Let 'em stick with:
Posted on 02/21/2004 12:41:34 PM PST by Chummy
For the working poor, having a dependable automobile can mean the difference between getting ahead or going nowhere - in more ways than one.
That is why social service agencies are trying to launch a program in Milwaukee and Waukesha counties that would use federal money to help low-income residents buy used automobiles.
Known as "Ways to Work," the program is based on the assumption that mass transit and other options are not always adequate, especially for people who must commute long distances to work.
Proponents tell the story of a cleaning lady in Illinois who was forced to drag a vacuum cleaner on the bus with her between jobs.
Some skeptics question whether helping people buy cars is a legitimate government function and whether the program would fill area highways with uninsured drivers or vehicles in disrepair.
But advocates say Ways to Work would help the working poor improve their quality of life by giving them easier access not only to employment, but also health care, child care and other basic needs.
Car loans of up to $4,000 would be made available to working parents who meet income guidelines in Milwaukee County or Waukesha County.
"It isn't the end-all, but it is one step," said David Larson, president of Lutheran Social Services, one of the groups pushing the program locally.
A delegation from the Milwaukee area is scheduled to travel to Washington, D.C., next week to lobby for funding from the Federal Transit Administration. Although primarily a backer of mass transit, the FTA has provided millions of dollars for Ways to Work efforts in other communities.
FTA spokeswoman Tina Burke said her agency acknowledges that mass transit is not perfect and does not always solve mobility issues for everyone.
Of the car-loan program, Burke said: "It is just one of the many options to help people get a job and keep a job. It has seen great results."
The federal government in recent years has provided more than $10 million to support Ways to Work in more than 20 other cities, including Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis and St. Louis.
A similar program, known as the Family Loan Fund, operated in Milwaukee in the mid-1990s through Family Service of Milwaukee. But after that agency became part of Aurora Health Care, the program was discontinued.
Leading the drive for Ways to Work is the Alliance for Children & Families, a Milwaukee-based coalition of social service agencies.
Robert Duea, president of Ways to Work at the alliance, said while he could not estimate how many people the program would help locally, he said other communities generally have seen 60 to 100 car loans approved each year.
Duea described the typical problem as working parents who rely on mass transit and must get started early in the morning, drop their kids off at school or day care, get back on a bus and ride to work in another city or county - and then do the same thing in reverse at the end of the day.
Under such circumstances, many people are unable to hold down a job and improve their quality of life, Duea said.
"It doesn't work well for them at all," he said. "When we built this country, we built it for the automobile."
Government leaders in both Milwaukee County and Waukesha County are being asked to support the effort to get federal funding for the program.
When the concept was unveiled in Waukesha County earlier this week, some members of a county advisory panel voiced skepticism.
County Supervisor Patricia Haukohl of Brookfield questioned whether the federal government should be financing car loans or whether such assistance should come from employers that locate in the suburbs knowing that their labor base is in Milwaukee.
Haukohl and others also said they worried about supporting a program that would fill the highways with drivers who cannot afford insurance or who drive jalopies.
"That's my first thought," Haukohl said. "What are we putting on the roads?"
Proponents said the program still is being developed and that they would try to address those kinds of issues.
Peter Schuler, director of health and human services for Waukesha County, said the intent is to promote a "normalization" for low-income people by giving them the same mobility as others in the work force.
Officials in both Milwaukee County and Waukesha County have recognized in recent years that a lack of transportation was creating difficulties for workers who must commute across the region, Schuler said.
"We already know people have trouble getting to work," he said. "It's not like it's a mystery."
I guess it's not enough to give free drugs to the richest people in America - the elderly. Now we gotta give cars to "the poor". Ever been through a "poor" neighborhood? They could afford cars if they didn't have to sport the latest fashions.
But advocates say Ways to Work would help the working poor improve their quality of life by giving them easier access not only to employment, but also health care, child care and other basic needs.
Then let the advocates get togther and buy cars for the "poor". Leave me out of it. I'm already in enough financial trouble through having to afford private school in order to keep my daughter out of the hands of the filthy criminal Ritalin pushers.
Lol! I thought that was only in Canada. Aren't they having a problem with this up there?
What about repairs?
Let 'em stick with:
Just reading that last paragraph makes me pine for those long-ago days when I was "poor" and had to take the subway to work.
Welcome to our world!
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