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People United For Families
PUFF : A Voice for Low-Income People in Denver
Appeared December 1999 in Welfare News
People United For Families(PUFF) is a Denver-based grassroots organization
created by and for local low-income families to influence policy which affects
their daily needs. PUFF emerged out of the state-wide conference, "Taking
Charge of Welfare," hosted by Denver’s Community Resource Center (CRC) in
1997. There, low-income community members and activists from the Denver area
assembled around similar welfare policy struggles. This group, consisting
primarily of single mothers, organized formally as PUFF in 1998. PUFF is
sponsored by CRC, and is part of the Western Welfare Rights Activists Network (WWRAN).
PUFF members devote themselves to the representation, education, and inclusion
of working families struggling for better welfare services and ways out of the
welfare system.
An organized voice of low-income individuals in Denver, PUFF members
participate at community meetings where issues of poverty are addressed and
speak out on these issues where they may otherwise be overlooked. Members work
to present low-income women’s testimonials at public events to educate the
community about the reality of the effects of welfare policy. At meetings with
Denver's City Council and at community forums, members address fundamental
issues such as an overwhelming welfare bureaucracy, and their needs for
transportation, housing services, medical services, and child care.
In October, PUFF held a community forum with representatives from the Denver
Department of Human Services (DDHS) and the Denver Welfare Reform Board to
discuss performance and accountability standards of DDHS staff. Welfare agency
staff often provide inaccurate or incomplete information about available
programs and funds to the public. In response to PUFF, DDHS agreed to take steps
to create more staff accountability by including client feedback in caseworker
performance review reports. They have also agreed to provide periodic
informational sessions to welfare recipients to re-educate them on their TANF
and housing rights. PUFF is currently following up with DDHS to ensure that
these plans are implemented quickly and effectively.
PUFF successfully addressed the difficulty welfare recipients face visiting
the welfare office during its scheduled hours. Denver welfare reforms push both
"work first" requirements and mandatory meetings with welfare staff
during working hours. PUFF addressed this contradiction by pushing for Saturday
hours to accommodate recipients with full time jobs. DDHS responded to pressure
from PUFF organizers by instituting Saturday hours for paperwork intake, making
it possible for welfare recipients to meet welfare requirements. PUFF is now
urging DDHS to offer Saturday orientations for welfare recipients to advise them
on how to access unpublicized welfare benefits and to stay on top of their
paperwork requirements.
PUFF members believe that the needs of the poor are best assessed by those
who know poverty as a daily reality. Recently, PUFF reviewed items in the TANF
spending plan prepared by the county Welfare Reform Board and provided the Board
with its own recommendations on how TANF money should be allocated based on the
major concerns voiced by low-income community members. PUFF compiled a survey
collected from low-income individuals at the DDHS, directly from low-income
neighborhoods and at local community colleges. The group used the results of
this survey to recommend establishment of a program of on-call shuttles to help
parents access education/job training sites, child care centers and schools. In
their recommendations report, they also urged the Reform Board to use TANF
surplus money to cover child care costs for parents and to subsidize permanent
housing for the thousands of Colorado low income families who spend more than
50% of their income on rent alone. The Reform Board is using PUFF’s
recommendations in its spending proposal.
Community education encompasses a large part of PUFF’s work. PUFF produces
a monthly newsletter which provides information and news addressing the concerns
of low-income individuals. (Recent issues are posted on the LINC project
website: www.lincproject.org). The newsletter provides up-to-date
information concerning federal and local welfare policy that the local media may
not provide. It alerts its readers to relevant legislative action and offers
feasible ways to participate in the political process, such as contacting
representatives in response to amendments aimed at the poor. In its continuing
effort to reach and include low-income individuals, PUFF holds standing monthly
"Lunch Box" workshops to address general issues of poverty and any
specific community concerns. Most PUFF events and meetings offer child care,
meals, and transportation where possible. In this way PUFF stays true to its
membership and remains a realistic way for low income families to work for
relevant political and economic change.
For more information contact a PUFF representative at PUFF, c/o Community
Resource Center, 655 Broadway, Suite 300, Denver, CO 80203, tel 303-623-1540;
fax 303-623-156; email: peopleunited@juno.com.
This profile was prepared by Bernadette Armand, a WLC legal intern.
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