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Alabama
Arkansas
Delaware
District of Columbia
THE SOUTHERN INSTITUTE
Florida
on Children and Families
Georgia
Kentucky
Louisiana
Mayersville, Mississippi
Maryland
A Study on Improving Access
Mississippi
to Benefits and Services
Missouri
for Low-Income Families
North Carolina
in the Rural South
oklahoma
South Carolina
Tennessee
June 1999
Texas
Virginia
West Virginia
MAYERSVILLE, MISSISSIPPI
A Study on Improving Access to Benefits and Services
for Low-Income Families in the Rural South
Prepared by
Sarah C. Shuptrine
SOUTHERN INSTITUTE ON CHILDREN AND FAMILIES
620 Sims Avenue Columbia SC 29205
Phone: 803/779-2607 Fax: 803/254-6301
website: www.kidsouth.org
Sponsored by
THE ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON FOUNDATION
JUNE 1999
The views expressed in this report are those of the author and
no official endorsement by The Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation is intended or should be inferred.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The Southern Institute on Children and Families would like to express its
appreciation to The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for its support of the
Southern Regional Initiative to Improve Access to Benefits for Low-Income
Families With Children. The Mayersville case study is part of the initiative.
Special appreciation is extended to Judith Whang, Senior Program Officer, for
her assistance throughout the project.
The Southern Institute wishes to express sincere appreciation to the
residents of Mayersville who participated in site visit meetings. Their
willingness to share their concerns and ideas is greatly appreciated.
The Southern Institute also extends its appreciation to Rickey Berry, Nan
Bingham, Ronnie McGinnis, Pam Simpson, Tom Watts, Zenotha Robinson, Vera
Butler and Edna Watts of the Mississippi Department of Human Services
(MDHS), for their assistance and their willingness to continue to work on
identified issues. The Southern Institute is especially grateful for the
participation and assistance of Marquetta Brown, Issaquena County DHS
Director, and Fannie Sampson, Sharkey County DHS Director. The attendance
of Kathy Wasson, Division of Medicaid, Vicksburg office, at the initial site visit is
also appreciated.
The participation of Andy George, M.D., DeltaCare Rural Health Center,
and Lessa Phillips, M.D. and Edgar Smith, Ph.D., University of Mississippi
Medical Center, is also greatly appreciated.
Appreciation is also extended to Steven Golightly, Region IV
Administrator, Administration for Children and Families, US Department of
Health and Human Services, and Robert Jackson, Associate Director of the
Southeast Field Office, Health Services Resources Administration, US
Department of Health and Human Services, for participation in the Mayersville
meeting and their continued interest in working to help resolve issues identified
during the discussions. Appreciation is also extended to Larry Bowen, Rural
Development Loan Specialist, US Department of Agriculture, for his
participation in the second site visit.
Appreciation is also extended to Jane Boykin, Merrill King, Beulah Russell
and Rochelle Swaggard of the Mississippi Forum on Children and Families for
their participation in the site visit meetings and their continued interest in
working on identified issues.
The Southern Institute also appreciates the participation of Suzie Evans,
Director of Mississippi Christian Family Services, and David Jackson, Program
Officer of the Mid-South Delta Local Initiative Support Corporation, who
attended the second site visit meeting in Mayersville.
i
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
i
INTRODUCTION
1
INITIAL SITE VISIT
2
Meeting with Parents and Grandparents
2
Transportation
4
Child Care
5
Child Health Coverage
6
Child Health Care
6
FOLLOW-UP SITE VISIT
7
Transportation
8
Child Care
10
Child Health Coverage
12
Child Health Care
12
CONCLUSION
13
APPENDIX
A. Food Stamp Asset/Resource Rules
15
B. Discussion of Food Stamp Act Vehicle Resource Limit and USDA Draft Guidance
17
ii
MAYERSVILLE, MISSISSIPPI
A Study on Improving Access to Benefits and Services
for Low-Income Families in the Rural South
INTRODUCTION
Children and families in economically depressed rural communities should be
a top priority for policymakers who feel strongly that every child should have an
opportunity to succeed in life. In the fall of 1998, the Southern Institute on
Children and Families set out on a journey to learn more about the challenges rural
families face when distances are far and resources are limited. 1
Unita Blackwell, Mayor of Mayersville, Mississippi, and Chairman of the
Board of Directors of the Southern Institute on Children and Families, hosted two
site visits to Mayersville. The Town of Mayersville has a population of
approximately 500 and is located in Issaquena County in the heart of the
Mississippi Delta. Issaquena County is among the poorest counties in Mississippi.
The first site visit was held in November 1998 and the second was held in
June 1999. The purpose of the first site visit was to gain a better understanding of
the issues that face rural families with regard to their access to child health
coverage, child health care, child care and transportation. The purpose of the
second site visit was to discuss follow-up activities since the initial visit and to
define how best to address the identified issues.
Information was both shared and gained during the two site visits to
Mayersville. Mayor Blackwell and Sarah Shuptrine, President of the Southern
Institute on Children and Families, convened the site visit meetings. The visits
were made possible by a grant from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
The Southern Institute is indebted to the residents of Mayersville who were
willing to share their concerns and aspirations and also to the professionals who
traveled to Mayersville to be part of the dialogue and to participate in the
brainstorming of solutions. This report summarizes the discussions, the follow-up
activities and the insight gained from the Mayersville site visits.
1 The Southern Institute on Children and Families is an independent nonprofit public policy
organization that works to improve opportunities for children and families in 17 southern states and
the District of Columbia, with a focus on disadvantaged children. Through special projects and
surveys, the Southern Institute spotlights health, social, education and economic issues of regional
significance. It works to encourage public/private sector collaboration on behalf of children and
families and seeks to remove bureaucratic and other barriers that restrict access to needed benefits
and services.
INITIAL SITE VISIT
Four meetings were held during the Southern Institute's one-day visit to
Mayersville on November 10, 1998. The first meeting was with parents and
grandparents. The second meeting included community leaders, health providers
and parents. Staff from the Mississippi Department of Human Services (MDHS)
and the regional Medicaid office attended the third meeting, and the fourth meeting
was a Town Hall gathering in the evening. Attending all meetings were Mayor
Blackwell, Marquetta Brown, Issaquena County DHS Director, Fannie Sampson,
Sharkey County DHS Director, and Sarah Shuptrine.
Mayersville residents who attended the meetings shared their concerns as
well as their ideas, and expressed their hope that some action would occur as a
result of the Southern Institute's visit. Their views outlined below reflect
discouragement as to their situation, but they are still hopeful that state and
federal action will be taken to improve the well-being of children and families in
Mayersville.
Meeting with Parents and Grandparents
It was evident that the residents attending the site visit meetings were
interested in their community and eager to participate in discussions about the
future of their children.
When asked to describe the greatest challenges they faced in rearing children
in Mayersville, parents and grandparents identified fundamental issues, any one of
which would be a significant barrier to the ability of families to meet the needs of
their children:
Lack of jobs
No local health care provider
No child care services
Lack of transportation
No recreational facilities for children
A small hospital is located approximately 12 miles from Mayersville, but has
limited services. A small health center is located approximately 15 miles away.
Schools are located in Sharkey County, over 10 miles from Mayersville.
Many parents have existed on welfare (cash assistance). Several described
previous efforts to leave welfare. Their efforts to work were thwarted by lack of
child care and transportation and by federal welfare policies that penalized them if
they managed to garner even meager resources that would help them become
employable. For example, federal welfare policy (which was eliminated as part of
welfare reform in 1996) did not allow cash assistance families to own a car worth
more than $1,500 equity value, and families could not have savings or other liquid
assets that exceeded $1,000. Thus, it was not possible to accumulate savings or to
own a reliable car that could have been their ticket to a better education and a job.
2
The 1996 federal welfare reform legislation ended welfare as an ongoing
assistance system. Time limits now apply and thus the emphasis is on moving
families from welfare to work.
Welfare reform has created a sense of frustration on the part of the young
parents, primarily because they do not feel they are receiving the support necessary
to sustain employment. While they demonstrated a strong desire to work, they
described a set of circumstances that made that goal elusive. The shortage of jobs
in Mayersville and the lack of child care and transportation present overwhelming
obstacles.
Several parents indicated that their desire is to live and work in Mayersville,
where there is a sense of community. However, with no jobs, child care or
transportation, several stated that it looked like they would have to leave
Mayersville, and they are concerned about what that would mean for them and
their children.
Despite frequent contact with the public system, the parents and
grandparents were inadequately informed about public benefits that are available
to families who are not connected to the welfare system. For example, most were
not aware that child health coverage is available to families who are not on welfare
and only a few were aware of the Earned Income Tax Credit.
Asset/resource testing was a source of discouragement for parents and
grandparents. They were understandably confused about the differing
asset/resource rules across programs, and they felt that policy makers should
understand that they need some assets to become more "self-sufficient." Several
were under the impression that the children's Medicaid program applied an asset
test, and they were pleased to learn that the Mississippi child-only Medicaid
program does not have an asset test. They also were frustrated that they didn't
already know.
Misconceptions and lack of information about the availability of benefits for
working families have been the focus of the information outreach work conducted by
the Southern Institute in recent years. Not knowing about available benefits means
that, in addition to the lack of child care and transportation, families are not
tapping into the child health coverage and wage supplementation programs that
can provide them with significant economic assistance.
There were several areas where follow up was needed to clarify issues and to
determine if help was available for the families of Mayersville. These areas are
outlined and discussed below.
3
Transportation
There is no general public transportation system that serves the Mayersville
area. The lack of public transportation isolates Mayersville residents, many of whom
are unable to own and operate a reliable automobile.
Lack of transportation affects the ability of many residents to obtain and retain
employment and impedes access to health care and child care. Health care and child
care transportation issues are discussed in those sections of this report.
A reliable and responsive transportation system to and from towns and cities
where jobs are available can go a long way toward improving opportunities for
families who live in Mayersville. There are vans and buses in the area, but they
have restrictive ridership rules based on their categorical funding source. For
example, Mississippi Department of Human Services (MDHS) provides
transportation vans for families in welfare to work programs, but the vans are not
available to families who are not on welfare.
An additional transportation strategy, and likely the most workable one for most
families, would be to foster ownership of an automobile. This strategy, however, hits a
major hurdle when it comes to the Food Stamp eligibility rules. During the discussion
of transportation issues, the Southern Institute became aware of a federal Food Stamp
policy that hinders ownership of a personal automobile. The policy is buried in the
complicated federal asset/resource test terminology that originates from statutory
provisions. Research into the asset limits indicates that an automobile can be
exempted from the Food Stamp asset test under certain circumstances, but it cannot be
exempted if used for daily commute to a job. Under federal law, to be fully exempted
the automobile would have to meet the following criteria (see Appendix A):
Used over 50 percent of the time for income-producing purposes.
Annually producing income consistent with the fair market value.
Needed for long distance travel for work (other than daily commute).
Used as the home.
Needed to transport a physically disabled household member, or
Needed to carry most of the household's fuel or water.
The federal Food Stamp policy of not allowing a full exemption of the one
automobile basically means that low-income families living in isolated communities
like Mayersville are not eligible for food assistance if they own a reliable automobile
which is a necessity for families in rural areas.
The allowed value of the Food Stamp automobile is $4,650 fair market value.
Any amount above that is counted as a resource against a $2,000 resource limit for
families where no person is age 60 or older. Considering the real life circumstances
of before dawn and after dark long-distance rural travel required to get to and from
work, $4,650 is an unrealistically low automobile value given the need for reliable
commuter transportation.
4
To the credit of welfare reform officials in Mississippi, the automobile
asset/resource test for families on the Mississippi Temporary Assistance for Needy
Families (TANF/cash assistance) program does not count the value of one vehicle.
This state policy was enacted in recognition of the vital link the family car
represents for the successful transition from welfare to work. A second vehicle is
treated like the automobile asset/resource test under the Food Stamp program.
State officials do not, however, have the authority to change the federal Food Stamp
automobile resource limit in order to achieve consistency with the Mississippi TANF
automobile policy. Changing the Food Stamp asset/resource limits would require
congressional action.
With the advent of welfare reform and state enactment of more progressive
welfare policies for family automobiles, the Food Stamp asset/resource test is
behind the times. Because the Food Stamp automobile limit is now more restrictive
than the TANF automobile limit in Mississippi and many other states, this means
that families leaving welfare for work who acquire a reliable automobile in order to
commute to and from work are not able to obtain food assistance because they no
longer meet the Food Stamp asset limit.
Clearly, an automobile asset limit negatively affects the "make work pay"
environment that most states are striving to implement as part of welfare reform.
It also negatively affects families who are not and have not been on welfare and who
need food assistance to meet the needs of their children while working in low-wage
jobs.
Families earning low wages need to supplement earnings with public
programs that provide benefits to working parents, such as Medicaid for children,
the Earned Income Tax Credit, child care and Food Stamps. These benefits can
significantly help low-income families to adequately provide for their children.
Child Care
The child care dilemma facing families in Mayersville is a particularly
compelling one. In order to work, parents must have access to reliable child care.
There is no full-day child care program in Mayersville. No assessment has
been made regarding the feasibility of establishing a full-day child care facility that
could accommodate children of working parents who require early morning and
evening child care due to long distance commuting.
No efforts had been made to establish a family day care home in Mayersville.
The Head Start Center located a few miles outside of Mayersville operates only on a
partial day basis.
Some relatives are able to provide child care, but most are not. It was
reported that many of the nonworking adults are on Supplemental Security Income
(SSI) and are unable to care for children.
5
For Mayersville families who want to leave welfare and for families who want
to avoid welfare, it will be essential to establish reliable child care resources that
can support parents who commute long distances and work odd hours. The reality
is that child care is fundamental to the ability of parents to get and keep jobs.
Child Health Coverage
Lack of information about child Medicaid coverage can negatively affect the
success of two major public goals. The first is helping low-income children to access
health coverage and thus improve their access to primary and preventive health
care. The second is helping families leaving welfare to maintain health coverage for
their children.
Children without health coverage are less likely to have a regular source of
health care and more likely to seek care in hospital emergency rooms. Uninsured
children are less likely to seek care for injuries and to receive immunizations.
Families leaving welfare for work often are discouraged by what they
perceive are losses in benefits, and they miss out on health coverage opportunities
because they do not know about them. Knowledge that child health coverage is not
tied to welfare is heartening news for parents and it encourages work.
In 1997-98, the Mississippi Department of Human Services worked in
cooperation with the Southern Institute in developing a Mississippi version of the
Southern Institute information outreach brochures. Technical assistance to adapt
the outreach brochures had been made available by a grant from The Robert Wood
Johnson Foundation. The outreach brochures have been shown to effectively
communicate the availability of health coverage and other benefits for working
families. It did not appear that the brochures were being effectively utilized in
Issaquena County. Aggressive utilization of the outreach brochures will help assure
that families are aware of benefits for working families with children. County DHS
staff expressed interest in greater utilization of the outreach brochures.
There is a great deal to be done to educate families about child health
coverage available for working families under either the Mississippi Medicaid
program or the state children's health insurance program (CHIP). Mississippi has
been awarded a Covering Kids grant, and public/private sector organizations are
working on improving information resources and access to coverage. Details are
available on the Covering Kids website at www.coveringkids.org.
Child Health Care
Families in Mayersville expressed concerns regarding the lack of a health
provider in their community. The closest health facilities are located 12 to 15 miles
away. For families without transportation, such a distance represents a substantial
barrier to health care. In cases of emergency, the combination of no health provider
and no transportation present unsafe circumstances. The ambulance service that
serves Mayersville is 12 miles away and residents said the response time is
unreliable.
6
Medicaid transportation is provided on a scheduled basis, but the health
needs of children often do not conform to a scheduling system. For persons not
eligible for Medicaid, there is no public transportation.
Since the population of Mayersville is so small, the desire of residents for on-
site health care represents a significant challenge. Attending the site visit meeting
with community leaders and families were two physicians from the nonprofit Cary
Christian Center/DeltaCare Rural Health Center, located approximately 12-15
miles away. The exchange among the site visit participants indicated a need for
continued dialogue to develop an appropriate solution to the medical isolation felt
by the community.
FOLLOW-UP SITE VISIT
On June 9-10, 1999, the Southern Institute made a second site visit to
convene individuals and organizations that could contribute ideas and resources
toward addressing the issues identified during the initial visit. Two meetings were
held. The first was in Mayersville and the second was with Mississippi Department
of Human Services (MDHS) officials in Jackson. Those attending the follow-up site
visit meetings are listed below:
Mayersville Meeting
Unita Blackwell, Mayor of Mayersville
Marquetta Brown, Director, Issaquena County DHS
Suzie Evans, Director, Mississippi Christian Family Services
Andy George, M.D., DeltaCare Rural Health Center
Steven Golightly, Region IV Administrator, Administration on Children
and Families, US Department of Health and Human Services
Larry Bowen, Rural Development Loan Specialist, US Department of
Agriculture
David L. Jackson, Program Officer, Mid-South Delta Local Initiative
Support Corporation
Robert C. Jackson, Associate Director, Southeast Field Office, Health
Services Resources Administration, US Department of Health and
Human Services
Lessa Phillips, M.D., Chairman, Department of Family Medicine, University of
Mississippi Medical Center
Beulah Russell, Family Day Care Homes Coordinator, Mississippi Forum on
Children and Families
Fannie Sampson, Director, Sharkey County DHS
Sarah Shuptrine, President, Southern Institute on Children and Families
7
Edgar E. Smith, Ph.D., Director, Mississippi AHEC Program, University of
Mississippi Medical Center
Rochelle Swaggard, Covering Kids Coordinator, Mississippi Forum on
Children and Families
Jackson Meeting
Rickey Berry, Director, Resource Development, MDHS
Unita Blackwell, Mayor of Mayersville
Jane Boykin, Director, Mississippi Forum on Children and Families
Marquetta Brown, Director, Issaquena County DHS
Vera Butler, Director, Economic Assistance TANF Policy Unit, MDHS
Zenotha Robinson, Director of Transportation, Resources Development,
MDHS
Fannie Sampson, Director, Sharkey County DHS
Sarah Shuptrine, President, Southern Institute on Children and Families
Pam Simpson, Bureau Director, Field Operations, MDHS
Edna Watts, Division Director, Special Initiatives Unit, Office for Children
and Youth, MDHS
Tom Watts, Deputy Director, Economic Assistance, MDHS
Participants at the Mayersville meeting discussed transportation, child care,
health coverage and health care issues affecting children and families in
Mayersville. Strategies were developed, specific actions needed were identified and
responsible parties were named. The identified issues were discussed with MDHS
officials the next day in Jackson. State officials expressed willingness to work on
the identified issues in cooperation with local citizens. The following summary
briefly discusses the issues and describes the strategies for action that emerged
from the discussions.
Transportation
1) Much to the surprise and dismay of the local participants, a recent survey
conducted by Mississippi Christian Family Services failed to adequately
document the need for transportation services in the area. Dr. George expressed
concern since he views it as a major health problem for the area. The Issaquena
County DHS was unaware that the survey had been conducted, and Marquetta
Brown indicated an interest in helping to document the need she said she knows
exists.
Suzie Evans, Marquetta Brown and Mayor Unita Blackwell will work with the
churches in Issaquena County to develop data to document the need for a system
of public transportation. The data are needed in order to obtain a Department of
Transportation (DOT) grant that would allow the Mississippi Christian Services
to obtain the resources to provide public transportation services to and from
work. Suzie Evans said she thought the DOT grant also allowed transportation
for shopping, but she did not think it allowed transportation for health care
purposes.
8
2) Steven Golightly explained that when not in use, Head Start buses and drivers
can be used by other programs attempting to meet the transportation needs of
low-income families, including commuting to/from work, child care and health
care. Operational support must be provided by the programs utilizing the buses
and drivers. One source of operational support can be the TANF program, which
has been given new flexibility to provide support services, such as child care and
transportation, to families whose incomes are above the eligibility level for cash
assistance. This was good news to the meeting participants who were unaware
that Head Start buses could be utilized to meet other transportation needs.
Currently, the Head Start buses in Mayersville are needed only a few hours a
day and are parked during the times they are not in use. The Head Start buses
represent a clear transportation resource for Mayersville, as do the drivers who
appear to be underutilized. Mr. Golightly pointed out that Head Start bus
drivers must have certified driver's licenses.
Mr. Golightly indicated that he would clarify with Marvin Hogan, Director of
Friends of Children of Mississippi, Inc., that the Head Start buses can be
utilized to help meet broader transportation needs in Mayersville.
At the meeting with MDHS officials, Edna Watts indicated that from a child care
perspective it will be very helpful to be able to use Head Start buses for purposes
other than Head Start.
3) Mr. Golightly also referred to the final TANF rules issued by the Administration
for Children and Families. He pointed out that the new regulations provide
greater flexibility in how TANF block grant funds can be used to provide
transportation services for individuals who leave TANF and enter the workforce.
In such instances, time limits do not apply.
4) Mississippi Christian Family Services is the Medicaid transportation contractor,
but they are unable to transport children or adults who are not Medicaid eligible
unless they pay at least the amount paid by Medicaid. Since that amount is
$19.20 one way, the transportation services provided by Mississippi Christian
Family Services is out of the financial reach of low-income families and
individuals. Suzie Evans indicated she was unaware of a funding source for
individuals and families who are not eligible for Medicaid.
Medical related transportation needs will be part of the follow-up work described
in the child health care section below.
5) Fostering ownership of personal automobiles is a promising strategy for families
in rural communities like Mayersville who must commute long distances to jobs
and health care. There are multiple methods for accomplishing that goal. One
strategy that has worked in Florida is providing refurbished automobiles to low-
income families, including TANF families.²
2 Sarah C. Shuptrine, Vicki C. Grant and Genny G. McKenzie, Southern Regional Initiative to
Improve Access to Benefits for Low Income Families With Children (Columbia, SC: Southern
Institute on Children and Families, February 1998) p. 74.
9
Efforts are also needed to assure that public policies do not penalize families for
owning a reliable car. Sarah Shuptrine discussed the follow-up research
conducted on the federal Food Stamp automobile asset/resource rules identified
as a problem during the initial site visit to Mayersville (see discussion above). A
new interpretation from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
may be forthcoming in the near future. Under the interpretation, TANF funded
benefits or benefits funded under Maintenance of Effort will confer an exemption
from Food Stamp automobile asset rules. States would be given broad discretion
to decide which benefits would confer an exemption from the Food Stamp
automobile asset test. The benefit would not need to be identified as a TANF
benefit. Thus families that do not want to be associated with "welfare" could still
be categorically eligible for Food Stamps based upon their receipt of a non-
welfare service that the state supports with its block grant. A brief description
of this new opportunity for states is included in Appendix B.
The pending USDA guidance was discussed with MDHS officials at the Jackson
meeting. State officials are concerned with the current level of TANF
transportation expenditures required to support work and indicated an interest
in learning more about the new flexibility. Sarah Shuptrine indicated that new
guidance is expected soon from USDA describing the flexibility, and she said the
Southern Institute will provide more information to state officials as it becomes
available.
Child Care
1) Mayor Blackwell and Marquetta Brown discussed the need for child care in
Mayersville where currently there are no child care services for working parents.
Steven Golightly asked if efforts were being made to expand the hours of the
nearby Head Start Center. There were no efforts underway. Considerable
interest was expressed, but more resources would be needed. Marquetta Brown
and Fannie Sampson indicated that TANF subsidies could be one funding source
for families if the Head Start Center could provide full-day child care services.
Steven Golightly indicated his willingness to help make the Head Start Center
part of the solution to the lack of child care in Mayersville. The availability of
transportation was considered a major plus in connection with expanded child
care services at the Head Start Center.
Head Start operational hours were mentioned as a problem. Mr. Golightly said
that some centers in Region IV are open up to 12 hours a day. He said he would
talk with Marvin Hogan, Director of Friends of Children of Mississippi, Inc.,
concerning enhanced utilization of the Head Start Center in Mayersville.
During a visit to the Head Start Center following the meeting, Mayor Blackwell,
Steven Golightly and Sarah Shuptrine were given a tour of the facility by
Director Westine Young. There are several classrooms currently not in use that
could be utilized for extended day care. Ms. Young indicated interest in working
10
with the community and mentioned that the center could also be a resource for
preschool child care.
Steven Golightly said he will discuss possibilities with his staff and Marvin
Hogan to determine what actions are needed to bring about enhanced child care
services at the Head Start Center.
NOTE: Steven Golightly has written to Sarah Shuptrine regarding discussions
held with his staff and Marvin Hogan subsequent to the Mayersville meeting.
He stated that he is ready to provide assistance to Friends of Children of
Mississippi in order to extend days and months of operation at the Head Start
Center and he also indicated Mr. Hogan's willingness to work with the
community with regard to the Head Start buses. Mr. Golightly also indicated
that the assistance provided by MDHR for child care provider training could be
very helpful to this effort (see #3 below).
2) Beulah Russell discussed the possibilities for establishing family day care
services in Mayersville. The Mississippi Forum on Children and Families
provides technical assistance in the development of family day care under a
grant from the Mississippi Department of Education. The Forum has submitted
a request to allow Issaquena County to be added to the list of counties to receive
start-up technical assistance services. If the request is granted, Ms. Russell
would be available to work with interested parties to look at the possibility of
establishing family day care services in Mayersville.
During the Jackson meeting, Jane Boykin pointed out that family day care
provides a more flexible option for parents who work nontraditional hours. She
indicated that family day care opportunities might also be explored close to
employers. Ms. Boykin offered her assistance to Mayor Blackwell and said she
would be willing to visit Mayersville to discuss family day care opportunities
with interested parties in the community.
NOTE: The Mississippi Forum on Children and Families has been informed by
the Mississippi Department of Education, Office of Child Nutrition, that the
Forum will be able to add Issaquena County to the list of counties to receive
family day care start-up technical assistance services.
3) Mayor Blackwell mentioned that she had provided a list of five women in
Mayersville who are interested in providing child care in their home. The list
was prepared at the request of Ronnie McGinnis, Director of the MDHS Office of
Children and Youth. A copy also has been made available to Jane Boykin and
Marquetta Brown.
NOTE: Marquetta Brown will serve as the local contact for follow-up activities
related to the child care opportunities discussed above.
11
Child Health Coverage
1) Rochelle Swaggard, Coordinator of the Mississippi Covering Kids Initiative,
reported on an issue that has emerged in state level discussions regarding the
children of parents who are sanctioned under the TANF program. Ms. Swaggard
said children in sanctioned families are being allowed two months to reapply for
Medicaid or the children's Medicaid cases will be closed.
Sarah Shuptrine said it is highly likely that the children in sanctioned families
would continue to be eligible under the poverty related Medicaid coverage group
for children. Ms. Swaggard indicated that the Mississippi Covering Kids
Initiative, which is a collaborative group that includes MDHS and the Medicaid
Division, will continue to work on determining what action can be taken to see
that children who are Medicaid eligible maintain coverage.
2) Sarah Shuptrine asked if the information outreach brochures developed by the
Southern Institute and replicated in cooperation with Mississippi Medicaid and
MDHS officials are being utilized. Marquetta Brown and Fannie Sampson
indicated that they are sharing the outreach brochures with families who apply
for public benefits and TANF families so that they are aware of the health and
other benefits available to them without any requirement that they be on
welfare. Sarah Shuptrine encouraged broad community distribution of the
brochures and pointed out the "Have You Heard About Benefits for Working
Families" brochure as the most appropriate for general community outreach.
Child Health Care
1) A wide-ranging discussion of the need for improved access to primary and
preventive health care for children and adults in Mayersville continued to come
back to lack of transportation as a major issue (see discussion above). The desire
of Mayersville residents to have on-site health care produced discussion of
existing programs surrounding Mayersville and whether a health facility should
be brought to Mayersville or whether adequate, responsive transportation
should be provided to transport residents to existing health providers. Also
discussed was the need for a coordinated approach involving transportation and
health providers located in the area from Vicksburg to Rolling Fork to
Greenville.
Robert Jackson offered to convene several meetings with Dr. Andy George, Dr.
Lessa Phillips and Edgar Smith to work on a plan to develop a coordinated
health services system to serve the health needs of Mayersville residents.
Dr. Lessa Phillips and Edgar Smith indicated that Mayersville could serve as a
model for interaction among health providers and other interested parties
regarding the role the Mississippi AHEC could play in helping communities in
need of health services.
12
NOTE: Robert Jackson has advised Sarah Shuptrine that the first meeting of
the Mayersville child health care group is scheduled for July. Transportation
issues will be taken into consideration, and experts in that area will be brought
into the discussions.
2) The concerns of residents regarding emergency health services in the region
centered on the inadequacy of ambulance services as well as the limited
treatment available at the nearest hospital, located 12-15 miles away. It was
reported that Mississippi requires all counties to have ambulance services
available. The ambulance service that serves Mayersville is located at the small
hospital in Rolling Fork, but the hospital is not equipped to handle serious
emergencies or trauma.
Dr. Andy George said that occasionally they are SO short-staffed at the hospital
that the person calling for an ambulance must wait until someone gets to the
hospital to drive the ambulance. He said there are times when persons calling
for an ambulance are told that they will get there faster by driving. This clearly
creates a hazardous situation. The availability of licensed Head Start drivers in
Mayersville was mentioned, and a suggestion was made that these drivers could
possibly be a part of the solution.
NOTE: The group described in #1 also will address emergency service needs.
3) Mayor Blackwell mentioned that she had worked on an application for USDA
funding to help with a multi-purpose community facility for Mayersville. Larry
Bowen indicated that the application had been received and he will check on the
status. Indications were that part of the facility could be used for health
services.
CONCLUSION
The complexity of the issues facing Mayersville requires coordinated,
comprehensive action. Because there are multiple state and federal agencies that
administer various programs for low-income families, significant challenges arise
when attempting to identify and implement solutions in communities like
Mayersville.
The experience of the Southern Institute in Mayersville indicates that a team
approach to technical assistance is required if rural communities with limited
resources are to make sense of and access the services and benefits greatly needed
by their citizens. The expertise of state agencies, federal agencies and nonprofit
organizations is available, but there is no systematic approach to bringing them
together to apply their "know-how" to the development of comprehensive strategies.
Government and nonprofit organizations working together toward the same goals
can be a powerful force in achieving quality of life improvements in any setting, but
it is particularly essential in attempting to help isolated rural communities like
Mayersville.
13
Through this initiative, public and private organizations were able to look
across agency lines and focus on the contribution each could make. In instances
where programs are in place to address needs, the willingness of several agencies to
step forward to facilitate a continuation of multi-agency efforts has greatly
enhanced the chances that action will occur. In other instances, state and federal
public policies must be examined to identify actions that will make transportation,
child care, health coverage and health care more accessible in areas where lack of
resources and long distances create additional barriers.
The role played by the Southern Institute in Mayersville can be replicated
and improved upon in other rural communities. The convening and facilitation of a
coordinated approach led to the development of action steps long needed, but
unrealized. As a result, it is highly likely that benefits and services needed to
improve opportunities for low-income children will become more available and
accessible. That's an outcome worth pursuing.
Extraordinary efforts will be needed to prevent small rural communities like
Mayersville from dying out. The loss of such communities should be and can be
avoided. Families with children are needed to build a future for Mayersville and
making it possible for them to thrive is essential. As eloquently stated by Mayor
Blackwell, "We must find a way to not leave people behind and to help our children
feel like they are part of a new era."
14
APPENDIX A
FOOD STAMP ASSET/RESOURCE RULES
15
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Eabine
Food
Stamps
DOLLAR
Search Site Map Links E-Mail Us FNS Home USDA
About FSP
Resources (Rules on resource limits)
What's New?
Households may have $2,000 in countable resources, such as a bank account, or $3,000 in countable
resources if at least one person is age 60 or older. However; certain resources are NOT counted, such
as: a home and lot, the resources of people who receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI), . the
FAQs
resources of people who receive Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC).
Licensed vehicles are NOT counted if they are:
Contacts
used over 50 percent of the time for income-producing purposes,
annually producing income consistent with their fair market value,
needed for long distance travel for work (other than daily commute),
used as the home,
needed to transport a physically disabled household member, or
needed to carry most of the household's fuel or water.
For the following licensed vehicles, the fair market value over $4,650 is counted:
one per household
plus vehicles used for work, training, or education to prepare for work, or to seek work in
accordance with the food stamp employment and training requirements.
For all other vehicles, the fair market value over $4,650 or the equity value; whichever is more, is
counted as a resource.
Last Updated: 05/03/99
http://www.fns.usda.gov/fsp/MENU/APPS/ELGIBILITY/resources/resources.htm
Page 1 of 1
APPENDIX B
DISCUSSION OF FOOD STAMP ACT
VEHICLE RESOURCE LIMIT AND USDA DRAFT GUIDANCE
17
CATEGORICAL ELIGIBILITY PROVIDES OPPORTUNITY
TO CONTINUE FOOD STAMPS TO FAMILIES LEAVING WELFARE FOR WORK
The Food Stamp Act provides "categorical eligibility" to households in which all
members receive either SSI or "benefits under a State program funded under part A of
title IV of the Social Security Act" (i.e., the legislation establishing the TANF block
grant). Households that are categorically eligible are not subject to the food stamp re-
source limit. In addition, in non-categorically eligible households, the Food Stamp Act
excludes the resources of any "household member who receives [SSI or] benefits under
a State program funded under part A of title IV." In effect, this means that the Food
Stamp Program's vehicle resource limit does not apply to any car or truck owned by
someone who receives benefits from a TANF-funded program.
Many states' welfare reform plans have either raised the limit on the value of
vehicles that families receiving cash assistance may own or have eliminated restrictions
on such vehicles altogether. Thus as long as a family is receiving cash assistance, it can
also receive food stamps even if the car a parent drives to look for, or commute to, em-
ployment exceeds the Food Stamp Program's limits. Once these families left cash assis-
tance, however, states have felt compelled to terminate their food stamps as well be-
cause the food stamp resource limits now applied to them. Terminating food stamps as
well as cash assistance to these families could undercut states' efforts to make work
more attractive than welfare.
A solution to this problem may be available from a new interpretation of the
Food Stamp Act that USDA has been discussing with states for several months. Under
this interpretation, TANF- or MOE-funded services other than cash assistance could still
count as TANF "benefits" and thus make recipients categorically eligible for food
stamps. Thus, if a state provides TANF-funded child care subsidies, or TANF-funded
case management services, to a family for twelve months after the family leaves the
cash assistance rolls, the state could treat that family as categorically eligible for food
stamps. Even a service provided only to a parent would be sufficient to allow the state
to treat that parent as a beneficiary of a TANF-funded "benefit" and thus exclude the
value of that parent's car from the food stamp resource test.
It is also important to note that the service or other benefit need not be called
"TANF." As long as it is supported with TANF block grant or MOE funds, a benefit
can trigger categorical eligibility even if it is given a name that is distinct from TANF,
such as "post-employment services." Thus families that do not want to be associated
with "TANF" or "welfare" could still be categorically eligible for food stamps based
upon their receipt of a non-welfare service that the state supports with its block grant.
The drafts of guidance on this issue that USDA has shared with states would
give states broad discretion to decide which TANF- or MOE-funded benefits would
confer an exemption from food stamp vehicle rules. States would send USDA a list of
which benefits would entitle a family to food stamp categorical eligibility; USDA would
not second-guess the composition of this list. For ease of administration, states presum-
ably would want to focus on benefits for which they make specific eligibility determina-
tions. A determination that the family is eligible for a particular service would be suffi-
cient: the family would not be required to access a service in a particular month. In this
way, just as someone can be a Medicaid beneficiary even if he or she does not actually
visit a medical service provider in a given month, a state could determine that a family
is receiving a TANF case management benefit as long as the family has been deter-
mined eligible without regard to how often the family actually contacts its case
manager.
The policy is unlikely to be error-prone; indeed, it would eliminate some errors
states currently experience when they fail to deny or terminate benefits to households
whose resources exceed the Program's limits. It is, of course, possible that eligibility
workers may fail in some cases to recognize that a family is categorically eligible for
food stamps. The result of this mistake, however, would be an improper denial or ter-
mination of food stamps. Such "negative case errors" are not included in the "payment
error rate" from which USDA computes possible QC sanctions. Since categorical eligi-
bility cannot make a household ineligible, or affect the amount of benefits the house-
hold should receive, it cannot cause a "payment error."
This policy should give important new opportunities to states spending their
TANF block grants or state MOE funds to provide post-assistance benefits to help
families moving from welfare to work. By treating these families as categorically eli-
gible for food stamps, states can protect them from the restrictive food stamp vehicle
resource limits and further support them in their effort to establish themselves in the
work force.
Source: David Super, General Counsel, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities,
June 1999.
SOUTHERN INSTITUTE ON CHILDREN AND FAMILIES
620 Sims Avenue
Columbia SC 29205
Phone 803/779-2607
Fax 803/254-6301
www.kidsouth.org
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Unita Blackwell
Judy Langford
Chairman
Vice Chairman
Mayor of the Town of Mayersville
Senior Consultant
President Emeritus
Family Resource Coalition
National Conference of Black Mayors
Chicago, Illinois
Mayersville, Mississippi
Ray Marshall
Sarah C. Shuptrine
Rapoport Centennial Chair in
President
Economics and Public Affairs
Southern Institute on Children
University of Texas
and Families
Austin, Texas
Columbia, South Carolina
F. David Mathews
Michael N. Castle
President and CEO
Congressman At Large, Delaware
The Kettering Foundation
U.S. House of Representatives
Dayton, Ohio
Washington, DC
Paul M. Starnes
Marian Wright Edelman
President
President
Star Trend Products
Children's Defense Fund
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Washington, DC
Beegie Truesdale
Reuben M. Greenberg
Secretary-Treasurer
Chief of Police
Producer
Charleston Police Department
Los Angeles, California
Charleston, South Carolina
Washington Clark Hill
Director, Maternal-Fetal Medicine
Sarasota Memorial Hospital
Sarasota, Florida
STAFF
Sarah C. Shuptrine
Kristine Hartvigsen
President, Southern Institute
Communications Director
Director, Covering Kids
National Program Office
Lynn Gregory
Executive Assistant
Vicki C. Grant, Ph.D.
Deputy Director
JoAnn M. Prince
Covering Kids National Program Office
Administrative Assistant
Covering Kids National Program Office
Genny G. McKenzie, MBA
Assistant Director
Verne Ray
Office Manager