Here & Now

Closer Look: Wisconsinites Discuss Food Stamp Changes

Frederica Freyberg:

In tonight’s “Closer Look,” there’s a new generation of welfare reform shaping up in Wisconsin. The proposed 2017-19 budget expands on work requirements for food stamp recipients. Two years ago, able-bodied single adults started being required to work or train for work in return for FoodShare, which is just under $200 a month for one single person. So the new proposal includes having parents of school-age children to meet the same requirements. But how have recipients fared under the rules that went into effect two years ago. We met three men required to train for work or be employed under FoodShare rules. Here's what we found.

Daniel Cotton:

Right now, short on meat.

Frederica Freyberg:

48-year-old Daniel Cotton of Milwaukee says he lost his FoodShare benefits in December.

Daniel Cotton:

Eggs and bread and peanut butter of course.

Frederica Freyberg:

An inventory of his fridge shows what the church or food pantries have given him.

Daniel Cotton:

So I got enough ketchup. When I get some more hot dogs, I have some more of that. You just go without for a period of time. You just have some cereal, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. You know it’s more than a lot of people have so you’re thankful.

Frederica Freyberg:

Cotton says he’s lost 12 pounds since losing FoodShare benefits. He says he was working a part-time job but was declared ineligible after failing to attend required FoodShare employment and training appointments because he says they happened during his work hours.

Daniel Cotton:

I didn’t have a high education level. Some of the things you don’t understand that you get in the mail about having to respond to FoodShare.

Frederica Freyberg:

Also, like many people enrolled in or trying to get benefits, Cotton doesn’t have a working computer. This free computer lab serves people at an agency in Beloit. People like 37-year-old Kendrick Payton who’s unemployed and also lost his FoodShare benefits under the 2015 rule requiring training or work.

Kendrick Payton:

It’s kind of difficult to understand all the paperwork and red tape they want you to go through and do. I don’t have a computer, I mean, you can go to the job center, but right now, I don’t have a vehicle to get back and forth. You know, I'm not working, so it’s kind of hard to get somebody to take me to Janesville every time.

Frederica Freyberg:

Payton says he got a letter from the state concerning his FoodShare, which he says he didn’t understand. He says when he couldn’t get to the job center location to iron out the issue, he lost his benefit. Advocates like David Lee of Feeding Wisconsin are all too familiar with the barriers people face.

David Lee:

We're here in Beloit, in order to participate in this program, you have to orient in Janesville. You don’t have a car or bus fare or whatever it might be to take the 20, 30-minute trip up to Janesville, you can’t participate in this amazing program. So I think some of these challenges are extremely real for folks who are living, you know, on the edge of poverty or who are unemployed trying to do their best to make a better life for themselves.

Frederica Freyberg:

Lee says a good paying job is the best antihunger tool in the hunger-fighting toolbox. And his organization and others support increased access to training or good jobs including access like what’s offered through the FoodShare employment and training program which Governor Scott Walker wants to expand.

Scott Walker:

We want to ensure that people who are able to work actually enter the workforce. For starters, that means that abled-bodied adults will need to be employed at least 80 hours a month to receive benefits like food stamps. If not they’ll need to be enrolled in our job training program.

Frederica Freyberg:

Despite being dropped from FoodShare, Kendrick Payton continues to participate in worker training through Community Action of Beloit and wants to work.

Kendrick Payton:

I would like to have a full time job and be able to provide for my kids.

Frederica Freyberg:

Payton is among more than 60,000 FoodShare recipients who lost benefits under the 2015 requirement for work or training according to the State Department of Health and Human Services. But more than 20,000 recipients found jobs.

David Lee:

We think it’s great that 20,000 people found jobs. We hope they are on the path to living healthy, hunger-free productive lives. The 60,000 who lost benefits, I think, we’re extremely concerned about, right, because I think we are concerned that policymakers don’t fundamentally understand the challenges that people are experiencing in trying to enroll in these programs.

Frederica Freyberg:

With what is known about the numbers, what about the expansion of the work training program to parents?

David Lee:

Again, it’s great that 20,000 people found jobs. That is super exciting. But I would imagine and I would hope that before we implement an overly broad work requirement for families with children, we should probably understand how well the program is working now so that we can actually laser target the program to ensure that the most people are able to benefit from it.

Frederica Freyberg:

41-year-old Antonio Johnson of Beloit was able to benefit from the work training requirement and landed a job as a result.

Antonio Johnson:

Going through the program, going on the Wisconsin Job Network site, that’s actually where I located the job where I'm currently working. While I was in class, I applied, took a shot in the dark. Went for orientation. And then a week before I graduated, they called me in again for another interview and offered me the job.

Frederica Freyberg:

Johnson now works full-time at Hormel in Beloit and because of his income is no longer eligible for FoodShare.

Antonio Johnson:

I have the confidence knowing that I'm doing it on my own now without any help and assistance. It’s a big relief right there to know that I can take care of my family. And, you know, it just feels like the sky’s the limit now.

Woman:

This is your eggs. Then out of there, you can choose three items out of the fridge, ok?

Kendrick Payton:

All right.

Frederica Freyberg:

For his part, Kendrick Payton says he is eligible for FoodShare again in three years. He hopes he won’t need it but for now, while he looks for work, he visits local food pantries in order to eat.

Kendrick Payton:

Since I'm not getting FoodShare right now, I just gotta try and make things work the best I can.

Frederica Freyberg:

The director of this pantry says it has seen a significant uptick of customers in recent years.

Donna Ambrose:

The biggest story we hear is that the resources they get are not enough or the jobs they’re working don’t pay a living wage. And so even though they're working, they’re doing everything that’s asked of them, everything that’s required, they’re still struggling.

Frederica Freyberg:

But there are efforts being made to change the struggle to success, like the success that despite his own barriers Antonio Johnson felt when he was offered a full-time, good paying job.

Antonio Johnson:

For the first time in a long time, I felt like I was going to be able to have not just some stability but I was going to be able to do things I always wanted to do. I could actually think about being able to save and buy a house. I could actually think about the fact that I'm going to be able to pay my bills and buy my own groceries and still be able to do other things for my kids. You know?

Frederica Freyberg:

Again, Governor Walker wants to expand the training or work requirement as a pilot program to include FoodShare recipients with school age children. He's also pursuing drug testing for food stamp recipients.