Editor's Introduction:
On Oct. 12, 2001, the Rev. Linda Olson Peebles of the Unitarian Universalist
Church of Arlington, VA, gave testimony to a congressional committee
on the impact of the events of Sept. 11 on the lives of children. The
Rev. Peebles spoke in her role as President of the United Community
Ministries of Fairfax County, VA. She was accompanied by the Rev. Richard
Nugent, Interim Minister, UU Congregation of Columbia, MD. Also testifying
were the Executive Director of an adoption institute in New York City;
a widow and her two young children from New York; the vice president
of the National Mental Health Association; the director of the Center
for Mental Health Services Administration; a representative from the
Christian Children's Fund; the Assistant Secretary for Children &
Families in the US Department of Health and Human Services; and the
legislative officer for the American Red Cross.
Thank you for inviting me to be with you today. I am the President
of the Board of Directors of United Community Ministries. This non-profit
human services agency is in Fairfax County, Virginia, formed over 30
years ago by a coalition of churches and citizens who wanted to provide
coordinated services to strengthen families and thereby ensure well-being
for all children.
Our hearts go out to the individuals who lost family or friends in
the September 11th terrorist attack and we commend Representative Sheila
Jackson Lee and the other members of the Congressional Children's Committee
for their efforts to highlight the needs of the children affected by
those events. Just two weeks ago, I had the sad duty of officiating
at the memorial service for a young man killed in the Pentagon, who
left behind a wife and two children - age 5 and 2. It is indeed a difficult
time.
But also, I want to point out that the "shock waves" from
that attack have rippled
beyond the needs of the children who lost a parent to the attacks on
the Trade Towers, Pentagon and associated flights. The financial fallout
has been felt throughout the community as parents lose their ability
to adequately provide for their children in the wake of the attack.
I would like to share with you the stories of three families who live
in our community and have been affected by these events. These stories
detail the struggles these families are facing and their need for government
assistance.
Then I will suggest how federal monies might be used to be effective
in helping all these children afftected.
AMBREEN
Originally from Pakistan, Ambreen moved to the United States 12 years
ago. She applied for and earned her citizenship and, for the past 6
years, she has worked at National Airport driving the shuttle buses
that take us from long-term parking to our terminal and back. As the
head of household, she and her four young children depend on her paycheck
to pay the bills. Last week, she came to UCM for food and money to pay
the rent. She was particularly in need of diapers and formula for her
7-month old daughter. She has still not been called back to work by
her employer and has not received any unemployment compensation.
To make matters worse, she is afraid to live in her own apartment.
Her brother-in-law, who lives close by, has been the recent victim of
a hate crime. Someone who could not separate the acts perpetrated by
a minority of radicals fired bullets into his first-story apartment.
Luckily, no one was injured, but all involved were quite shaken. Ambreen's
apartment is also on the ground level, so she and her children have
been staying with various relatives.
Ambreen fears for her safety and worries about providing for her children.
With almost double the number of families coming to our doors each day,
UCM worries about having enough to help parents like Ambreen provide
for their children in the months to come. UCM relies on donations to
its Basic Needs program. In the wake of the attack, we have seen our
food donations drop 34% and our monetary donations drop by 67%. These
families will need government assistance in the form of emergency food
stamps, emergency unemployment compensation, and emergency rent or mortgage
assistance.
VALENTINA AND JERGE
Valentina laments, "We finally found a nice country and a nice
job and now we have to explain to our kids why we can't give them things
they need. I am really worried."
Valentina's daughter doesn't understand why she can't have a party
with her friends for her 4th birthday. But since Valentina and her husband
were laid off from their jobs at National Airport, they can't afford
to pay the rent, much less spend money on a birthday party. Immigrants
from Bosnia, they came to the U.S. in May of 1999. Soon after, they
obtained employment at National. Valentina works at a coffee stand in
the airport and Jerge works as a parking garage attendant. Although
the airport has reopened, they are still waiting notice from their employers
as to when they can return to work.
They have not received their unemployment compensation but even when
they do, it will not meet their needs. Jerge was earning $10/hour or
$400/week when he was working. He will receive only $152/week in unemployment
and Valentina will receive only $71/week. Their rent is $695, leaving
only $197/ month to pay for all of their other expenses including food
for their 2 daughters.
They are trying to find other jobs, but according to Valentina, it
is especially hard for Jerge because he has not completed his ESL class
and his English is still quite rough. For her part, Valentina has enrolled
in a typing and computer software class at UCM's Employment Center.
Their 4-year old daughter is enrolled at UCM's Bryant Early Learning
(BEL) Childcare center. However, they cannot receive their subsidy from
the county unless they are employed. So they fear that even if they
do find alternative employment, they will no longer have childcare.
UCM is working with them to temporarily waive tuition fees, but our
resources will not hold out indefinitely.
ART AND MELISSA
You may have read about Art and Melissa in the "Mt. Vernon Gazette"
or seen their story on News Channel 8 when Virginia State Senator Toddy
Puller (D-36th District) made a special house call on August 17th to
visit their 4-month old David.
Like many young, first-time parents, Art and Melissa worry that they
lack the experience and parenting skills they need to provide for their
infant. Art is enlisted in the Army; thus they have the added burden
of having no family or close friends in the area to support them. To
address this concern, they enrolled in UCM's Route One Healthy Families
Fairfax (HFF) program, a voluntary, ground-breaking program designed
to help first-time parents develop those skills. One of the many positive
outcomes of the Healthy Families program is that it allows for early
identification of life stresses that might place children at risk for
abuse or neglect.
Currently, Art and Melissa's family support worker, Maria visits them
once a week. She has become like family to them. As Art and men like
him leave to fight the war against terrorism, mothers like Melissa will
be under even greater stress.
Soon, Fort Belvoir and UCM will sign a Memorandum of Understanding
that will allow for more military family referrals to the Healthy Families
Program. Unfortunately, the need greatly outweighes the current resources
available to fund the program. Due to the budget stalemate in Richmond
last session, the additional funds so desperately needed for this program
were not provided. UCM would like to open the program up to more families,
to provide more intensive case management and to establish support groups
for these isolated mothers, but without additional funding from the
state, a vast need will remain unmet.
And so this brings me to my specific recommendation to your Children's
Caucus to help make appropriations that are most effective. In addition
to the assistance mentioned above, and for all the purposes outlined
by our other speakers here today, UCM recommends that the Federal
government make emergency grants available to community-based organizations
(CBO's) like UCM who are seeing a dramatic increase in families affected
by the events of September 11th. It has been our goal to help families
achieve self-sufficiency - it is now our job to sustain families in
this time of crisis and we simply do not have the resources available.
We are, however, poised on the front line, able to move quickly, unencumbered
by red tape issues to slow us down. We are an efficient, cost-effective
vehicle with only an 8.6% overhead cost for getting help where it is
needed fast.
As this crisis continues to unfold - it is like peeling away the layers
of an onion - as unemployment reaches the more closely linked areas
of tourism, business travel, and entertainment, our ability to provide
for children is jeopardized and may never be the same again. Retraining
and job placement services must be expanded immediately to avoid a long-term
crisis. Agencies like UCM are your best opportunity to get the job done
and prevent the situation from further impacting our nation's children
in such a negative - and preventable - manner.
Rev.
Linda Olson Peebles, President