TESTIMONY:Karen Ayee

COMMUNITY VOICES HeardMeeting with

HRA Commissioner Robert Doar

Welfare to Work Programs and the Need for Monitoring

SEPTEMBER, 18, 2007

Hello, my name is Karen Ayee. I am a leader at Community Voices Heard. I am 42 years old. I am a single mother of three smallchildren. I live in NYCHA’s St. Nicholas Houses. I do not have any income other than public assistance to take care of my children and myself. I am constantly being threatened with sanctions, WEP assignments and having my childcare cut off. As of today, September 18th, I am being threatened with a sanction because I had to take care of issues with my child’s school to seek transfer to another school. I do not understand this system of sanctioning families without prior notice for conciliation. I have not had an opportunity to speak with a worker because I was never assigned one. I have been pushed from the HRA We Care Program, and presently I’m in the Training Assessment Group (TAG) at the ASACollege in Manhattan.

Presently, I am two semesters away from graduating. I am constantly faced with threats if I am absent. There is no process in place for students who have situations that come up on emergency basis. I have a family and I am trying to complete my studies and not get thrown off the public assistance for the long term reward to hopefully never return again.

It is difficult in my situation, at my age to keep a job if I’m not properly trained. This is why I am pushing so hard to stay in school. I have to care for three children at ages 6, 5 and 2 years old. Now, being in school and facing WEP assignment and the loss of my childcare benefits, where am I supposed to find the time to take care of my children? What am I supposed to do without my childcare benefits to continue my education?

All HRA programs and services should have assigned workers so that people can discuss their challenges and problems before being threatened with case closings and loss of benefits because this sets a family way back and we have to start all over again. Workers should be trained to understand the unique circumstances of Public Assistance recipients.

Recommendation

HRA should set aside money to hire an external group to monitor HRA programs. Some of that money should also be used to support and train workers in the HRA centers to ensure that clients are being given the most opportunities and allowed flexibility while meeting their career goals.