THE DANDELION CONNECTION
Volume 4 Issue 5
(716) 847-0655 ext. 216
July/August, 1996
Copyright 1996, Neighborhood Legal Services, Inc.
FOCUS ON: The Public Assistance
Budget:
Part III
Mr. and Mrs. John Adams receive Aid to Families with Dependent Children. Mr. Adams works picking apples and makes $75.00 a week before taxes. Mrs. Adams has been unable to work due to a difficult pregnancy. She receives $50.00 per week in NYS Disability.
On page seven is a mock public assistance budget for the Adams' family. On the right hand side of the budget sheet is a section entitled "earned income." Earned income is the money that you get from working. This is the section of the budget where the agency determines how much money will be counted against your grant. If there are two people working in the household, you will see numbers on both sides. These figures represent your gross pay and what the agency is subtracting from it. The deductions are only provided to recipients who have reported their wages to the agency in a "timely" manner. Each disregard is provided to each household member who works. Please recall that any changes of income must be reported within 10 days of receiving the money.
GROSS is the amount of money you make per month before taxes. This figure is reached by adding your pay stubs together and "averaging" the figures.
TAXES & NYS DIS are no longer used by the agency. In the past the state and federal taxes kept from your pay check were deducted from your earned income. This disregard stopped in the mid-80's.
WORK EXP is an allowance provided to every individual who works. $90.00 will be deducted every month that you have earnings.
EXEMPT is the line where the agency provides a disregard for income earned by having a boarder/lodger or roomer in your home.
CH CARE is your actual childcare cost for the month as you reported it to the agency. If you have more than one child, each child's cost will be shown separately. This figure cannot be higher than $175 or $200 per month, depending on your child's age. However, if your child care costs exceed that amount and the agency approves your childcare, the agency will provide you with the remaining cost in the needs section of your budget.
30&1/3-$30 is a disregard (reduction) of income available to ADC and PG-ADC cases. When you "timely" report your new job while on assistance, you will be entitled to $30.00 plus 1/3 of your income disregarded for four consecutive months unless while on assistance you have already worked for four consecutive months. You will be entitled to a $30.00 disregard for eight months following the end of the 1/3 disregard.
TOT DED is the total of all deductions to your income.
UNAVAIL is an exception. In most cases, this line will be zero. If your budget has a number there, please contact Project Dandelion or your welfare examiner for further information.
NET INC is the amount of your earnings the agency will use to determine the size of your grant.
In the middle of the budget is a section titled "Other Income." This is the area where any unearned income will be budgeted. Examples of unearned income are: Social Security benefits (other than SSI); New York State Disability; Unemployment Benefits; Worker's Compensation.
LN recognizes the person who receives the income.
SRC recognizes the source of the income.
F recognizes frequency (weekly-w, monthly-m).
AMOUNT is the average income in a month.
EXEMPT is a column for special calculations. This area may be used by the examiner to keep track of various income items which do not need to be budgeted against your public assistance grant. Please report all income and let the examiner decide whether it must be budgeted.
Mr. Adams has been working for the past two years. The only deduction from his earnings is $90.00. The total income counted against the family is $235.00 earned income and $216.67 in unearned income.
Next month, the series will review the Adam's recoupment, and how the total of the public assistance grant is reached.
El Presupuesto de Asistencia
Publica: Parte 3
SeZor y SeZora John Adams reciben Ayuda a Familias con NiZos Dependientes. SeZor Adams trabaja recogiendo manzanas y gana $75.00 por semana antes de impuestos. SeZora Adams ha estado incapaz de trabajar debido a un embarazo difRcil. Recibe $50.00 cada semana en NYS Disability.
En p<gina siete encuentre un presupuesto imitado de asistencia pdblica para la familia
Adams. En la mano derecha del presupuesto se encuentra una secci\n de titul\ "earned income." Earned Income es el dinero que usted recibe por trabajar. Ista es la secci\n del presupuesto donde la agencia determina cuanto dinero ser< tenido en cuenta contra su concesi\n. Si hay dos personas trabajando en su hogar, ver< ndmeros en los dos lados. Estas figuras representan su sueldo grueso y quJ la agencia substrae del. Se proveen las deducciones solamente a recipientes quien han informado sus sueldos a la agencia en una manera "oportuno". Se provee un descuento a cada miembro del hogar quien trabaja. Favor de recuerdar que cualquier cambio de ingreso debede ser informado dentro de 10 dRas de recibir el dinero.
GROSS es la cantidad de dinero que usted gana cada mes antes de impuestos. Se alcanza esta figura por sumar sus talones de pago juntos y "hacer un promedio de" las figuras.
TAXES & NYS DIS ya no son usado por la agencia. En el pasado los impuestos del estado e federal guardado de su cheque de paga eran descontado de su ingreso gano. Este descuento par\ en el medio de los 80's.
WORK EXP es una concesi\n proveRdo a cada individuo que trabaja. $90.00 se deducir< cada mes que tiene ganancias.
EXEMPT es la lRnea donde la agencia provee un descuento para ingreso gan\ por tener un huJsped o compaZero de cuarto en su hogar.
CH CARE es sus gastos del cuidado de niZos real por el mes como lo inform\ a la agencia. Si tiene m<s de uno niZo, se mostrar<n los gastos de cada niZo separadamente. Esta figura no puede ser m<s alta que $175 o $200 por mes, depende de la edad de su niZo. Sin embargo, si sus gastos del cuidado del niZo exceden esa cantidad y la agencia aprueba su cuidado del niZo, la agencia lo proveer< con el sobrante gasto en la secci\n de las necesidades de su presupuesto.
30 & 1/3-$30 es un descuento (reducci\n) de ingreso disponible a casos ADC y PG-ADC. Cu<ndo usted "oportuno" informa su trabajo
nuevo mientras en asistencia, tendra derecho a $30.00 m<s 1/3 de su descuento del ingreso por cuatro meses consecutivos a menos que mientras en asistencia ya trabajado por cuatro meses consecutivos. Tendra derecho a un descuento de $30.00 por ocho meses siguiente el fin del 1/3 descuento.
TOT DED es el total de todos los descuentos a su ingreso.
UNAVAIL es la excepci\n. En la mayorRa de casos, esta lRnea ser< cero. Si su presupuesto tiene un ndmero allR, favor de ponerse en contacto con Project Dandelion o su examinador del welfare para m<s informaci\n.
NET INC es la cantidad de su ganancias que la agencia usar< para determinar el tamaZo de su concesi\n.
En el medio del presupuesto hay una secci\n de titul\ "Other Income" Ista es la <rea donde se presupuestar< cualquier ingreso no ganado. Ejemplos de ingreso no ganado son: Beneficios Del Seguro Social (otra cosa que SSI); New York State Disability; Beneficios De Desempleo; Compensaci\n De Trabajador.
LN reconoce la persona quien recibe el ingreso.
SRC reconoce el origen del ingreso.
F reconoce la frecuencia (semanal-w, mensual-m)
AMOUNT es el ingreso promedio en un mes
EXEMPT es una secci\n para calculaciones especiales. Se usa esta <rea por el examinador para mantenerse al tanto de varios artRculos del ingreso que no necesita presupuestar contra su
concesi\n de asistencia pdblica. Favor de informar todo ingreso y permitir el examinador decidir si debe presupuestar.
SeZor Adams ha estado trabajando por los dltimos dos aZos. El descuento dnico de su ganancias es $90.00. El ingreso total contado contra la familia es $235.00 en ingreso gan\ y $216.67 en ingreso no ganado.
El mes que viene, la serie repasar< el reembolso de los Adam's, y c\mo se alcanz\ el total de la concesi\n de la asistencia pdblica.
Health Watch
ASTHMA
By Dr, Cheryl Nohejl
"You lied! I'm diseased." My nine year-old daughter's indignant screams greeted me as I met her at day-care. I thought that I had covered everything in teaching her to deal with her asthma. I told her that, like many chronic conditions, it was an inconvenience. It was something that would require careful management but should not interfere with her activities if she did as she was told. I had not anticipated her teacher's fears or her classmates reading the section on asthma from the Worldbook Encyclopedia with her. The encyclopedia, she told me, did not lie. She definitely was "diseased". I admitted that asthma was a disease but not quite the way that she thought. Asthma episodes are generally intermittent and can be managed effectively.
Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease or irritation that affects the airways by causing the small muscles around the airways to tighten. This tightening can make moving air, in and out of the smaller airways of the lungs, more difficult. Asthma has many other names, reactive airway disease. Some individuals will have wheezing (referring to the sound that you can hear with a stethoscope from air passing over a narrowed airway) with a single cold or infection. Asthma refers to repeated episodes of "wheezing".
More than 4 million children and at least as many adults have asthma. There has been a increase in the number of individuals diagnosed with asthma over the past fifteen years. This increase comes from better recognition and from a small increase in disease incidence. Because the focus of asthma management has shifted to prevention, many children and adults take medication even when they do not feel ill. With easier methods available to measure oxygen levels in young children, we appreciate that infants and young children can have low oxygen levels during attacks.
Asthma, like many chronic diseases, can follow a family pattern, especially when there is a family history of allergies. More important, however, is the association of asthma with smoking. A child whose mother or father smokes is two times as likely to develop asthma as a child who is not exposed to smoke in the home or childcare setting. A mother who smokes during pregnancy can have a child who is at higher risk for developing asthma.
In asthma, there is an inflammation or irritation involving the muscles around the airways. The inflammation can be aggravated or triggered by multiple factors including viral infections, allergies, environmental conditions, exercise, and possibly, abrupt weather changes. Viral infections are the most common "triggers". A simple cold often triggers an immune response that irritates the airways. The more frequent allergy triggers are dust mites (invisible mites that are in house dust in even the cleanest of homes), animal dander, molds, insects like cockroaches, grasses and trees and weeds. Air pollution by fumes, chemicals and cigarette smoke are also triggers. For some individuals, exercise itself can trigger an irritation. With vigorous preventive care, episodes severe enough to require hospitalization should decrease.
By recognizing and diagnosing asthma earlier, physicians can help control asthma symptoms earlier. Sometimes the only sign that a child has asthma may be a chronic cough. Other signs of asthma can be fatigue, a tight feeling in the chest, becoming easily winded with exercise, actual wheezing or difficulty getting one's breath. Generally with a young child, a physician will rely on what the parent tells them about the child's symptoms and what they observe when they examine the child. In an older child or adult, the physician may choose to use a test or device to measure airflow and lung capacity. Because only a small portion of asthma is allergy triggered, the physician will not do allergy testing on everyone.
Once the physician begins to treat asthma, he will likely teach the individual to recognize early signs of irritation and wheezing. Sometimes this will be with something that measures changes in airflow like a "peak flow meter". Changes in airflow can be detected days before a child or adult can clinically recognize that they are having difficulties. By starting treatment earlier, serious attacks can be avoided. Sometimes the physician will choose to use an anti-inflammatory drug to decrease the likelihood of an attack. Commonly used preventive drugs include Intal, Tilade and inhaled steroids like azmacort, vancenase, or aerobid. The drugs act to decrease the response to an irritation. For individuals with exercise-induced asthma, using a medication fifteen to twenty minutes before exercise can prevent the wheezing associated with exercise. Drugs called bronchodilators are used to relieve the airway narrowing. These can be by inhaler, by mouth or by a machine called a nebulizer that converts the drug to a fie mist. When allergies are clearly triggering a person's asthma, allergy shots or immunotherapy may be helpful. Even if it is not clear that an allergy is present, reducing dust levels, especially in sleeping areas, can be helpful.
Good control of asthma depends on early recognition and diligent management. With both, most individuals with asthma will have a quality of life that makes asthma more of an inconvenience than a "disease".
MONEY SAVING
TIP$ ON CLOTHING:
Paying retail is stupid. Use outlet, consignment, and discount mail-order catalogs. Shop the sales.
Stock up off season. Seasonal items are often cleared out at phenomenal prices, so if you can handle the thought of buying snow wear in the spring - - go for it.
Accessorize. Well chosen accessories can turn the same basic dress or suit into four or five different looks.
Find a good alterations person. A good tailor can take in, let out, take up, let down and redesign a classic and well-made garment.
Repair, resole, reheel. A good shoe repair can do miracles for your shoes. You can easily double or triple the life of a good pair of shoes.
Recycle. Instead of having your children wear their siblings' hand-me-downs, trade with neighbors or friends who have children of the same sizes. The kids get a new look and the price is right.
Change your clothes As soon as you get home from work, change out of your business suit into casual clothing to minimize the chance of stains or snags.
Become a stain guru. Removing an ugly stain may allow another year of wear.
Use shampoo on collar and cuff rings. Shampoo is meant to clean body oil. Body oil is what causes that ring around the collar and cuffs.
Wash with cold water. Unless you are dealing with unusual stains, cold water and good detergent will clean just as well as warm or hot water. You'll save on hot water, the fabrics will last longer and colors will stay bright much longer.
Sew buttons once and for all. Use dental floss for thread.
THE MINIMUM WAGE IS UP FOR DEBATE
The last minimum wage increase occurred in 1989 to raise the minimum from $3.35 to $4.25. There is a proposal before congress to increase the minimum wage to $5.15 an hour by using two 45 cent increases during 1997. This proposal still does not keep pace with inflation. To buy the same amount that the minimum wage bought in the 1970's, the minimum wage would need to be $6.07.
Many fear that increasing the minimum wage will cause people to lose their jobs. The minimum wage increase of 1989 did not significantly undermine employment opportunities, nor did it cause job loss. In fact, vacancies may be filled faster if the minimum wage was higher. From the employer's standpoint, it may decrease employee turnover.
The economy is suffering because low-wage workers do not have enough income to get what they need. Child care and health care costs have soared forcing families into unsafe environments and "latch key" situations. Low wage workers often must make a decision to work or to receive health care for their children.
Forty-three percent of employed poor people earn at or below minimum wage. 63% of all workers paid at the minimum wage are women. A half million working women are single heads of households who are trying to maintain their family on minimum wage earnings. Minimum wage is no longer the problem of the young worker. Three fourths of all minimum wage workers were age 20 or older. One half of all minimum wage workers were age 30 or older.
From January 1981 to April 1990 the minimum wage was frozen at $3.35. During those 9 years the cost of living increased 45%. To put this in perspective, when the wages of those who earn above minimum wage were averaged in the 50's and 60's, minimum wage workers earn about one half of what those above minimum wage earned. In the 70's, minimum wage equaled 46% of the wages received by those working over minimum wage. Currently, minimum wage workers earn about one third of what those above minimum wage earn.
In 1970, a worker who worked 50 weeks a year, full time, at minimum wage earned enough to keep a family of three out of poverty. Today, when a worker workers as above, a family of three would be 29% below poverty. A full time worker at minimum wage, will bring home $8,500.00. As of February 1994, the poverty level for a family of three is $12,320.
Sources: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Coalition for a Living Wage
OBTAINING A COPY OF
YOUR CREDIT REPORT
There are three primary agencies who gather credit information and then report to agencies. The addresses and telephone numbers are as follows:
TRW Information Systems
Trans Union Credit
Information
National Consumer Assistance Center
Consumer Relations Center
701 TRW Parkway
P.O.
Box 7000
Allen, TX 75013-2107
North Olmsted, OH
44070-7000
1 (800) 682-7654
1 (216) 779-7200
(1 free copy per year)
(fee
$8 for each report)
Equifax Credit Information
Consumer Relations
P.O. Box 740241
Atlanta, GA 30374-0241
1 (800) 685-1111
(fee $8 for each report)
The agencies generally require that they receive a written request from you prior to sending you a report. This is to protect your privacy. Please type or clearly print your request. You should include the following information with your request to make sure it is promptly processed.
1. Full name including middle initial and
generation such as Jr., Sr., II, III.
2. Current address with zip code.
3. Any previous addresses with ZIP codes for the past five years.
4. Social Security number.
5. Year of birth.
6. If married, your spouses first name.
7. Verification of your current address, such as a photo copy of your
driver's license, current billing statement or other valid document that verifies your
current address.
Allow two to three weeks to receive your report. If you have questions about your report or feel that information listed is not correct, you can dispute the incorrect information a number of ways.
Be Aware!!!
Effective January 1, 1997, the Social Security Administration will stop benefits to all who receive SSI or SSD based upon a disability related to the use of drugs or alcohol. Each current recipient should receive a letter by the end of June to notify them that benefits will end in January. The SSA will begin accepting applications in July from current recipients who believe that their benefits will be stopped January 1, 1997, but have other disabling conditions requiring them to continue receiving benefits.
Please note: If you stop receiving SSI, you will also lose your medical assistance.
Advocacy Tip:
When you speak with a member of an agency, you should note the person's name and title. You should keep a record of the date and time of the telephone call, what is said, and what action should be taken. You may do this on notebook paper. Remember to keep a separate sheet for each agency.
HUGGING
Hugging is healthy: It helps the body's immune system, it keeps you healthier, it cures depression, it reduces stress, it induces sleep, it's invigorating, it's rejuvenating, it has no unpleasant side effects, and hugging is nothing less than a miracle drug.
Hugging is all natural: It is organic, naturally sweet, no pesticides, no preservatives, no artificial ingredients and 100 percent wholesome.
Hugging is practically perfect: There are no movable parts, no batteries to wear out, no periodic checkups, low energy consumption, high energy yield, inflation-proof, non-fat, no monthly payments, no insurance requirements, theft-proof, non-taxable, non-polluting and of course, fully returnable.
Anonymous
Phantom Lover
The tender look in his eyes
The gently whispered love words,
Suns and moons and stars, and dreams
shared by two, alone at night,
waited far beyond my reach,
Thoughts of love untouchable,
unexperienced, unlived,
flooded dreams shared by just one.
Phantom lover in the night,
unreal, a fragile dream, a
mirage of shattered longings.
If he touched me, would he change,
sharing my sad loneliness?
If he touched me, would I change,
flying with him to magic
stars, untwinkling, lost in hopes. . .
by Alice E. Gerard
WORKSHOPS
HOW TO GET OFF AND STAY OFF
PUBLIC ASSISTANCE
July 1996
Tuesdays
5:00 pm - 6:30 pm.
Wednesdays
1:00 pm - 2:30 pm.
July 2,3
Advocacy Skills
July 9,10
Advocacy Skills, PA Budgeting
July 16,17
Transitional Benefits
August 1996
Tuesdays
10:00 am - 11:30 am
Wednesdays
5:30 pm - 7:00 pm
August 6,7
Advocacy Skills
August 13,14
Legal Rights, PA Budgeting
August 20, 21
Transitional Benefits
September 1996
Wednesdays
3:00 pm - 4:30 pm
September 4
Advocacy Skills
September 11
Legal Rights, PA Budgeting
September 18
Transitional Benefits
*Please RSVP, limited to 15 students per series*
POTLUCK DINNERS
6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
July 3 August 5
September 3 October 2
The potluck will always be held during the first week of the month. The dates rotate from Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The time is always the same from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
SPECIAL EVENTS
Weekly Tuesday meetings
Weekly Tuesday Meetings are held at Neighborhood
Legal Services 295 Main Street 495 Ellicott Square Building at 1:00 p.m. An advocate is
available to answer any legal questions.
Project Dandelion
Neighborhood Legal Services
295 Main Street
Ellicott Square Bldg. Rm. 495
Buffalo NY 14203