Meet Jan
The past twelve months I have adventured places I never thought I’d go. I ran the mini marathon in April, in August I went back to college after a 25 year hiatus and now I’m writing my first blog entry! Who ‘da thunk?
Hi, I’m Jan. Through my role at Metro United Way I work closely with our traditional work. I help facilitate the yearly review of our funded agencies. This process in a nutshell: the agencies submit Investment Proposals (funding requests), volunteers review the data, visit the agencies and make funding recommendations. (Lots more goes on of course…)
Today I want to share with you some of the data obtained in this process. When I read it the first time, I thought, this so interesting– who else would benefit from this information? Harrison County Community Services (HCCS) manages many programs but is funded by Metro United Way to support their Emergency Assistance program. Director Shirley Raymond presented information to help dispel some of the myths in social services. I recognize that this data is not research in the pure form and that some of it creates more questions than it answers.
Myth 1: People are poor because they won’t work. Poor people “use” the system.
Data Fact: 2/3 of people in poverty receiving services are working an average of 1.7 jobs.
Myth 2: People experiencing poverty are uneducated and refuse to help themselves.
Data Fact: Of individuals who have received direct services from HCCS:
- 16% have qualifying disabilities.
- 22% were elderly
- 34% were children
- 54% of the adults in the households had high school diplomas, GED, some college or graduated college
- 8.2 % of adults had middle school education or less
- 17.8% of adults were in school, or continuing education
Myth 3: Folks are using/living on the system. [These beliefs are challenged by the data related to frequency of services over time.]
Data Fact: Of the 5,628 households in our system over 10 years;
- 34% received a service in only one month (the largest number in any category);
- followed by those who received a service in two or three months (26%)
- 5 households received services in 74 through 79 months (of the 120 months possible)
Shirley supplied additional data, but I don’t want to break the blog rules by writing too much my first time out!
With the current economy, the demand for these services is already seeing an increase. Harrison County Community Services is seeing clients that have never been through their doors. They are seeing people adjusting their lives to “survival mode” where meeting basic needs is absorbing all of their resources. Do you need help? Call 2-1-1, our free, confidential health and human service information line. Assistance is available 24/7 in over 100 languages. Are you in a position to give, advocate, and/or volunteer? Visit metrounitedway.org to find out how.