Comments on: Walk A Mile in Your Shoes

Walk A Mile in Your Shoes

amberglow — Wed, 10 Dec 2003 07:45:28 -0800

Walk A Mile project brings policymakers and people on assistance together. One of their programs is Living on Food Stamps, where policymakers try to eat for a month on the same amount of food stamps regular people receive. Here's how it went in Oregon, and some lessons learned by legislators.

By: orange swan

orange swan — Wed, 10 Dec 2003 07:59:27 -0800

What a terrific concept. Often politicians who create policies and programs don't understand what the needs of the poorest people are, and this seems like a really good way to bring them back into touch. Even if they grew up poor, they they've probably been doing so well for decades that they've forgotten what it's like and/or they don't realize that things have changed since then.

By: Ufez Jones

Ufez Jones — Wed, 10 Dec 2003 08:07:14 -0800

This is excellent. What a great program. Thanks for the links, amberglow.

By: tristeza

tristeza — Wed, 10 Dec 2003 08:48:31 -0800

Beautiful! I'm on the advisory board for Walk a Mile, which was started at the University of Washington about 9 years ago by Natasha Grossman and still flourishes there. The entire thing is run by 2 women at the U of W, on an incredibly small budget - nothing short of a miracle, I'd say. Every year they manage to recruit more and more agencies from all over the country to participate and it's an amazing thing to watch. I got involved as a MSW intern, and worked on the Washington State project in 2000 - I helped to recruit the legislators and low-income participants, match them together, monitor the progress, and report on the results. My experience is that while the food-stamp aspect is probably the most radical and potentially educational, it's VERY tough to get legislators to do it (shocking, I know). I don't think any of them did the year I helped organized the project, actually, which was really too bad. The experiences I heard about from both the low-income folks and the legislators, though, were really extraordinary. If any of you work with low-income people and are interested in having your agency participate in WAM or want to learn more about it, please email me (it's in my user profile).

By: weston

weston — Wed, 10 Dec 2003 08:49:19 -0800

Very, very good. " WAM does not endorse any individuals or policies. Our belief is that greater personal understanding between these two groups empowers governments and communities to find genuine solutions to the problems of poverty." No axe to grind, just making a point of view concrete.

By: faceonmars

faceonmars — Wed, 10 Dec 2003 08:53:49 -0800

I would be glad to be a participant in this program just to try, for a day, to live the life of Donald Trump. I wonder if I could learn to sympathize with the super rich if I had to make the hard decisions they have to deal with every day.

By: faceonmars

faceonmars — Wed, 10 Dec 2003 08:57:52 -0800

Somebody had to say it.

By: yoga

yoga — Wed, 10 Dec 2003 09:48:08 -0800

Wonderful post, thanks. And such a fitting name for the concept.

By: madamjujujive

madamjujujive — Wed, 10 Dec 2003 10:01:09 -0800

Excellent post, amberglow. And thanks for the added info tristeza - just goes to show the power to change that a few motivated, creative individuals can have.

By: waldo

waldo — Wed, 10 Dec 2003 10:34:09 -0800

This program is extremely helpful to Democrats that are facing Republicans in state- or national-level elections. A Democratic candidate can get great press for living as if on food stamps while the Republican candidate (often an incumbent, at least around my parts) inevitably refuses to do so. I understand that this is not explicitly the point of the program, but it does suit their goals to see people in office that understand the needs of the less-fortunate.

By: Hildago

Hildago — Wed, 10 Dec 2003 11:17:26 -0800

I wonder, though, if any of the people who would benefit most from being forced to live as the people their policies affect do would ever actually agree to participate in this program. It seems as though they wouldn't give a fuck about it in the first place. I think Waldo makes a good point about using it to humiliate them, though. Humiliation is wonderful.

By: weston

weston — Wed, 10 Dec 2003 13:16:20 -0800

Be humble or be humiliated. I like it. ;)

By: tristeza

tristeza — Wed, 10 Dec 2003 13:38:31 -0800

I wonder, though, if any of the people who would benefit most from being forced to live as the people their policies affect do would ever actually agree to participate in this program. Yes and no - I'd say that MOST of the legislators that participate are the ones who are least likely to benefit - that is to say, the ones that already understand the issues and are interested in helping the poor. But not all. The challenge the organizers have is trying to get those who really NEED to be in the program (i.e. conservatives who still use phrases like "welfare queens") into the program without being selective. We ask ALL the legislators in WA, for example, so as not to be biased or selective. We HOPE that the ones who need it sign up. It's not a political program, so it's very important to be impartial in that way, or its legitimacy is sacrificed.

By: tristeza

tristeza — Wed, 10 Dec 2003 13:50:27 -0800

One more thing then I'll shut it: one of the most incredible benefits of Walk a Mile isn't even in terms of legislators and policymakers being educated and working harder to relieve poverty - it's the number of low-income women who participate and have their eyes opened to the power of advocacy and being involved in politics. So many low-income participants have entered WAM as very angry and politically apathetic citizens - and why sholnd't they be? They've been crapped on and ignored their whole lives. Many, many of them, however, leave the program with a completely new understanding of how politics work, and that they really CAN make a difference in the system, either by writing their Congresspeople or testifying on legislation (lots of them end up doing this on behalf of legislation that their "match" works on as a result of WAM), or by volunteering, etc etc. SO many of them come out of it saying "you know, I never thought anyone would listen to me 'cause I'm just a poor single mom, but now I know that if I write a letter or make a phonecall to my Senator, they really will listen to me, that's their job." It's quite amazing, and really inspiring. A lot of them end up working for political advocacy groups afterwards - it's just incredible.

By: jacquilynne

jacquilynne — Wed, 10 Dec 2003 14:53:48 -0800

The apparent power of this on both sides of the Match is truly exceptional. Well done to the people who are making this happen.

By: amberglow

amberglow — Wed, 10 Dec 2003 15:23:50 -0800

I think this is such a wonderful idea, and thanks for the firsthand knowledge, tristeza--I want my billionaire mayor to give it a shot (actually, I'd be happy if he could even identify with us middleclass folk)...I wonder if we could get one of the Dems running to give it a shot during the campaign?

By: dejah420

dejah420 — Wed, 10 Dec 2003 17:08:20 -0800

This is great. Thanks amber!