Letter To Estelle Richman

Estelle,

A while back you wrote an article titled " Pa welfare recipients lowest since 1960's". The comments made by you were a little one sided. You attributed the decline in recent years to changes in the departments ability to help recipients develop job skills, match them with jobs, give them access to child care, among other things. Besides word of mouth, what other things do you have to support this? It is possible Pa's low welfare recipient rate may be attributed to the fact the recipient is discouraged and less informed? At this time, the steps to be taken to apply for welfare to some is a little intimidating.

People need to be informed of new services that are available. There seems to be little effort to educate those in need of new benefits available. People who are entitled to rolls are not being placed on them. The welfare department is not reserving spots on television or the radio to direct or educate those in need of these services. Where are the organizations that inform the people of their entitlements? Where is the pressure? Organized protest by groups of recipients in the 60's were very influential. The media strong emphasis on police brutality possible could be a factor that discourage those who want to protest. From where I stand people are in need. The welfare rate should surely rise if more information and a few roadblocks are broke down.

When I speak of roadblocks you could tie that into discouragement. The more roadblocks the more discouragement. Those who go to the welfare office to receive assistance soon turn away due to the long lines and wait. Many times people are presented with paperwork to fill out and then sent away. Within a week or two they get called back to fill out more paperwork. After that they are told to call a number where they sit and wait and talk to someone who informs them that they did not qualify for assistance. This is a system that I see is put into place to keep people away. It use to be one that help any and all. The individual that filed for assistance tells his friend about the process and the results. They may reply they don't have time for that. The system is working then. Paperwork equals discouragement!

The lack of information and discouragement could clearly be the reason you can write " PA welfare recipients lowest since 1960's". Estelle the reason that you stated could also be considered, but when you report something report it from both sides. There is two sides to look at, the recipient and the system. I felt your article did not do that. It attributed a result to something good, when the result could have sprung up from something bad. Good-Bye!

TNPOS