Determined to Kick the Welfare Habit:
One Woman's Story

Aired October 13, 1999

This is INFOhio After Nine for Wednesday, the 13th of October, 1999. I'm April Baer and I'll be your host this morning, as David Barnett continues his sojourn in the Rhineland. This morning we're digging further into the lives of working families, what's helping them to stay afloat, and what's keeping them from staying self-sufficient. INFOhio's series on "The Changing Face of Welfare" continues today to look past next year's welfare deadline. As we heard yesterday, with a three-year lifetime limit on cash benefits now in effect, the government is focusing more on the long-term support systems that will keep families off the dole. But not all welfare recipients feel bogged down by the complicated new set of federal regulations. In fact, some say the deadline may be laying some grease on some of the county-level bureaucracy they've had to deal with. 90.3's correspondent Harry Boomer checks in with one young mother racing to get off public assistance.

Bonnie Newell–You remember that old slogan they used to say, "thank God it's Friday?" I'm going to be able to say, "thank God I don't need the assistance."

Harry Boomer–That's Bonnie Newell. Like nearly 15,000 other welfare recipients in Cuyahoga County, time is running out for her to continue getting benefits. Despite a string of setbacks, Newell says she is determined to be a success story.

BN–Here I am in school, trying to get this together so I won't be on welfare, and in the minute that I start my classes, everything's rolling good, one of my kids had contracted a ringworm.

HB–Her daughter couldn't go back to her day care until the ringworm was visibly gone. During that two-week period, Newell lost her job. Undeterred, she climbed back in the saddle and continued to work her way toward becoming a registered nurse.

BN–So now I'm back in the field again, I started at the bottom, nursing assistant. The money is not big in the beginning, it's not until down the road, in the long run, when the money is big, but the payoffs in reference to blessings, helping someone have a self-warmth about yourself, that's what you get out of this.

HB–Actually, she's getting a lot more out of having a job. Her self-esteem has grown. Her three daughters look up to her, and she has gained some insight.

BN–If you want people to do things, start testing them. Start giving them trades, start training them. Give them something to look forward to obtaining. You can't just take something from somebody and tell them, "go get this, go get a job." That's easier said than done, which is basically what welfare says. Your average caseworker, and I'm not going to say that this is my caseworker, because Ms. Fisher has never came to me and told me, "go get a job." Ms. Fisher has come to me and said, "what do you need to obtain a job? What do I have to do to help you become self-sufficient?" You might remember when we first talked, I told you this is the first caseworker that I've had that has sat down and showed me different degrees and different angles, different avenues that I can go down to obtain skills, skills, main word. To obtain skills and training to obtain a job.

HB–Newell says she has also begun to pass on information to others on welfare. She asked them a series of questions, hoping to point them in the right direction.

BN–Are you getting all the information that is due to you, are you obtaining all of the different little assistant programs, different training skills that are due to you, that can help you get self-sufficient? Do you know about the CAR program? Do you know about the BEST program? Don't leave everything up to your caseworker when it deals with your life, so I had to obtain a lot of information and stuff on my own. I got a lot of tips and a lot of clues from my caseworker, because I have a good one.

HB–Newell thanks her self-sufficiency coach, LaTonya Fisher, for pushing her and following up. Newell is working as many hours as her employer can find for her, but the sting of having been on welfare weighs heavily on her mind.

BN–People are so serious on stigmatizing people. They feel like if you're on welfare, oh, she don't do this, or she don't do that, she's lazy, and all she wants to do is sit back and wait on a check. Let me tell you, you know how many people would rather give up that little chump change that we get per month? You ever try to live on $400 a month, when you have to pay rent, lights, gas, telephone? That's not even mentioning your shampoo or face soap or toothpaste or deodorant. Don't always feel like you're carrying us. That is one of the worst feelings that anyone can feel, trying to go out to get a job, "oh I'm carrying you." Yeah, well, at one time I had a job making $7.95 an hour, so I carried somebody. I'm not saying it's OK that I'm on welfare, but I am saying everybody needs help at some point in time. Don't look down on them, don't frown on them, and instead of saying "you need a job," offer a job. OK? If I come in your establishment, and I show you my credentials, don't look at the fact that I've been out of work and say, "she might not be a good candidate." Look at what you've got before you, give me a job, then you can't say you're carrying me.

HB–Bonnie Newell is carrying her own weight now as she supports her three young girls. She appears to be growing stronger every day, determined to make it to the mountaintop. For INFOhio, I'm Harry Boomer in Cleveland.