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Support our work with a
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LINC is a project of
the National Center for Law and Economic Justice.
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Justice, Economic Dignity, and Independence for Women, Salt Lake City, Utah
JEDI Women is a grass-roots organization of mostly low-income women, some receiving
welfare, others working in low-paying jobs. JEDI Women believe that the issue of welfare
is tied to other social and economic issues, including job training and availability,
education, access to affordable housing, child care, and health care, and they conduct
research and perform public education and lobbying on all of these issues.
During the fall, JEDI Women held a tent city protest. They set up tents on the lawn of
Utah's Capitol Hill and remained for 3 days. There they held a news conference and urged
the Governor to help implement various progressive housing policies. The protest was
successful: while JEDI Women were still camping on the lawn, they received a letter from
the governor stating that he supported their proposals, and in January the Utah
legislature approved a massive increase in funding for the Utah Housing Trust Fund.
In January JEDI Women completed a survey on child support titled, "Every Child's
Right: Child Support Collection in Utah, The Parents' Perspective." They surveyed 101
mothers in local welfare offices and found that over 75% receive no child support from the
absent fathers. On January 23, JEDI Women held a press conference/rally where they
presented their report and offered some suggestions to increase payments, including
garnishing fathers' wages and offering job training to increase fathers' earning capacity.
All four area television stations covered the event.
Within the next month, JEDI Women will release a booklet of stories of women low-wage
workers who have at some point received welfare. Each woman wrote her own story, and the
booklet will include budgets for each family. The booklet will illustrate the cyclic
relationship between welfare receipt and the inadequacy of low wages.
This article was prepared by Sue Scrivener, M.S.W., a volunteer
policy analyst for the Center.
-- from the January 1996 issue of Welfare News
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