Joanna C

Joanna is twenty-five and has two children, a three year-old daughter and a six year-old daughter. She recently moved to a new home in South Philadelphia. Joanna was living in a North Philadelphia home that her mother had given her, however the plumbing was backed up and she was eventually unable to use her kitchen and bathroom.  Joanna had to sell the home for practically nothing, although she was able to take the money from the sale to put a down payment on her new apartment.

After unsuccessfully searching for a job on her own, Joanna turned to local EARN centers for job placement. She spent awhile working in a temporary position, filing stacks of papers for 8 hours for approximately $30 a day. She then got a job working in a shoe store. Joanna’s food stamps were reduced as a result of her new job. She now finds it difficult to get to work and buy food. “I had to get to work for three days on two tokens because welfare says they couldn’t give me more carfare money. But if it’s at a time whenI may have run out of food, of course my priority is to feed my kids before I try to get to work.  I know going to the job is going to pay me in the end, but I can’t let them starve all week long. So I’m going to use that money to feed them first.”