- In tonight's "Closer Look," there's a new generation
of welfare reform shaping up in Wisconsin.
The proposed 2017-19 budget expands on work requirements
for food stamp recipients.
Two years ago, able-bodied single adults started being
required to work or train for work in return for FoodShare,
which is just under $200 a month for one person.
So the new proposal includes having
parents of school-age children to meet the same requirements.
But how have recipients fared under the rules
that went into effect two years ago.
We met three men required to train for work or be employed
under FoodShare rules.
Here's what we found.
- Right now, short on meat.
- 48-year-old Daniel Cotton of Milwaukee says he lost his
FoodShare benefits in December.
- Eggs and bread and peanut butter of course.
- An inventory of his fridge shows what the church or food
pantries have given him.
- So I got enough ketchup.
When I get some more hot dogs, I have some more of that.
You just go without for a period of time.
You just have some cereal,
peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
You know it's more than a lot of people have so you're thankful.
- Cotton says he's lost 12 pounds
since losing FoodShare benefits.
He says he was working a part-time job but was declared
ineligible after failing to attend required
FoodShare employment and training appointments
because he says they happened during his work hours.
- I didn't have a high education level.
Some of the things you don't understand that you get
in the mail about having to respond to FoodShare.
- Also, like many people enrolled in or trying to get
benefits, Cotton doesn't have a working computer.
This free computer lab serves people at an agency in Beloit.
People like 37-year-old Kendrick Payton who's unemployed and
also lost his FoodShare benefits under the 2015 rule
requiring training or work.
- It's kind of difficult to understand all the paperwork
and red tape they want you to go through and do.
I don't have a computer, I mean, you can go to the job center,
but right now, I don't have a vehicle to get back and forth.
You know, I'm not working, so it's kind of hard to get
somebody to take me to Janesville every time.
- Payton says he got a letter from the state concerning
his FoodShare, which he says he didn't understand.
He says when he couldn't get to the job center location to iron
out the issue, he lost his benefit.
Advocates like David Lee of Feeding Wisconsin are all too
familiar with the barriers people face.
- We're here in Beloit, in order to participate in this
program, you have to orient in Janesville.
You don't have a car or bus fare or whatever it might be to take
the 20, 30-minute trip up to Janesville,
you can't participate in this amazing program.
So I think some of these challenges are extremely real
for folks who are living, you know,
on the edge of poverty or who are unemployed trying to do
their best to make a better life for themselves.
- Lee says a good paying job is the best antihunger tool in the
hunger-fighting toolbox.
And his organization and others support increased access to
training or good jobs including access like what's offered
through the FoodShare employment and training program which
Governor Scott Walker wants to expand.
- We want to ensure that people who are able to work actually
enter the workforce.
For starters, that means that able-bodied adults will need to
be employed at least 80 hours a month to receive benefits like
food stamps.
If not they'll need to be enrolled in our job training
program.
- Despite being dropped from FoodShare,
Kendrick Payton continues to participate in worker training
through Community Action of Beloit and wants to work.
- I would like to have a full time job and be able to provide
for my kids.
- Payton is among more than 60,000
FoodShare recipients who lost benefits under the 2015
requirement for work or training according to the State
Department of Health and Human Services.
But more than 20,000 recipients found jobs.
- We think it's great that 20,000 people found jobs.
We hope they are on the path to living healthy,
hunger-free productive lives.
The 60,000 who lost benefits, I think,
we're extremely concerned about, right,
because I think we are concerned that policymakers don't
fundamentally understand the challenges that people are
experiencing in trying to enroll in these programs.
- With what is known about the numbers,
what about the expansion of the work training program to
parents?
- Again, it's great that 20,000 people found jobs.
That is super exciting.
But I would imagine and I would hope that before we implement an
overly broad work requirement for families with children,
we should probably understand how well the program is working
now so that we can actually laser target the program to
ensure that the most people are able to benefit from it.
- 41-year-old Antonio Johnson of Beloit was able
to benefit from the work training requirement
and landed a job as a result.
- Going through the program, going on the Wisconsin Job
Network site, that's actually where I located the job
where I'm currently working.
While I was in class, I applied, took a shot in the dark.
Went for orientation.
And then a week before I graduated,
they called me in again for another interview
and offered me the job.
- Johnson now works full-time at Hormel in Beloit and because
of his income is no longer eligible for FoodShare.
- I have the confidence knowing that I'm doing it on my own now
without any help and assistance.
It's a big relief right there
to know that I can take care of my family.
And, you know, it just feels like the sky's the limit now.
- This is your eggs. Then out of there,
you can choose three items out of the fridge, ok?
- All right.
- For his part, Kendrick Payton says he is eligible for
FoodShare again in three years.
He hopes he won't need it but for now,
while he looks for work, he visits local food pantries
in order to eat.
- Since I'm not getting FoodShare right now,
I just gotta try and make things work the best I can.
- The director of this pantry says it has seen a significant
uptick of customers in recent years.
- The biggest story we hear is that the resources they get are
not enough or the jobs they're working don't pay a living wage.
And so even though they're working,
they're doing everything that's asked of them,
everything that's required, they're still struggling.
- But there are efforts being made to change the struggle to
success, like the success that despite his own barriers Antonio
Johnson felt when he was offered a full-time, good paying job.
- For the first time in a long time,
I felt like I was going to be able to have
not just some stability,
but I was going to be able to do things I always wanted to do.
I could actually think about being able to save
and buy a house.
I could actually think about the fact that I'm going to be able
to pay my bills and buy my own groceries and still be able to
do other things for my kids.
You know?
- Again, Governor Walker wants to expand the training or work
requirement as a pilot program to include FoodShare recipients
with school age children.
He's also pursuing drug testing for food stamp recipients.