When I needed that kind of help, it was pretty much inaccessible without navigating a complicated maze of forms and paperwork and unsympathetic bureaucratic officials, which are something I just can’t do when stressed, and I’m a fairly literate person.
Maybe this is a state by state thing, but accessing welfare as a single able bodied adult where I live seems pretty unimaginable.
And a lot of them require an address or p.o. box which not everyone has. And deadlines if you miss by a day you just get denied. A lot of government assistance in the U.S. is terrible and complex and time consuming. I just assume charities are pretty varied state to state so I didn’t want to bring those up, where every state has SOME kind of program.
I actually used to work for my states unemployment office for a few years. The help I could actually give over the phone was minimal at best, another department did reviews and made decisions, I could really only give updates which 9 times out of 10 was “its still pending”. To the people asking what they should do while they wait I would say “Family, friends, churches, charities”. At least its better than saying “there is nothing you can do.”
I just have such a hard time accepting that “we just have to accept whatever conditions and whatever pay our empyers offer cuz we’re lucky they even offer us that.” Or getting upset a pregnant lady wants to take time off work cuz now she isn’t bringing money into the family.
When I needed that kind of help, it was pretty much inaccessible without navigating a complicated maze of forms and paperwork and unsympathetic bureaucratic officials, which are something I just can’t do when stressed, and I’m a fairly literate person.
Maybe this is a state by state thing, but accessing welfare as a single able bodied adult where I live seems pretty unimaginable.
And a lot of them require an address or p.o. box which not everyone has. And deadlines if you miss by a day you just get denied. A lot of government assistance in the U.S. is terrible and complex and time consuming. I just assume charities are pretty varied state to state so I didn’t want to bring those up, where every state has SOME kind of program.
I actually used to work for my states unemployment office for a few years. The help I could actually give over the phone was minimal at best, another department did reviews and made decisions, I could really only give updates which 9 times out of 10 was “its still pending”. To the people asking what they should do while they wait I would say “Family, friends, churches, charities”. At least its better than saying “there is nothing you can do.”
I just have such a hard time accepting that “we just have to accept whatever conditions and whatever pay our empyers offer cuz we’re lucky they even offer us that.” Or getting upset a pregnant lady wants to take time off work cuz now she isn’t bringing money into the family.