Williams, of the Cathedral of Life Christian Assembly said that he prays that legislators will make the right decisions about a postponement in cuts.
“It’s the money that is used to keep them off the streets, out of the shelters,” said Rev. Williams. “It’s the money that keeps them eating with the lights still on. I have to believe that the powers that be know it’s the right thing to do.”
Father Healey explained that the state government has been a national leader in providing safety nets for the poor and needy, but added that it is vital that the priorities of state leaders reflect the future of the children.
“The measure of our social programs should be reducing poverty, not cutting resources and programs that support the poor,” said Father Healey. “The economy has made it harder and harder for families in Rhode Island to make ends meet. These are some of the most vulnerable families. Now is not the time to cut the slender thread of assistance that may be all that stands between the family and homelessness.”
