I am a mother, a college graduate, a full-time employee and a homeowner. I am also a former welfare recipient. Thanks to Maine’s Parents as Scholars Program, I was able to dramatically change the course of my life and become self-supporting.
Both the TANF and Parents as Scholars programs helped me through a difficult time, and I’m writing because I know they can help other people, too.
Through the Parents as Scholars program, I was able to earn a college degree and improve my own life and the life of my daughter. I still work hard, and things are far from perfect, but I am so thankful that this program exists.
No one relishes living in poverty. I certainly didn’t. That’s one reason why I participated in the work-study program while also being a full-time student and the mother of a young child. The opportunity to go to college, when I could least afford it, eventually enabled me to leave the welfare rolls entirely. That’s what some politicians always say they’re after, but their actions don’t match up with their words. Just last year, some in Augusta proposed the elimination of this program.
Finally the day I had been working toward arrived; I graduated from college. But, I didn’t have long to celebrate. I found myself facing a whole new set of challenges immediately. All of a sudden I would be solely supporting myself. I knew this would be difficult, but I wasn’t prepared for how significant a transition this would actually become.
While in college, my subsidized rent was $106 a month. Once employed, however, my rent increased to $1,100 a month, almost overnight. Considering that daycare was also no longer subsidized and I now had student loans to pay, my two largest expenses increased far more than my new income could support.
Parents as Scholars and other programs brought me to the finish line and helped me get my family out of poverty. But, once college finished and I found a job, I almost didn’t make it through the next round of unknown challenges. Transitional assistance would have provided both the help and confidence during that critical time for me to be successful.
Despite all the trials of completely supporting myself, I would never have considered returning to public assistance. I only wish I’d been aware and, more importantly, had help with all the new issues I was up against once I started working.
I know firsthand what can help lift a person out of poverty; I did it. It’s not just about working hard; it’s about having the right kind of help. And that help includes access to a quality, affordable education at every age level from pre-K to college; a gradual discontinuation of benefits as opposed to an immediate loss when you find a job; and creating more living-wage jobs so that we can afford safe housing, keep up with the costs of heating our homes and keep our cars on the road to get to our jobs.
Maine should be focused on keeping and funding effective programs like Head Start and Parents as Scholars. We should not even be discussing the elimination of programs that benefit the most vulnerable people in our state. Maine people agree, and I’ve seen firsthand the solution to poverty is to lift all of us up, not put some of us down.
I am proud of the work I’ve done to get to where I am, but I know I didn’t do it without assistance. I want other Mainers to have that same opportunity to get the help they need to improve their lives as I have improved mine.
Rochelle Riordan lives in Lisbon.