I want to preface this by saying this is not victim blaming. This not calling people online lazy or grifting or whatever.
But an underlooked proponent on why some people are nearing homeless and crowdfunding heavily rn is bc society has failed you by making it as inconvenient as possible to learn about social systems and programs that already exist to help your situation as well as not having enough programs and aid.
Lemme give some examples. I have been unemployed for 10 months. My mom told me about a paying job training program a month ago after I already decided to mive in with her to find work, because nothing was coming up in my own city. My best friend didn’t know about affordable housing assistance in my state until she talked to my dad about it on a chance encounter. Some people on here have to see posts about much cheaper alternatives to their current prescriptions or medical plans because its not in the interest of their doctors paychecks to tell them about it. I would have waited to get vaccinated and not have crowdfunded for Uber money if I had known they were going to give free vaccine rides the next month. But I wouldn’t have really known this until I opened the app once that program started, because it is in their interest to keep taking my money until its their desired time for me to reap their “generous” services.
What I’m trying to say is that this is an under discussed aspect of how capitalism fails people. When you are forced to make your life and work and finances so singular and self interested, you are cut off from community and equivalent social services to proper government assistance. You literally don’t know that there is help somewhere out there for you unless you’re told.
I believe a professor I had called this “cultural wisdom” but I haven’t been able to find the social science articles that expanded on this. It’s a practical knowledge of local systems that allows someone to function and thrive in that system. The example she used was having an understanding that banks can hold your money, but the practical aspect of accessing your money (in a convenient and easy manor) was knowing about ATMs and how to use them. But unless you have an account or someone ready to inform you, there’s no dedicated time or milestone where someone learns this.
And that’s just with a machine designed to give you YOUR money, let alone complex social service programs.
I want everyone who crowdfunds for hospital bills to know they probably don’t have to oay them at all. Just find the financial aid office of the hospital. It’s on the website BY LAW. Find the form. Fill it out. Get the bills canceled or lowered! You don’t need crowd money, you need the government’s money that’s already set aside for your medical care.
GO TO, MESSAGE, OR CALL YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY. Libraries are focusing more and more on community resources, support, and outreach. If you genuinely don’t know something or feel uncertain or are in a new situation, a reference librarian will not only help you sort your thoughts through their reference interview but then help you arm yourself with knowledge from reliable and often local sources. It doesn’t even have to be a question to Ask A Librarian. You can simply say “I’m in this situation now. I don’t know what to do next./I’m not confident I know everything I should or want to know.”
If you are in America - 211 is your friend. It’s the United Way’s database of social assistance resources. When I was doing resource development for my masters in social work 211 was my holy grail. And there’s things that only workers know about that just calling and asking can reach cuz it sets off the social service phone tree. I will say YOU have to be persistent of you want to access these resources. Most of the ngo agencies are most interested in helping the pro-active clients in my experience. But do use the resources. They’re golden.
foodstamps r easier to get on than you think - here in wi if you make around less than $2000 - i don’t remember the exact number - a month you qualify for foodstamps, where you get money (we get $180 i think?) every month for whatever food you want and it rolls over to next month, never expires.
at least in wi, it Will ask you about your entire household income but if you dont share food with your roommates (they have no hoops you jump through to verify this, they take you at your word) their income is not counted.
this is all wi-specific but just an example of how easy food assistance can b when i feel like its often seen as this last-ditch thing few qualify for
mibridges is the Michigan site for food stamps/EBT, heating assistance, and a good few other things. Double check you’re on the right site because you have to use your social security number to sign up for pretty much anything.
So many of these agencies have a spot on their website asking you where you heard about them, which is behavior you would expect from a shop trying to sell you something, but it’s that they really want to know where the hell they can advertise to tell people that systems are in place. Same desire to get what they do in the hands of more relevant people.
As a person taking advantage of several of them right now, I can tell you they are not all great, but they are the reason I don’t have to ask you guys to pay for my food (even if someone fucking stole all my funds and no one will do anything about it 🙃) or my heating and electricity while I try to stay alive and find a job I can do with whatever the fuck is wrong with my spine.
My mother works for a state agency and had no idea some of the programs I am using existed. Most people don’t feel like they need to know they exist, so when you find yourself in a situation where you can use them, you don’t sit down and Google specific financial assistance Agency for my County or whatever, you sit back and think, “fuck,” and ask the internet. Obviously I’ve done both methods but, yeah, there’s so much more stuff available than anyone tells you about.
pixiefoibles said:
findhelp.org is a great resource to find assistance within your community, ranging from clothing to transportation to healthcare and WAY more
