The one in seven Rhode Islanders with income below the poverty level do not have enough to meet basic needs. Child Care Assistance, SNAP and health insurance coverage help working families make ends meet when earnings are not enough.  Rhode Islanders unable to work on a temporary or permanent basis turn to cash assistance and other programs to protect themselves and their children. The new on-line integrated eligibility system can facilitate enrollment in these vital programs. But the new technology cannot replace the need for staff.   “In the two years that the HealthSource RI on-line system has been operative, most new applicants have required help either over the phone or in-person to complete their application.  Access to computers and knowing how to navigate an on-line application have also been issues.” said Rachel Flum, Executive Director of the Institute. “With more programs accessible through the system, the need for one-on-one assistance is even greater. The state must ensure that there are sufficient staff to help people access these critical benefits.”

The Ocean State had the highest rate of its residents living in poverty among the New England state and ranked 26th among all states.

Today’s data also show that Rhode Island’s communities of color were much more likely to struggle to meet basic needs with nearly one in three Latinos, close to one in four African Americans and more than one in six Asians living in poverty.  While the one-year census data does not permit sub-group analysis, multi-year analysis shows that South East Asians are not as economically secure as the Asian population as a whole (See analysis of five-year median wage data in “State of Working Rhode Island, 2015: Workers of Color”).

“It is unacceptable that so many Rhode Islanders are living in poverty and shocking that Black, Latino, and Asian households face such deeper economic distress compared to the white majority. To truly achieve economic equity  now and into the future, our state must be intentional about targeted policies to address racial disparities in wages, income, and total wealth,” said Jenn Steinfeld, facilitator for the Racial Justice Coalition, a new collaborative effort to address shared barriers faced by all non-white Rhode Islanders.

The Census Bureau released extensive information on the economic and health insurance status of Americans. The Economic Progress Institute website provides additional analysis of the new data for Rhode Island, including the more positive news that median income increased in 2015 to $58,073 from $54,959 in 2014.

The letter Heather received a week before her appointment with the Department of Human Services (DHS) warned that not showing up for her scheduled appointment could seriously delay approval of her benefits. Having been recently laid off and in search of work, Heather made sure that she was not only a half hour early, but that her paperwork was in order.

Arriving at the DHS offices in Providence on Elmwood Avenue, she got into the line for those with appointments. The other line, for those without appointments, was longer and moved more slowly. Both lines stretched out of the waiting room.

Conditions in the waiting room, Heather told me, were “miserable.”

“People were standing in lines for hours,” said Heather. “A lot of people were turned away. A lot of them were single mothers. It was hot, and there was not a lot of room to sit. Children were running around, crying and screaming.” She said employees appeared to be overwhelmed and frustrated.

Optimally, DHS provides people in need with access to many services such as Medicaid, SNAP benefits, Rhode Island Works (RIW), Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP), LTSS, General Public Assistance (GPA) and access to various energy assistance programs like HEAP, WAP and HSR.

The delays, Heather was told, were because of the new computer system the DHS was using to approve benefits. The new system was supposed to make things more efficient. Instead, workers at the office were facing too many cases and a new system being rolled out without adequate training.

At a press conference on Thursday, DHS director Melba Depeña Affigne said that changes in staffing and the conversion to the new computer system would have “no impact on clients.” Michael DiBiase, director of the RI Department of Administration called the issues that Heather and others have described as “unfortunate.”

After four hours, Heather got her EBT card and was able to leave the DHS offices by 4:45pm. The waiting room was no less full, most of those waiting would have to return the next day to continue the process.

The new computer system, which has no official name, was supposed to be online in July, and is now slated to be fully operational by mid September. The system is supposed to reduce the amount of time prospective clients spend with social workers and has been billed as an “incredible tool for our workforce” that will “enhance customer service.”

Heather disagrees. The system, she says, is “designed to make you feel like shit about yourself.”

Melba Depeña Affigne, director of the RI Department of Human Services (DHS), was “surprised to hear [that clients] did not get service” at the Woonsocket DHS offices. The clients in question were referred from the Woonsocket offices to the DHS offices in Pawtucket, a four hour round trip by bus.

Michael DiBiase, director of the RI Department of Administration said, regarding the problems at the Woonsocket branch of the DHS that the “break in service was unfortunate” and will last “hopefully less than a month.”

DiBiase and Affigne were holding a press conference to explain the layoff of 70 DHS employees, mostly social workers, as part a major reorganization of the DHS and the launching of a new computerized eligibility system that is projected to save taxpayers millions.

The laid off social workers, said DiBiase, will have a chance to apply for one of the more than fifty job openings at DCYF (Department of Children, Youth and Families). The layoffs are required, said Affigne, because of a “new staffing model” that will allow DHS to make significant cuts. The new model is “task based” and will not require supervisors trained in social work to manage by “case load.”

I asked Sue Pearlmutter, dean of the Rhode Island College School of Social Work if this means that the DHS is moving away from social workers advocating on behalf of clients and towards data entry technicians assisting clients using the computers.

“That has been my impression,” said Pearlmutter. The DHS is moving towards “a very different kind of process. Social workers engage with the client and work with the client.” The application process DHS is instituting makes “people take responsibility for their application at a kiosk or in a library.”

Often, these are “people in crisis” at a time when “completing an application is a daunting process.” Some adults and young adults, says Pearlmutter, “may find the process overwhelming. Removing a level of staff may cause more problems for people facing crisis.”

As for the staff DHS is cutting, saying that there are openings at DCYF is disingenuous. Many of the staff losing their positions at DHS started at DCYF, said Pearlmutter. They took jobs at DHS “because the work at DCYF is so crisis oriented. It’s difficult and emotional work that many found they couldn’t do any more.”

Talking about the jobs at DCYF as being like the work at DHS “shows no understanding of the kind of work social work is,” says Pearlmutter.

The new computer system, which has no official name, it’s just the “New Integrated Eligibility System,” said Affigne, was supposed to be online in July, and is now slated to be operational in mid September. The system will reduce the amount of time prospective clients will spend with social workers. This is “by far the largest technology project that has ever been undertaken by the State of Rhode Island,” said DiBiase.

The new computer system, said Affigne, is an “incredible tool for our workforce” that will “enhance customer service.”

Lucie Burdick, president of Local 580 of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), disagrees. She told RI Future that “this extremely expensive computer system, if it even works correctly someday, will never provide the quality of service a trained, educated, experienced human being provides. The computer pilot program is failing miserably at this point and costs are rising rapidly. It could have been done better and cheaper. The displacement of staff and the cost of human suffering that it has exacted on the population we serve is unconscionable.

“This fiasco is the 38 Studios of human services. The taxpayers and advocates for the poor should be outraged.”

DHS provides people in need with access to many services such as Medicaid, SNAP benefits, Rhode Island Works (RIW), Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP), LTSS, General Public Assistance (GPA) and access to various energy assistance programs like HEAP, WAP and HSR. Affigne said that about one in five Rhode Islanders use services offered at the DHS, and that they maintain six field offices, like the one in Woonsocket.

“What will be the impact on clients?” I asked.

Affigne replied, “There will be no impact on clients.”

Yet existing clients did not start receiving notifications of reduced services in Woonsocket until August 23, and the Woonsocket DHS began reduced services on the 19th. That’s two or thee days of people arriving at the Woonsocket offices and learning that they were in for a four hour bus ride to Pawtucket from a sign taped to the door.

As Bob Plain and I tried to ask questions to get to the heart of the issue of the actual impact that this transition will have on people trying to access needed state services, Kristin Gourlay, health care reporter for RIPR cut in.

“Presumably,” said Gourlay, “in September, when the system goes live, people won’t have to go to a field office, they can go to- if the have a computer at home they can use that, they could go to a public library and use a computer there or another social service agency…”

“Correct,” said Affigne.

This allowed DiBiase and Affigne to shrug off concerns about social workers and clients as mere “bumps” along the way towards an improved, (read: cheaper) system. Yet, at a time when poverty and income inequality are at all time highs, and the economy of Rhode Island is barely improving, “bumps” in the lives of the one in five Rhode Islanders applying for needed assistance can be catastrophic.

Here’s the video of RIFuture’s questions:

Here’s the video of the full press conference:

On Tuesday some clients went to the DHS offices in Woonsocket and were told that they could not access the services they needed. They were referred to the Pawtucket offices, requiring a four hour bus ride, two hours each way. DHS employees in Woonsocket said their branch right now can only deliver “limited services.” I was told that all questions regarding the move and reduced services needed to be referred to DHS director Melba Depeña Affigne.

The reason for the change in service seems to be related to 70 layoffs at DHS that, according to a news release, is the result of a new software system coming in September.

“Moving from a software system designed more than 30 years ago to a modern, digital system requires different staffing needs,” said Depeña Affigne in a news release from the Department of Administration sent today. There will be a 3pm press conference explaining the layoffs in detail.

“The new eligibility and enrollment software system will make it easier and more convenient for Rhode Islanders to access those vital services,” Depeña Affigne said in the press release.

DHS provides vital community and family assistance by way of food and cash assistance, child care assistance and Medicaid. DHS manages SNAP benefits,  Rhode Island Works (RIW), Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP), LTSS, General Public Assistance (GPA) and provides access to various energy assistance programs like HEAP, WAP and HSR.

The clients DHS serve are among the most vulnerable in the state, who often have difficulty with transportation and access to the internet. Closing offices, downsizing staff and limiting services, even if only for a month, could have catastrophic effects on families.

In a letter to SNAP Advisory Committee members, SNAP Administrator Iwona Ramian wrote that the lease for the current offices expires on August 31, and the effective date for the new offices is September 1, with transition between offices beginning Monday, August 22. Notification of the move was mailed to clients on Monday, meaning many people did not know about the gap in services.

Though Ramian in her letter says that “no gap in services is anticipated” the DHS website says, “The Woonsocket office is providing limited services” and refers clients to other locations.

Further calling Woonsocket DHS services into question is Ramian’s assertion that staffing levels at the Woonsocket office will be reduced from 36 to 14. The 22 employees who will no longer be in Woonsocket are being relocated to Providence.

A drop to 14 staff members is a big reduction. The implementation of a new on-line system for determining eligibility and needs was supposed to be in place before the change in location and reduction in staff, but the new system is experiencing delays.

Ramian notes that “the [new] office space will be shared with a comprehensive multi-service, non-profit, health and human services agency, giving customers a one-stop service location. The office telephone and facsimile numbers will stay the same. She’s referring to Community Care Alliance, a multi-service not-for-profit health and human services provider consisting of the original community mental health center serving the 6-town region, a school, the Woonsocket Family Shelter, the Northern RI Family Visitation Center (for DCYF-involved families), a youth success program, day treatment, partial hospital and acute stabilization for substance use and co-occurring behavioral health disorders and more.

Calls to the DHS offices have not been returned.

The federal government is watching with “keen interest,” says Amy Nunn. She and Gemma Gorham are program directors of this new way to bring good food to poor people.

Senator Jack Reed, who secured the initial $100,000 investment in the program, said it is based on very sophisticated academic research showing that bringing fresh produce into communities increases healthy eating.

Reed too hopes Food on the Move, “will be a model for programs across the country.”

And Rhode Island is the perfect testing ground. “Fifteen percent of Rhode islanders experience food insecurity,” said Nunn. “The highest rate in New England.”

“How long someone lives should not depend on the zip code they come from” said Nicole Alexander-Scott, executive director of Rhode Island Department of Health. She said 85 percent of those making under $50,000 a year do not eat the recommended servings of fruits and vegetables per day. This program is one way “we are going to [impact] social and environmental determinants of health.”

Towards the end of the presentation Dr. Nunn pointed out that many people only get a small amount of money in their SNAP benefits, and that Food on the Move might not reach them until the second or third week of the month. She hopes that many people will be able to hold onto some of their SNAP money until they can reach a Food on the Move location and double the impact of the benefits.

By increasing funding to the Low Income Heating Assistance Program (LIHEAP) by $1.4 million, Chafee has guaranteed the state an extra $69 million in SNAP funds.  According to the Department of Agriculture, the economic multiplier for SNAP is 1.79, so the $69 million will translate into a projected $124 million of GDP.  That would be a huge hit to the economy. Stopping it is very big news.

We face a hunger crisis in America.  Millions of families struggle to put food on the table.  Because of what Lincoln Chafee did, not only will our economy avoid a big hit, fewer Rhode Islanders will go to bed hungry.

In the first paragraph of that story – typically known as the “lede” among journalists – we learn that one of the suspects “has been collecting government benefits although he allegedly had $29,130 in cash stashed in his apartment and cocaine with a street value of about $140,000.”

In the third paragraph, we get more detail about this:

[Detective] Sauro said detectives found out that Mendez receives benefits under the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program for low-income people, or SNAP, paid through an Electronic Benefit Transfer debit card – formerly known as food stamps. They notified the Rhode Island Department of Human Services so the DHS could review Mendez’s eligibility for SNAP.

Then, in the tenth paragraph, the reader learns what detectives found when they arrested the other suspect:

Detectives arrested Mercado in the driveway of his house and said they took a bag of heroin from his front pants pocket. Inside, they said they found 22 more bags of heroin, a Sig Sauer .223 “assault rifle,” a Glock handgun, 152 rounds of ammunition, $9,660 cash and drug paraphernalia.

To review, in the first and third paragraphs we learn that police arrested a suspected drug dealer in possession of food stamps. Not until the tenth paragraph do we learn that police arrested a suspected drug dealer in possession of an assault rifle and a handgun.

I’m not quite sure if this is bad/biased journalism or if the era of austerity/government shrinking has wrought a terrible moral crisis upon the American/RI citizenry but I’m pretty sure it’s one or the other.

In the final bill, they picked up no votes from seven other Democrats, including the Senators from our neighboring states–Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Ed Markey (D-MA), Chris Murphy (D-CT), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT).  Because a surprising number of progressives, including Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT), voted with leadership on this one, our senators’ principled votes are especially meaningful.

In the house, both of our Congressmen voted no, too.  David Cicilline took to the floor to deliver one of his best speeches yet, deploring the cruelty of cutting anti-hunger programs.

Although we lost this battle, because our delegation put up such a hard fight, they almost certainly kept the cuts from being even worse than they are.  They deserve our gratitude today.

Monday Dec 2, 2013

It’s Monday, December 2nd … the first work day of the least productive month of the year. But don’t worry, economy … while fewer people are producing goods and services more people are consuming them. December also almost always has the highest consumer spending of the year.

And speaking of the economy…

Politifact uses some political oxygen to debunk a pretty archane untruth about the minimum wage debate … put forth into the marketplace of ideas by a Facebook meme. It was something about how many times Congress increased its own salary in relation to how many times the minimum wage was raised … nothing too germane to either the economics or the morality of minimum wage politics, but it is an interesting reminder of where information comes from these days … the answer: everywhere and anywhere.

Here are some additional minimum wage claims that Gene Emery should fact check: only a third of minimum wage workers are teenagers, and three quarters of Americans, including a majority of Republicans, support raising the minimum wage. And here’s a really fun fact: had it kept pace with the earnings increases of the one percent in America, the minimum wage would be about $50,000 a year. Instead, it hasn’t even kept pace with inflation, and hasn’t been enough to escape poverty since 1982 – that’s more than 30 years of enforcing slave wages from one of the richest people in human history. More on this phenomenon from Oswald Krell on RI Future.

Dan Schiff, the CEO of the Rhode Island Foodbank, told WPRI Newsmakers this weekend that the $20 million cut to SNAP benefits for Rhode Islanders will not only hurt the poor, but it will also hurt the grocers, super markets and other small businesses where poor people spend their food stamps. One in five Rhode Islanders use food stamps, and he dispelled the conservative dog whistle that waste and fraud is an issue.

Tom Sgouros has a great post on the accounting scare tactics that come in to play when the media calculates future government expenses. In this case, Tom’s talking about the next evil Republicans and conservative Dems will be railing against: other post employment benefit costs, known Draconianly as OPEBs.

Rhode Island’s most famous – and, in my opinion, most beautiful -winter residents are back. Snowy white owls have been seen at Sachuest Point in Newport, Beavertail in Jamestown and a young one was found with a broken wing at Quonset Airport here in North Kingstown yesterday. You can see pictures of the injured owl on the Wildlife Rehabilitators of Rhode Island Facebook page.

Today is Day 2 of Karen Ziner’s amazing series in the Providence Journal about transgender teenager Andy Noel. It’s a story about bravery and individualism … and it’s a sign of the times, that the paper of record would dedicate so much ink to this topic, but also that it had to shut off the online comments on account of how outrageous they became … we still have a ways to go, but people like Andy Noel are helping us get there.

Now back to my favorite news story so far of the Christmas season: is the Pope a progressive? Justin Katz and I debated the issue on NBC 10 Wingmen last week and he follows that up with an explanation of how he and the head of his church can be at such economic odds, writing, “A progressive Franciscan isn’t exactly a contradiction in terms.”

Not at all. In fact, we have tons in common. Read Steve Ahlquist’s post about what it means to be a progressive that he published just days before the Pope wrote about what it means to be a Catholic and you will see how similar these two groups tend to think. Conversely, I’d argue that the Chicago School is sinful. Katz writes that he can’t make a coherent rebuttal to the Pope’s game-changer. That’s because there isn’t one.

The argument here hinges on what we consider “significant.” If you look at the issuance of SNAP funds to Rhode Island in the last two years (which is when this fraud occurred) Rhode Island was given about $275 million in 2011, and $290 million in 2012 (we don’t 2013’s data yet). Assuming the 5 stores that defrauded $3 million were stealing at a consistent rate, that’s only about half a percentage of SNAP issuance lost to fraud. The vast majority of the program is operated honestly; virtually all of it. And that’s a significant thing to think about, considering that it works based on the honesty of recipients and retailers alike.

Now it’s an unfortunate reality that virtually all budgets operate with some level of waste and fraud. Whether it’s printing off copies of your March Madness bracket at work or it’s defrauding the Department of Defense, fraud happens.

It’s worth comparing the Department of Defense fraud to the SNAP fraud, merely because our responses are vastly different. For instance, a 2011 report prepared by the Department of Defense for Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), discovered that the DoD had issued over $1.1 trillion during the preceding 10 years to companies that had defrauded the government; including continuing to issue millions to companies that had been convicted or found liable of fraud. Some of these are the biggest names in defense contracting; Northrup Grumman, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, etc. Those companies will continue to be the recipients of government largesse, regardless of their track records, because they form a vital part of our defense network. The DoD spent $1.811 trillion on procurement and research, development, testing, and evaluation over the same period; but that’s merely the best number I can find. Suffice it to say, a history of fraud does not disqualify one from receiving DoD money.

In contrast, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service (USDA-FNS) comes down much harder on those vendors who commit fraud. These nine people aren’t going to get to continue defrauding the government. Their businesses aren’t either. Thanks to the Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) card, it’s much easier to track, as well. The bottom line is that while $3 million is a grabbing headline, yesterday’s indictment is proof of a system doing what it’s designed to do. For more evidence, in 2011, the FNS conducted 519 investigations in Rhode Island. Of those 519, only 134 were “positive” (demonstrating problems with fraud). Out of the 134 positive investigations, 125 were conducted before anyone received SNAP benefits.

Now, for fraud freaks and welfare witch hunters, this isn’t enough. Even if this had been $3000 or $300, they’d insinuate the majority of SNAP recipients deserve to be treated poorly, and then demand reducing benefits and placing stringent regulations on what is already a strongly protected program (and in my opinion, the government’s best program).

While I think Neronha is wrong when he suggests it’s a “significant problem” he is right about how we should approach this, saying, “You have to be careful here not to paint with too broad a brush because there are many people who use this program responsibly.” Again, virtually all are. The fact that in such an important program you pick a few people of low character is neither surprising, nor cause for alarm. They’re getting what they deserve now. This fraud can’t exist without retailers being complicit in it. As Neronha says, “The reason we focus on the retailers is they’re in a position to stop this conduct in its tracks. If a recipient comes and says ‘I want cash’ they don’t have to do it. They say no and recipient doesn’t get the cash and the stamps are used properly.”

This is a federal program, and the federal government is dealing with it. The wrong response would be to repeat what happened after the release of the Block Report. Attempting to put wrong-headed (and illegal) regulations on SNAP benefits and EBT cards; as well as wasting state dollars to chase after federal fraud. Those continue to be wrong ways to deal with this, but ways that are favored by politicians.

It’s easy to see why politicians gravitate towards “ending” waste and fraud as a political promise. Because it’s fraud, you can always assert there’s more of it. And waste is just money that wasn’t needed. It involves no extra raising of revenue nor cutting of programs. You’re only preventing money from going to bad people or being misspent. Who’s against that? Absolutely no one. It’s a completely popular policy, because it doesn’t require hard choices. It’s a great policy for the politically lazy. And if you want to look serious, you can always just cut the amount of money you expect to be saving from fraud and waste, and let the various effected government departments make the tough choices; consequences be damned.

The sober reality is that our problems continue to require serious action and serious thought. What’s really significant about SNAP in Rhode Island is its growth since 2008; up from about $108 million in 2008 (the worst of the recession) to nearly $290 million in 2012. SNAP is a great indicator of economic issues, and what it’s shown us over the last five years is that the need has continually gotten worse. If we were transitioning out of recession, we’d expect to see that number drop, as income replaced SNAP as a source of food money. Policies designed to limit SNAP spending in Rhode Island are damaging economically; all that SNAP money gets spent. And considering that Rhode Island’s gross state product was around $50 billion in 2010, the SNAP money issued to us is a not insignificant part of our economy under the current conditions.

The reaction to this indictment should not be a trading of recriminations nor a vilifying of SNAP recipients. WPRI focuses on things like this because that’s what they’ve hired Tim White to do, to cover government waste and abuse. That’s his beat, as he’ll be the first to point out. But just because this is a case of fraud, doesn’t mean we have to focus on solutions to it in such a narrow frame. We’re free to consider the underlying issues, and how to address those issues. And because the state continues to have a hard time addressing those issues, we’re going to continue to need SNAP. And that will mean allowing the Feds to deal with the issues as they crop up, and complying with what they need from us. Until the state demonstrates that it’s capable of addressing the problems that SNAP works to fix.