Federal push may restrict welfare checks, By Jonathan Ellis, June 4, 2011, Argus Leader: “South Dakota is one of a handful of states that sends a check each month directly to welfare recipients, meaning the state has no control over how recipients spend those dollars. That’s a departure from how many states administer their programs, known as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. Most states issue TANF benefits through Electronic Benefit Transfer cards, a system that allows the government to directly transfer benefits onto a card that can be used for food stamps, TANF, child support and other benefits. The electronic cards work like debit cards, allowing recipients to use them at ATMs. They also enable state governments to restrict where the cards may be used. Many states choose not to enact restrictions, but others do. Now it’s possible the federal government will require all states, including South Dakota, to restrict where TANF benefits can be spent. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, have introduced a bill that would require states to ensure that benefits aren’t accessed in casinos, liquor stores or strip clubs. The legislation comes after a host of media investigations throughout the nation found that benefits were withdrawn at ATMs in those locations as well as at tattoo parlors and other questionable locations…”
Tag: South Dakota
Poverty in Ziebach County, South Dakota
A look inside America’s poorest county, By Nomaan Merchant (AP), February 13, 2011, Kansas City Star: “In the barren grasslands of Ziebach County, there’s almost nothing harder to find in winter than a job. This is America’s poorest county, where more than 60 percent of people live at or below the poverty line. At a time when the weak economy is squeezing communities across the nation, recently released census figures show that nowhere are the numbers as bad as here – a county with 2,500 residents, most of them Cheyenne River Sioux Indians living on a reservation. In the coldest months of the year, when seasonal construction work disappears and the South Dakota prairie freezes, unemployment among the Sioux can hit 90 percent. Poverty has loomed over this land for generations. Repeated attempts to create jobs have run into stubborn obstacles: the isolated location, the area’s crumbling infrastructure, a poorly trained population and a tribe that struggles to work with businesses or attract investors…”
Food Stamp Program Enrollment – South Dakota, Louisiana
- Food stamp use soars in S. Dakota, By Jon Walker, December 2, 2009, Sioux Falls Argus Leader: “Food stamps are putting supper on the table for more South Dakota families, and the usage has soared in Sioux Falls, home of the state’s most robust economy. Statewide use of the government benefit jumped 34 percent this fall compared to a year ago, and in Minnehaha County, the rate rose 52 percent. ‘Obviously, it’s the hard economic times. Some folks who were always eligible just scraped by and did not apply. Now, they can’t just scrape by anymore,’ said Kim Malsam-Rysdon, deputy secretary of the South Dakota Department of Social Services in Pierre. More than one-tenth of South Dakotans now use food stamps, which give eligible households an average of $319 a month for groceries. The income limit for a family of four to qualify is $2,389 a month or $28,668 a year…”
- Report: Food stamp rolls have grown in La., By Sarah Chacko, December 3, 2009, Baton Rouge Advocate: “More Louisiana families are receiving food stamps now than in the past 20 years, a trend mirroring national reports that more people are in need of the federal assistance because of job loss. Nationwide, the number of food stamp recipients has climbed by about 10 million since 2007, resulting in a program that feeds one in eight Americans and nearly one in four children, according to a story published Sunday in The New York Times. However, Louisiana’s trends may not be directly linked to a poor economy, a state official said…”