Economic Stability: Let’s Help with Jessika Harlston

Host: Luke Waldo

Experts:

• Jessika Harlston

:04-:20 – Jessika Harlston - “Everyone needs help in some shape or form. The biggest one, Luke, is the income limit. It shouldn’t matter how much a person is working or how much a person is bringing into the home, if that person needs help, let’s help them.”

:29-4:04 - Luke Waldo – Opening and Welcome

• 60th Anniversary of the War on Poverty
• Economic Opportunity Act
• Head Start
• Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA, now Americorps VISTA)

4:06-4:09 – Jessika – Thank you!

4:10-4:49 - Luke – How do economic challenges overload families with stress, and what do those challenges look like?

4:50-6:45 – Jessika – Jessika is a Financial Employability Planner (FEP). In her role, she helps individuals find employment. Many of her participants haven’t completed their education, so they often don’t have the academic skills. They also don’t have a work history, which makes it difficult to get an interview in the first place. Many also have children in their care that may have special needs or challenges, which makes it difficult for them to get work if they don’t have additional support for their kids. Lastly, some of her participants struggle with mental and physical health challenges, which can make maintaining a job difficult when all these stressors pile up.

• Financial Employability Planner

6:46-7:11 - Luke – What other stressors make it difficult to gain employment?

7:12-10:05 - Jessika – Biggest challenge is homelessness. Housing instability can cause participants to miss appointments as they are worrying about where they will sleep next. Transportation is the second biggest challenge. They often hold appointments by phone to limit the impact of unreliable transportation, but it is a barrier to getting and keeping a job. Childcare is also a challenge as it’s difficult to access, and there is also mistrust. Many participants look for employment that they can do from home so that they can keep their kids home.

10:06-10:30 - Luke – Of those challenges that you just mentioned, which do you find most difficult for families to overcome?

10:31-14:20- Jessika – “They are all difficult to overcome. But I’d have to say homelessness.” Even when participants have Section 8 Housing vouchers, many landlords will not accept the vouchers unless they have 3 months’ rent or income outside of their reach. So many of the other skills such as job skills are dependent on one’s housing stability. 

• Section 8 Housing Vouchers

14:21-17:25 - Luke – We talked with our policy and research expert about the importance of public benefits such as TANF and housing vouchers. How many of your participants are able to access those benefits, and what are the benefits and challenges?

17:26-22:25 - Jessika – Too many resources are not accessible for many people living in poverty. Jessika was homeless, living in her car while she was employed, and attempting to access a job access loan. She was denied the job access loan because she made too much money even though she couldn’t afford a home. To access housing supports, they often need documentation from their landlord who doesn’t provide it because they don’t want to work with government assistance. It leads to people giving up because they work hard to get the assistance they need, and then nobody will allow them to use it.

• Job Access Loans

22:26-25:02 - Luke – The frustration of the benefits cliff. What is often missing in the lives of your participants that makes their experience more challenging?

25:03-28:43 - Jessika – Many participants don’t have their high school education, which means that they have to start with basic education to get their GED. This takes a lot of time, energy and resources. Many don’t have access to the internet, so accessing the courses can be difficult to prepare for this. They also don’t have the social support that they need to overcome some of these challenges. 

• General Education Development (GED)

28:44-30:22 - Luke – What is underlying so many of your participants not having completed their high school education?

30:23-35:48 - Jessika – Incarceration, teen pregnancy, lack of support, hustling. Jessika tells a story of a participant who was incarcerated and had a child when he was a teenager due to growing up in a home where he had to hustle to eat and survive. He is now getting his GED. He is now learning how to care for himself, manage a home, care for his child, and keep a job in his late 20’s. Finding resources for single fathers can be uniquely difficult. 

35:49-37:57 - Luke – What do overloaded families need to achieve economic stability?

37:58-40:21 - Jessika – They want to be heard. They also want to be engaged, supported and held accountable. Goal-setting and achievement are not skills that have been developed previously. Incentives can help, but keeping them engaged through ongoing communication is important. 

40:22-43:02 – Luke – When we experience chronic toxic stress, our executive functioning is impaired and it becomes harder to set and accomplish these goals. How have you used Mobility Mentoring and its tools to support your participants?

• Mobility Mentoring

43:03-47:25 - Jessika – Goal setting was the most important tool. In her case, it allowed her to assess what areas of her life she needed to set goals for. She had stable housing at her mom’s after leaving her abusive relationship, a bachelor’s degree, a stable job, so she wanted to focus on caring for her children and herself. In the case of her participants, she gives them an employability plan that helps them set achievable goals, and then works with them to be accountable to those goals and celebrate them when they achieve them.

47:26-49:38 - Luke – What needs to change that would support families to achieve economic stability?

49:39-50:51- Jessika – Remove income limits that create barriers to accessing public benefits such as housing or childcare assistance. 

• Understanding Benefits Cliffs – Institute for Research on Poverty

49:33-52:42 - Luke – The benefits cliff continues to be too low for too many families. What makes you optimistic?

• Helping People with Low Incomes Navigate Benefit Cliffs

52:43-55:26 - Jessika – Using her story to inspire others to accomplish their goals. Recognizing that we don’t all come from the same foundation, so offering support is critical in helping others achieve their goal. 

55:27-56:53 – Luke – Jessika, what does your life look like today compared to when you were struggling?

56:54-1:01:06 - Jessika – I’m thriving because I have the social support that allows me to care for myself and my children. The stress of an unstable, abusive relationship made everything else so much more difficult. Her home is now safe, stable and peaceful. Her boys are surrounded by good role models and love.

1:01:07-1:02:17 - Luke – Closing and Gratitude

1:02:18-1:02:20 – Jessika – Thank you

1:02:23-1:04:09 - Luke – 3 Key Takeaways

1:04:10-1:05:41 - Luke – Closing Credits

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