Voices of Strength and Determination

I wanted to attract everyone's attention to a new report that Crittenton Women's Union put out this week. "The Cliff Effect Experience" provides us with an understanding of the challenges low income families face as they strive to earn better incomes, yet face the risk of losing their supports like child care vouchers and food stamps. As income increases the loss of some of these programs is greater than what the family now earns, thus setting them back just as they begin to climb out of the economic hole.

I was moved by what one woman was quoted as saying about her experience:

"Every day there is a chokehold around me, you know, where sometimes it is really hard to breathe...because most days you feel this consistent choke because there is always a bill that needs to be paid. You can only pay a little on this bill, just to keep them off of your back about two weeks before you have to give them a little bit more money. And so it's this constant game of chess with these bills to just finagle the bills to keep everybody happy for the moment."

Take a look at the report - it's a great read that really give some insight into how some of our neighbors are living.