Editor’s note: In September, the Caledonian-Record published an exclusive series by AP award-winning writer Bethany Knight of Glover on poverty and cash welfare benefits in the Northeast Kingdom. The Caledonian-Record and Knight have generously allowed VTDigger to republish an edited version of the series.
The Northeast Kingdom is famed for Lake Memphremagog and its fabled underwater monster, Memphre.
Forget the folklore. A real villain called poverty plagues 25 percent of the men, women and children known to call themselves Neckies.
Single mothers go without so the children can eat. Teeth fall out because the landlord trumps the dentist. Households move often, with many fathers in prison. Teenagers are homeless, kicked out by parents who can’t afford them.
“We have the deepest poverty in the state,” says Joe Patrissi, executive director of Northeast Kingdom Community Action (NEKCA).
Patrissi was one of five panelists speaking about poverty on a June evening at Catamount Arts in St. Johnsbury. He identifies three tickets to poverty: no education, no job, pregnancy before age 25.
“Losing a job, getting sick or divorced, becoming elderly or disabled,” also can push people into poverty, he says, acknowledging that “there is some generational poverty.
“‘The child is father of the man.’ We are shaped by what happens earlier in life,” he says, noting pregnant teens who drop out often beget pregnant teens who drop out.
“We know about racism and other discrimination, but discrimination against the poor is not spoken about,” says Paul Dragon, Vermont’s Reach Up director. “People are very quick to point the finger at the poor.”
Another panelist points to the economy as culprit.
“People are kept in poverty because of the economic system we have,” says Greg MacDonald, who coordinated public assistance in the Northeast Kingdom. “In order for capitalism to survive, you need poverty.” A 30-year veteran with the Agency of Human Services, MacDonald is packing up his office on Eastern Avenue in St. Johnsbury and retiring. “Many, many things are broken in this system.” (Editor’s note: MacDonald has retired since this series was first published.)
“We live in an incredibly community, this community gives a lot,” he says, somewhat wistfully. A man who is apt to quote Lincoln or Lennon, MacDonald adds, “A lot of people are suffering. It would tear you up.”
Sharing MacDonald’s message on the “Courageous Conversation” dais, fellow panelist Melissa Bourque of St. Johnsbury, of the Vermont Workers’ Center, says, “Poverty is not an accident, its part of a well-oiled system, with money the bottom line. It is not human-rights based.” The nonprofit Vermont Workers’ Center goal is that all Vermonters earn a living wages, and have health care, housing, transportation and child care.
In parking lots and on street corners, similar dialogues about the have-nots are common in the Kingdom. Within the retail community, where the poor shop with state-issued debit cards, it’s an open and opinionated season, if not an all-out class war.
“I’m self employed, busting my hump to make $20 an hour,” says an Orleans County man. “Why should I pay for them to have it easier than me?”
“We know about racism and other discrimination, but discrimination against the poor is not spoken about,” says Paul Dragon, Vermont’s Reach Up director. “People are very quick to point the finger at the poor.” Welfare recipients feel burdened by the public’s perception. “They feel ashamed,” he says.
State Sen. Jane Kitchel, D-Caledonia, worked 37 years at the Agency of Human Services on poverty programs, serving as commissioner of the Department of Social Welfare and AHS secretary. Upon retirement eight years ago, she was elected to the state Senate and takes a long view of the Kingdom and its problems.
“I’ve been surprised by the general public,” she says, referring to the class war. “They’ve forgotten that when we reformed the welfare system, we focused on short-term financial support with a work requirement.”
Kitchel concedes tough economic times have made enforcing the requirement impossible, “There’s no work, so that’s where community service comes in,” she says.
Fulfilling work requirements at a NEKCA worksite or nonprofit agency keeps people connected, contributing and developing, she says. “There is nothing worse than a lifetime of welfare dependency, so stigmatized.”
St. Johnsbury pharmacist Jack Ruggles views poor customers with a great “astigmatism’.” Working in Northeast Kingdom drugstores, he’s observed clientele for nearly half a century.
“We’ve created a new society, a new consumer,” he says, “demanding, unappreciative, unhappy, unmarried, raising kids, obese and not working.”
He knows welfare recipients’ grant and food benefits are loaded onto EBT cards at the beginning of every month. “It’s like Christmas!,” he said. “They get beer, cash, junk food. The carts are full. Then halfway through the month, there’s no money for their kid’s prescription co-pay.”
Countering Ruggles, a case manager says, “Every mother wants to buy her child a treat,” and Kitchel adds, “The cheapest calories are the worst calories.”
Disrespectful behavior is not exclusive to the poor, says Dragon. “The general population, upper and middle class, is prone to rudeness.”
Advocates for Northeast Kingdom senior citizens sense less than charitable attitudes, as well. Ken Gordon, executive director of the Area Agency on Aging for Northeastern Vermont, has heard the public carp to elders, “Oh, you’ve got Medicare, you’ve got it made.”
While Kitchel believes attacks on the poor aren’t as bad here as in other states, she thinks they’ve escalated “as more and more families move to the edge and experience economic insecurity.”
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“Work doesn’t pay”
For Paul Dragon, Reach Up director, the reason the poor don’t get off welfare is because if they work, they suffer economically.
“Work doesn’t pay,” he says. “People are working hard, trying to do the best they can. Vermont has decent benefits and a high cost of living. When someone goes off benefits and starts climbing up a bit, work doesn’t pay at $15 or $16 an hour.”
A 2008 study commissioned by the Department of Children and Families (DCF) concluded that unless a Reach Up recipient in the Northeast Kingdom earns at least $17 an hour or $35,726 a year, benefits must continue.
If a single mother of two starts working a 20-hour-a-week job at a minimum wage, she still receives more than $20,000 a year in benefits, plus some help with child care. When she works 40 hours, she still receives $1,900 a month in benefits, plus child-care assistance. In both scenarios, she pays no income taxes.
“As family income rises from approximately 100 to 200 percent of the federal poverty level, significant losses across multiple benefits — combined with increases in payroll and income taxes — actually exceed the parent’s substantial gains in earnings,” was the finding of the 2008 analysis prepared for DCF by Columbia University’s public health researchers.
When her children start school, reducing child care expenses, “The family’s net resources hover around the break-even point. There are no significant changes in the family’s financial situation until annual earnings reach about $31,000,” the analysts conclude, “At this point, the loss of fuel assistance and child care assistance trigger a decline in net resources that leaves the family unable to make ends meet.” In other words, work doesn’t pay. For single mothers, it is better economically to remain dependent on state aid.
Bethany Knight of Glover is a former newspaper reporter, magazine editor, college journalism instructor, gubernatorial speech writer and health care executive. She co-authored five reports on Vermont issues produced by the Ethan Allen Institute. A licensed nursing home administrator, Knight’s books for caregivers are sold by Hartman Publishing. Her first novel, “On the Edge of Tickle,” can be found at www.smashwords.com.
