TESTIMONY OF KEITH ROBINSON BEFORE THE NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL HEARING ON PUBLIC WELFARE WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1995 Good afternoon: My name is Keith Robinson. I am a productive 35 year of African American. I am currently a nursing student in my senior year at Hostos Community College. I am currently on public assistance under the Home Relief program. At this time I am speaking to you because of my pending case termination due to noncompliance with the workfare requirement. I should start by telling you a little about myself. I am a father of two; my son is 17 years old and my daughter is 5. In 1993 I was AFDC, until my wife and I separated; that's what caused my case to become HR. Prior to reluctantly having to apply for welfare in 1993. I had spend 10 years in the construction industry in New York City as a project manager, project superintendent, plan coordinator, and various other positions. I worked for Lehrer-McGovern and Bovis Construction Company at 118 West 19th Street, where I worked from December 1994 to September 1990. I left Herbert Construction to join Miller-Dimen Construction Company, located at 121 West 27th Street. I worked there from September 1990 until September 1992. In 1992 during the recession Miller-Dimen Construction decided to fold, which left me without a job and with a family support. At this time I was making $48,000 a year. I applied for unemployment benefits and received benefits until they ran out. Unemployment, my savings and some odd jobs supported us for a while. Basically, we had to sacrifice in all aspects of our lives--lower our food bill, get rid of cable TV, no vacations, things that we were used to. I also had to sell my car, a 1990 Sable wagon. It was a very stressful time. I went on numerous interview but nothing worked out. Even talking about it now is uncomfortable. Adding the prospect of having to apply for welfare when unemployment ran out did not help the situation, but it had to be done. I realized that I couldn’t get back into construction, or any job paying a decent wage, with only a GED. So in or about March of 1993, I applied for public assistance, which I found to be a humiliating and humbling task. My intentions in applying for welfare were twofold. The first was to feed my family and to maintain a roof over our heads. The second was to go back to school. I had seen an advertisement in the Daily New s for the REACH program. This program enables people to retrain themselves in order to gain access to careers in the health field. I saw this as an opportunity. I was looking for something challenging that would enable me to earn enough money to resume my proper lifestyle. Also, the service aspect, which encompasses spiritual principles such as caring, sharing with others, was very appealing to me. My applying for public assistance, other than the reasons that I expressed, was basically to use the system for which I know it was established for, and that is to help someone in their time of need who has given to this society for many years and who needs help. I need help. I had put into the system. All I wanted was a couple of years to get out just a fraction of what I had put into the system as a wage earner, responsible parent, a veteran, and a volunteer. I should also say that prior to my career in construction, I spent six years in the United States Army. I have an honorable discharge. I went into the service when I was 17 years old, and got my GED while I was stationed at Fort Hood, Texas. During my first two years in college I also spent every Monday evening volunteering as an Aftercare Group Facilitator at Beth Israel Hospital North Stuyvesant Square Drug Rehabilitation Program. A friend who works there recommended me for the position. To qualify for this position I attended a month-long training session. This was done for service and also to provide me with experience, a contact with a hospital and references for future employment after I complete my degree. I am a member of the first group of REACH students. During the orientation phase of the program, I received awards in nearly every category, including math, science and English. I have 57 credits towards my degree, which requires 70 credits. I have never failed a class, and have nearly perfect record of attendance. I have a g.p.a. of 3.36--- and it has been as high as 3.56. I've been going to school year round since May 1993, since the REACH Orientation, so that I can finish as soon as possible. This past summer I took a combined nursing clinical and lecture class that covered pediatrics, psychology and obstetrics. It was because of this summer class that my current problem areas. Due to the requirement that HR's participate in a WEP assignment, I had a tough decision to make. I felt I had no other choice but to refuse to accept WEP assignment because of the simple fact that it made no sense. There was no way that the school was going to tailor the courses for Keith Robinson, no matter how good a student I am. Also, if I had dropped the clinicals to go the a WEP assignment, I would not have been able to get back in to the nursing courses until the Spring of 1996, which would have delayed my graduation from June 1996 to June 1997, by which time my financial aid would have probably run out. So I had no choice but to refuse. Besides, in doing the clinical I was in fact working. I was providing patient care--giving immunization injections, bathing, range of motion exercises, assisting with ambulation, assessing post-partial patients and giving post-partum care, and documentation of such. And if you don't think that's work, ask the RN's on staff who were freed up to do other things because I and other nursing students did those tasks for them. If I had taken the WEP assignment, I probably would have been sweeping the streets, which offers no intellectual stimulation or satisfaction, and does not prepare me to leave the system. If HRA had offered an evening work assignment at a shelter or a youth facility, I would have accepted this and done it along with my coursework. Even though I would not have had sufficient time to study, I would have still done it just so I could avoid the hassle that I’m going through now. As it is, now I am waiting for a Fair Hearing. I am faced with loss of benefits and homelessness if the ruling is not in my favor. Another possible repercussion of a negative ruling would be that I would have no place to bring my children to on my weekend visits with them. So I'm here today not just for Keith Robins. I'm here for my children, and for the other HR persons who are in a similar position and who are entitled to benefits but who are disillusioned or who have been intimidated by HRA's edicts. It's bad enough that a person can be production all his life and come to a point where he needs help from the system, and suffer the indignities associated with fingerprinting, rude case workers who look at you contemptuously, who see you as nothing but a number and as less than a human being, and who threaten you with termination of benefits. And it's not like I'm living high on the hog. With the little money I receive from HRA, I barely make it. I don't even get food stamps, and I haven't received TREs since January. I feel that I and others like me have a right to finish school. The day I graduate, HRA can cut me off with my blessings. I don't want to be on public assistance a day longer than I need to in order to accomplish my goal, which is to earn my Associate degree in Nursing so I can get a job in my chosen field. Let me say in closing that I understand the need for a policy that keeps people from abusing the system. I was a taxpayer myself, and will be again. But I feel that you can't reform the system by painting everybody with the same brush. It wasn't easy for me to come down here to talk with you and expose myself and my personal experiences. But I'm hoping that the Council will realize that there actual people behind each one of the numbers, and will help to ensure that policies recognize this fact. Thank you the opportunity to speak. .