God, even when they exist, I've lost track of how many times I've seen those services cut for lack of funding, turn out to be abuse schemes by some religious group, be in conflict with a law that means they can't actually help anyone...
Thinking about the food bank that gave out pallets of rotting grapes to families for Thanksgiving. And they actually were trying their best to get produce into the hands of people but they only could offer what they had been given and it was a shit ton of grapes that hadn't sold.
Thinking about Job training that actually turned out to be a sweatshop where you folded towels for 15 cents an hour.
This king about the mental health office that refused to send my prescription to my pharmacy, lied about it and then threatened to call "my parole officer" when I was upset because most of their patients were court mandated to go there but I was not one of them. They had simply forgotten that and decided to play the same games they did to those who had no choice. As soon as they realized I did not have a parole officer they stopped playing around and immediately sent the prescription.
Thinking about how Ebt pays out less money than the minimum amount the government says is needed to live by almost half. How there's so many tricks in the application to try to block you from getting aid you need.
Thinking about how many services are cut off from you if you have a criminal record and how being homeless is illegal in so many places.
Thinking about how the only job bank in my county shut down a decade ago in the middle of a recession.
Thinking about how rental assistance across the country have waiting lists years out.
Thinking about how employment resources is often getting someone to berate you while showing you the exact same Monster.com listing you could find online yourself and that's it.
Thinking about all the studies that showed giving people money outright with no strings attached was the most effective way to uplift people out of poverty...
