Work and Child Care

Wages

• 
  City Hall at Night

  Mother: Imani S

  "I was on my way to the overtime job that I was doing when I got my food stamps cut off.  They had called me to work there for one day.  So, I was thinking to myself, “Well, if I go down here this one day, are they going cut my food stamps off?  I really didn’t know what to do.  At the time I was walking through there, it made me think, “Was I going to get cut off again?” What kind of programs can the City do to help us stay on the food stamp program when we do extra work?  I don’t think it’s fair for us to get reprimanded for doing something positive.  That’s why I chose that picture."

• 
  In need of childcare

  Mother: Shelly G

  I was working for Lowe’s making $13.04 an hour. I lost my job because Welfare didn’t put their paperwork through and I lost my child care provider. I didn’t lose my job because I wanted to not work. I lost my job because in two weeks they would’ve fired me anyway for not showing up... 

• 
  A day's tips

  Mother: Angelica R

  "That’s a picture of my miserable tips today. It's $5, for six hours of work."

• 
  At work

  Mother: Marinette R

  "I found this security job on my own. I've always found jobs on my own because the welfare-to-work programs they send you to they never work for me. It’s kind of crazy because you sit there and they just tell you a bunch of stuff about how you have to have your hair. Like one day they put me to work there and they told me I needed a resume done. I don’t know how to mess with a computer so they told this lady, and she just puts me at the computer and leaves.She didn’t even help me. I got so stressed I left. They told me that if you leave and you never come back that you get sanctioned."

• 
  Providing what they need

  Mother: Marinette R

  I try my best. Sometimes they get me angry because they, you know all their friends have this and that and they’re like mommy, I want this, mommy, I want that. It’s hard when you can’t get them things and I try to explain to them that one day I’m going to be all right.

• 
  2 Tokens for One Week

  Mother: Joanna C

  "I take the bus to work. That’s why I had the picture of the two bus tokens. My sad, little tokens, because it was these two tokens that I had left for three more days of getting to work. Welfare said they couldn’t give me any more bus fare money because they already gave it to me. But of course, my priority is to feed my kids. I know that going to the job is going to pay me eventually, but I can’t let them starve all week long. So, I’m going to use that money to feed them first."

• 
  Stacks of Paper

  Mother: Joanna C

  "It never ends because I got through one stack of papers to file like that this week. I have another stack that big in a drawer, plus the lady keeps coming and bringing more and more paperwork.  I’m like, how the heck am I going to get through all this paperwork? My supervisor said, 'Oh no, you’re not going to get through it. You’re never gonna finish and it’s never going to be gone.'"