Introduction
Millions of families rely on public assistance programs to help make ends meet when they cannot work or wages are too low. However, too often those programs are designed and implemented without input from the families they serve, undermining their effectiveness. To increase effectiveness and adequately address disparities, policymakers should work alongside families and individuals with firsthand experience and knowledge of poverty and public assistance programs to systemically improve these programs and their delivery.
New research from Children’s HealthWatch and the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights, and Social Justice highlights ways to successfully build programs, policies, and advocacy campaigns that work for the families they serve. Lessons come from organizers, advocates, and faith leaders about their experience of poverty and interaction with the public assistance system, as both participants and advocates. While this work primarily focused on direct cash transfer programs, the insights shared here have broader implications on how we can meaningfully integrate people with lived expertise into program and policy planning and implementation.
Organizing to improve public Organizing to improve public assistance programs assistance programs
Children’s HealthWatch and the Kairos Center conducted four listening sessions to explore the personal and community impacts of direct cash transfer programs and discuss how these programs influence the lives of participants, their families, and their broader communities. The guiding objective of the listening sessions was to explore the personal and community impacts of direct cash transfer programs and discuss how these programs influence the lives of participants, their families, and their broader communities. Additionally, Children’s HealthWatch and the Kairos Center sought to identify advocacy and organizing strategies to enhance the effectiveness of direct cash transfer programs and support advocacy efforts to ensure they are inclusive and beneficial for all who rely on them.
During the listening sessions, participants shared effective strategies that enhance the design and implementation of direct cash transfer programs, putting strong emphasis on including the collective perspectives of communities directly impacted by these programs, rather than isolated individual experiences. Organizers across states also had experience pushing for systemic changes through statewide health care campaigns, using human rights frameworks and cross-cultural organizing to address systemic barriers and ensure the recognition of fundamental needs as basic human rights.