How do we shift the balance of our programs from relief towards development? How can we meet vital and basic needs repetitively without also being complicit in the dependency trap? How can we motivate the people we help to do more to help themselves? How can we level up? Look up, expect up, and size up.
Is expanding food stamps benefits to include restaurants a kindness or, as FDR put it, “a subtle destroyer of the human spirit”? TCI’s James Whitford explains how one state’s recent legislation doing just that is a disservice to those in need.
Debate over the term ‘homeless’ versus ‘houseless’ doesn’t provide a real solution, and neither does just offering a place to live. TCI’s James Whitford explains.
Most government programs to help the poor are designed less like a safety net to break a fall and more like a sticky spider’s web. The average nonprofit can’t fix the welfare system. However, there are a lot of practical things you can do to get your clients out of it and to keep them free.
Self-styled progressive Democrats demand that Congress pass a “human infrastructure” package that would provide funding for “free” college and preschool, alongside other social agenda items.
Could private charities and nonprofits immediately and effectively provide for the 42 million Americans who are currently support by food stamps? TCI Executive Director, James Whitford, explains his answer to this question that was asked during his recent congressional testimony.
“We must remember for every dollar spent by a SNAP recipient, the economy is stimulated by $1.50.” This was shared more than once in a recent Congressional hearing on the future of the Federal Government’s largest feeding program, SNAP. It was one of the arguments to support SNAP’s sustained expansion after the 15% increase in benefits. I was the only witness of five at the hearing who testified in opposition. After repeatedly hearing the economic stimulus justification, I asked, “Has no one heard of The Broken Window fallacy?”
On May 26, 2021, TCI Executive Director James Whitford testified before the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Agriculture regarding whether to expand SNAP benefits. During that hearing, Vice-Chair Alma S. Adams (D-NC) posed the question in the title of this article. James provides his response.
“We want to avoid a situation where people are unaware of what they’re entitled to,” said Vice President Harris last Monday. She was explaining the purpose of the Biden administration’s “Help is Here” tour, showcasing the third round of national stimulus legislation passed into law this month. I hope someone meets them along the way and hands off the book When Helping Hurts. This fundamental read highlights the harm done when indiscriminate charity fails to discern true need on an individual level.
Several years ago in a meeting with some city and nonprofit leaders, I shared the need and vision for a long-term recovery center. The idea became a central piece to a ten-year plan to address homelessness. City-government leaders involved in the discussion voted to allocate $500,000 dollars as seed money to realize the new brick-and-mortar project. Some were shocked when we turned it down. Why would anyone turn away half a million dollars of free government money? Because it’s not free.
Some have suggested it was originally used as a reference to people who lived in the geographic panhandle of a state. Others suggest it derived from the Spanish “pan,” meaning bread, and still others simply tie it to the tin pan extended by a beggar on a sidewalk. One outdated dictionary defined panhandler by distinguishing the person as “able-bodied” in contrast to other beggars who aren’t. More interesting is that panhandlers don’t use the term. They don’t “panhandle.” They…
Imagine that you spend months crafting a relational, empowering program at your ministry. You carefully craft a series of questions for clients designed to find their talents and abilities. The person responsible for asking the questions changes out several times and one day you decide to sit in on the process. What was designed as an exercise in personal connection has become quite the opposite – an adversarial bureaucratic process that demeans your client. This happens more often that we know. It’s not enough to design your programs well, or implement them well in a trial run; you must maintain their effectiveness over time.
James Whitford Executive Director Versions of this article were also published by The Federalist and The Joplin Globe. Face masks are “all we’ve got right now to fight […]
See what James Whitford has to say regarding the differences between measuring outputs and measuring outcomes. Learn more about True Charity and Watered Gardens Ministries.
