Center accesses assistance

from the San Bernardino Sun

Robert Rogers, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 03/04/2008 10:16:51 PM PST

SAN BERNARDINO - There's something going on in this working-class neighborhood north of downtown, and if it works, it just might be the economic tonic to power poor and working-class residents through the tough times.

It's called the "Free Tax and Benefit Access Center," a collection of five computers outfitted with a special tax program and a handful of employees who specialize in navigating the labyrinth of public assistance programs.

Anyone can come into the center, which operates in the new D Street offices of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN.

The center's goal, according to ACORN officials, is to connect local working and out-of-work families with the millions in federal and state resources for which they qualify but may not be collecting - a form of local, grassroots economic stimulus.

The center is the first of its kind in the county, ACORN leaders say.

"This is a way for fast, easy initial engagement with a bunch of resources that can be pretty daunting to people," said Bobbi Jo Chavarria, ACORN's head organizer at the San Bernardino office. "This can help to dramatically increase the resources coming into our community very quickly, and hopefully dramatically reduce the need for these resources long term."

Since its Jan. 28 opening, more than 100 residents have come in for the free tax and benefits consultation sessions, Chavarria said.

The vast majority discovered they qualified for some public assistance programs, meaning more money in their pockets. The most common programs people discovered they could tap into were the Food Stamp and the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance programs, which would translate into federal dollars infused into the local economy.

"People are usually surprised they qualify," Chavarria said.

A host of soft barricades prevent a higher rate of eligible people from accessing the benefits, Chavarria said, from paperwork and lack of education to lackluster government marketing efforts.

San Bernardino County, through which the federal Food Stamp Program is funneled, is working on putting its forms online to save applicants multiple trips to government offices, Chavarria said.

With 56percent of eligible county residents not collecting the food stamps for which they qualify, the county loses out on $203million in federal funds annually, according to California Food Policy Advocates, a public policy research group.

Chavarria said studies indicate more than $700million annually in unclaimed assistance from all welfare programs are never accessed by county residents.

Beyond low enrollment, academics and local program leaders say public assistance programs are contingent on the recipient accumulating very little wealth, which creates a clear disincentive to save.

For instance, the Food Stamp Program imposes an asset limit on recipients of $2,000 in savings, California Hunger Action Coalition Director Frank Tamborello said at a meeting last week.

By having these limits, especially so low, aid programs are less likely to boost families out of poverty than they are to create cultures of poverty, he said.

Reforms that have been proposed include financial incentives not only to save, but to invest aid monies in education or other human capital investments.

Chavarria said growing wealth inequality and poor public services in the county have fed a new grassroots movement, culminating in center's like hers. ACORN, a nationwide civic participation coalition, first sprung up in San Bernardino County in 2005 with about a dozen pioneer members, Chavarria said.

Today, the mailing list shows more than 2,000 members, with 50 to 80 being added daily.

"People here have felt frustrated for a long time," Chavarria said. "Now, with the economy down and the subprime mortgage mess, people are even more energized to push for the resources they need."

Meanwhile, Chavarria and her staff of five full- and part-time community workers hope to help at least 500 people with free tax filings and benefit assessments by April 15.

By the numbers

295,608: people who live in poverty in the county as defined by federal guidelines.

126,952: Children who live in poverty in the county

14.7 percent: Children who live in poverty in the county

7.2 percent: Babies who are born with low birth weight in the county, the third-worst rate in the state

Source: California Food Policy Advocates