By Senior Director of Programs and Operations Jeannine Short
Many organizations serving disenfranchised populations tout as some part of their mission the goal of helping families achieve self-sufficiency. Concordantly, such organizations have done well to implement programs and service delivery models, along with outcomes measurement processes, toward this end.
Self-sufficiency, according to Webster, is 1) the ability to supply one’s own needs without external assistance; and 2) having extreme confidence in one’s own resources, powers, etc.
From this perspective, it stands to reason that government would invest dollars in large-scale workforce development programs and prescribe sanctions for TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) recipients who choose not to engage in workforce activities; also, that local-level agencies would invest dollars in job skills and job readiness programs.
What does not stand to reason, however, is that while there seems to be vested interest in providing opportunities aimed at creating or increasing income, HUD’s outcomes measurement of the percentage of families exiting programs with increased income seems to fly in the face of self-sufficiency. How? Because the measurement includes not only earned income, but also “income” received through TANF.
So what, then, is self-sufficiency? Is it the ability to supply one’s own needs, or is it the ability to meet those needs through mainstream resource systems? If the latter, would “inter-sufficiency” be a more appropriate term?
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