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Cassandra Barham-Denton knows that if a person wants anything in life — such as a general education diploma (GED) — it takes hard work.
“It took me three and a half years,” she says.
On Feb. 13 she celebrated the six-year anniversary of earning her GED. While pursuing her academic endeavors, she received public assistance. Under current restrictions and work requirements for welfare, Barham-Denton says, she wouldn’t have been able to get her GED.
Work requirements, time limits on cash assistance for children and respectful treatment in the assistance process were among the issues on a legislators’ tour organized by the Cincinnati Welfare Rights Coalition. The tour spearheaded the group’s new campaign, Work After Good Education is Success (WAGES).
The coalition wanted the legislators — State Rep. Catherine Barrett (D-Forest Park), State Rep. Tyrone Yates (D-Cincinnati) and State Sen. Louis Blessing (R-Colerain Township) to see firsthand the effect impending state budget cuts will have on programs that help low-income families.
At the Contact Center, director Katy Hines discussed highlights of the WAGES campaign.
“Many families can not get out of poverty enough to get off welfare,” Hines said.
Yates, who voted against the budget package, told the group that budget cuts would put approximately 17,000 children out of child care, including 4,000 in Hamilton County.
“I have a respect for this agency.” Yates said. “I hope to do whatever I can.”
The legislators visited Peaslee Neighborhood Center, which could lose six to 10 families due to the cuts.
“Developmentally, placing children from center to center is not good,” said Laura Goodell, daycare director.
Bethany House, an emergency shelter for families founded in 1984, was the last stop on the tour. Along with Peaslee and the Drop Inn Center, Bethany House is part of the Ohio Empowerment Coalition. Empowerment is part of the agency’s mission, according to Linda Howell-Perrin.
“These women want to work,” she said. “We try to get their living arrangements in order, but the first thing they want to do is work.”
Dr. Paula Biren, a psychiatrist at the Contact Center for the past three years, talked to the legislators about domestic violence in Over-the-Rhine. Biren is the founder of Vision for Outreach: Inform Community, Empower and Educate (VOICE), an organization that works to help restore the self-esteem in battered women in low-income communities. As a means of support, VOICE connects women with others facing similar situations. The agency also provides professional and legal assistance to help clients escape violence.
“My goal is to restore the neighborhood to a normal existence,” Biren said.
During lunch at Bethany House, people shared their experiences with the legislators. Clarice Dean, whose husband has been ill, has incurred $10,000 worth of medical bills. Dean is waiting for a caseworker to set her and her husband on the county’s “spend down” medical assistance program.
“I have sent in the proper paperwork,” she said. “I have waited five months and I have not received any return phone calls. The only thing I can do is wait.”
Barrett wants other state officials to know about problems such as Dean’s.
“Issues like these tend to fall on deaf ears,” Barrett said. “I want those in Columbus to hear from the individuals, not from the legislators.”
But do public assistance and social services work? Does anyone actually benefit from education in exchange for welfare? Cassandra Barham-Denton, who used to volunteer at the Contact Center, is now a staff member. Her GED well behind her, she’s now looking toward higher education.
“I am not sure what I would major in,” Barham-Denton says. “I would like to go into social work.”
One thing is very clear, she says.
“You need a GED to open doors,” she says. “You need a GED just to clean the streets.” ©
This article appears in Feb 26 – Mar 4, 2003.