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Director's Message
November 19, 2004
To: DHS Employees
From: Gary Weeks, Director
Struggling to make ends meet
Forty years ago, Sargent Shriver was appointed to head the first federal Office of Economic Opportunity and started the job by asking, "How would you end poverty in America?" Forty years later, we still have not found the answer to that question.
The growing numbers of Oregonians struggling to make ends meet may be your neighbors, people you see at your place of worship, or even your child's school friends.
Never before have we seen so many at or near the poverty level. Consider the following facts:
- Today about one in three children in Oregon is living at or near poverty.
- The number of "working poor" has never been so great in this state - about 600,000 people.
- About two-thirds of low-income families can't find housing or childcare they can afford.
- The number of elderly, over age 65, still working has more than doubled in the past 10 years - due in large part to economic hardships.
Our agency is one place where we see the consequences of poverty every day - crossing all parts of the department. We share many of the same clients who may be struggling with financial and work issues, alcohol and drug abuse, child abuse, access to health care, physical or developmental disabilities, or seniors in need of assistance.
The changing face of poverty in Oregon
Who are the people considered poor today? Practically speaking, the 2004 federal poverty guidelines are set at an annual income of $18,850 for a family of four and $9,310 for an individual. These are the guidelines that agencies like ours use to set eligibility for programs like food stamps, emergency cash assistance, childcare, and health care.
But what happens to you if you are just outside this limit? Let's say you are in a family of four and you make $1,700 a month at a job that provides no health insurance. You are slightly above the federal poverty level and probably not eligible for many of our services.
If you subtract out $650 per month for rent for a place to live, and another $500 per month for child care so you can work to earn this money - that leaves you with about $550 for the rest of the month to cover food, transportation, utilities, health care and anything else you might need.
This is an example of the kind of families falling through the cracks in these tight budget times that we are living in - not eligible for state services, but still poor all the same.
These are the families who continue to crowd into food banks, juggle day care providers, and end up in the emergency rooms with extremely sick children because they can't afford the preventative medical care to keep them healthy.
As families like these begin to climb out of extreme poverty, they end up losing eligibility for programs that we as a state offer - like health care, food benefits, and child care assistance. That can leave them with less money than they had when they were considered "poor."
Our challenge is to continue to stay focused on addressing the conditions that are widely acknowledged to trigger poverty - economic insecurity and stability, education, homelessness, hunger and food insecurity, divorce and separation, substance abuse, and mental illness. All contribute to the problem of poverty nationally. Our commitment to address these conditions need to continue, even in the face of declining resources.
Challenges to our systems
Clearly, agencies like ours are not going to be able to address the growing needs of this group of people alone. Cutbacks and reductions the department has taken over the years have borne that out. The eligibility and access of the programs we do have are more limited now and many, many, many more Oregonians are and will continue to fall through the cracks of these programs.
It's going to take a collective effort - involving communities, private agencies, faith-based organizations, and others - to reach out to the hundreds of thousands of people who make up the changing face of poverty in Oregon.
We have developed many strong partnerships in communities around this state and we need to continue to follow this model. We are going to keep looking for creative solutions that go beyond one agency or one program.
When we help someone become a more productive citizen - with job skills, parenting skills, becoming clean and sober, or other supports - we help ourselves as a society.
A severely disabled Oregonian wrote to DHS recently that - even though she would like it if we could provide more supports to persons with disabilities - our agency had helped her immensely - by showing her how to become a more independent and productive citizen. "As I am writing this letter to you with my big toe," she stated, she wanted all of us to know that without our help she might have become destitute, or worse.
While the facts and figures surrounding poverty can make the situation seem hopeless, it never is. It's letters like this one that remind us in spite of what, at times, may seem like formidable odds, we still can help make a positive difference.
Making a Difference
DHS' Making a Difference Web site is now available to you.
There you will find county fact sheets and individual stories, as we develop them, on how DHS and our partners are making a difference in people's lives every day. You'll also find forms to submit stories and photos. We'll post other related information there as we create it to help you share the work we are all doing together statewide.
Food for thought
"The battles that count aren't the ones for gold medals. The struggles within yourself -- the invisible, inevitable battles inside all of us -- that's where it's at."
Jesse Owens
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This message is intended for all Department employees. Please read it electronically, if possible. Managers and supervisors are asked to share the message each week with employees who do not have email access.
If you have a disability and need a document on this Web site to be provided to you in another format, please send an email to dhs.forms@state.or.us or call (503) 945-7021, fax (503) 373-7690 or TTY (503) 947-5080. If you know of others who need this accommodation, please let them know it is available.
Oregon Department of Human Services
Director's Office
500 Summer St. NE E15, Salem, OR 97301-1097
Phone: (503) 945-5944
Fax: (503) 378-2897
TTY: (503) 947-6214
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