I spent my Saturday talking to parents at a backpack giveaway in the middle of the state. I couldn’t wait to get there for a lot of reasons. First, I wanted to be surrounded by people in a city neighborhood again. Though there are a lot of reasons, I miss the kids and the pulse of a city neighborhood the most. I also met an artist whom I’ve been following on social media, which was a bonus. But what really excited me about the event was that I had the opportunity to talk to parents about the Child Tax Credit.
The Child Tax Credit expansion has advocates out here losing their minds trying to figure out how to reach every West Virginian with the message. It’s huge, really, and said to cut poverty by 40% with reports showing that over 300,000 West Virginia kids will be touched by it. The whirlwind around it is easy for me to get caught up in because, I mean, let that 40% reduction of poverty kick in! That’s 4 out of every 10 kids! Game changer.
I was thinking about the ways this expansion is helping the other day. Most families I’ve spoken with have named food as the number one use of the money. Families are filling their freezers, relieved to have some help. Yesterday, there were two answers to how they were using that money: school clothes or car payments. Every parent we asked had the same two answers.
Those families in the gray area between “too much for assistance” and “not enough to get by” are really grateful for this expansion. Car financing companies make sure high payments and outrageous interest rates are a part of the package, making that new car smell a little fishy. It’s amazing what a couple hundred dollars can do to help people out. Here it is, back to school time and parents who don’t qualify for clothing vouchers are especially grateful for the extra money.
I know that there are people out there who hate to see anyone getting something for nothing, but can we start talking about the fact that if a house is built on a strong foundation, it will take some bigger hits. I believe that a person should work if able. I was raised to work as many jobs as it took to get by, which speaks directly to how these same systemic barriers have existed through at least two generations. We shouldn’t have to work ourselves to death trying to keep our heads above water, and that’s what I want opponents of this to understand: start changing what needs to be changed. Use your anger and your privilege to speak to power about the systemic barriers.
I also don’t know one person right now who isn’t working and relying on assistance as a lifestyle. We want to work. It’s in our nature to work, which goes right back to when we were hunters and gatherers, but I’ll say it again, you have to stay in poverty to survive poverty because the needed supports just aren’t there.
Paid leave was another issue we talked about with parents. One single mom who stopped to chat had to take leave without pay because she had COVID-19. We spoke to another mom who said she was in recovery and had worked with CPS to get her family back. Do you know what paid leave could do for families struggling with addiction? Senator Manchin is openly concerned about the opioid crisis, so why is it so hard to realize that people are at the heart of the crisis and could do better faster if we provided a strong foundation.
Childcare is another one. Stop expecting people to work if there’s no one to watch their kids! Yesterday, a mom told of having to drive from one end of town to the other because her kids were in two different centers. Families go to extreme lengths to do what they have to do, and we really should expect no less from our government.
There’s this sense of normalcy found in poverty that has to be defeated. Our kids are being raised in homes where all they see is the struggle, not even knowing it’s a struggle because it’s simply normal. Their entire family is living in poverty. Their communities are neglected. Their schools are neglected. So how in the world do we expect them to dream of something different?
I loved the excitement of talking to people at the event because knowledge is power. Answering questions and collecting stories is a joy for me because I want to see change, and I know that we have to flip the narrative and start by breaking down the walls of bias built to obstruct people living in poverty.
Onward,
Amy Jo
