Social Welfare Policy

Policy Scenario #2 – Income Disparity

You work for Phoenix, an umbrella organization that oversees a group of community programs based on a model that aims to strengthen community capacity by providing comprehensive health, wellness, and education services to the community of Hillsdale. Programs within Phoenix include a mental health and addiction recovery agency, a family medical clinic, a home health care service, and a dialysis unit. Phoenix also provides health education and prevention including nutrition counseling, family planning, smoking cessation, and screenings for conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, osteoporosis, certain cancers, and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).

Phoenix is funded through a combination of public and private funding. In addition to government funding such as Medicaid, Phoenix receives contributions from private donors, charities, and other sources. As payment/reimbursement for services, Phoenix’s programs accept both private insurance and Medicaid.

Hillsdale, the community Phoenix serves, is diverse in terms of income, employment status, family structure, and racial and ethnic background. According to the recent census data, approximately 20% of the community is white of European descent, 40% are Black/African American, 30% are Hispanic/LatinX, 4% are Asian/ Asian American, and the remaining 6% represent other backgrounds or declined to respond. This community does not presently have representation from other demographics including from Indigenous/Native American populations. The community is predominantly working class and low-income. Many clients have Medicaid, although some have private insurance. Since Phoenix is in a Medicaid Expansion state, since 2015, it has seen an increase in the number of Medicaid-eligible clients over the last 4-5 years. However, there are residents who are still not eligible for Medicaid yet have no private insurance either. In these instances, some of Phoenix’s programs will offer services on a sliding-scale fee basis.

Hillsdale has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. The community served by Phoenix continues to suffer from high unemployment and food security concerns, among other hardships. Many local businesses have closed or had to lay off workers.

Your supervisor calls you into another meeting, saying that she was so impressed with your issue brief on health care that she needs your talents on another project. She explains that Phoenix has been lobbying for passage of the HEROES Act, which is proposed legislation aimed at extending and expanding upon the CARES Act. Phoenix is especially focused on pushing for the HEROES Act to extend and increase SNAP benefits and Unemployment Insurance benefits. A representative from the Hillsdale Chamber of Commerce is proposing that Phoenix collaborate with the Chamber of Commerce on pushing for the HEROES Act to be enacted. Joining your lobbying forces together in Washington would be much more effective and have maximum impact on getting the HEROES Act through. However, your supervisor says it is not an easy decision. The Chamber of Commerce is focused only on lobbying for the HEROES Act to extend the Paycheck Protection Program started under the CARES Act. The Chamber of Commerce is not focused on the SNAP or Unemployment portions of the legislation. The Chamber of Commerce representative is asking Phoenix to stop fighting for SNAP and Unemployment and invest their lobbying staff, resources, and time into lobbying for the Paycheck Protection Program.

Your supervisor is torn. The Chamber of Commerce is very influential and has money and political power that would be very helpful to Phoenix in getting the HEROES Act through. However, SNAP and Unemployment benefits are critical to the Hillsdale community that Phoenix serves. She wants to leverage the Chamber of Commerce’s power and influence to get the HEROES Act passed, but is worried about stopping advocacy on the SNAP and Unemployment portions. She is concerned that while focusing on the Paycheck Protection Program might lead to the passage of the HEROES Act, taking focus away from SNAP and Unemployment Insurance might mean that these two benefits are decreased or eliminated from the legislation.

She says she needs you to make a recommendation on which course of action is best for Phoenix and Hillsdale. Should Phoenix stop advocating for SNAP and Unemployment in order to join forces with the Chamber of Commerce, or should Phoenix decline the Chamber of Commerce’s offer to collaborate and continue lobbying on their own? Your supervisor instructs you to write a 3-4- page brief for her to take to her directors’ meeting next week.

To prepare your brief, she tells you to consult several sources, including:

1) The NASW Policy Statement on Economic Justice

2) Information about what a Chamber of Commerce is and what it does

3) Information about the HEROES Act

4) Information about SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program)

She instructs you to cover the following in your brief:

1. Articulate your position. Should Phoenix collaborate with the Chamber of Commerce or not?

2. Provide a rationale for your decision. Why should Phoenix make this choice?

3. Who will benefit from this choice? How will this approach benefit those people/groups?

4. Who will likely oppose this choice? Why will they oppose it? What are their objections? How would you respond to these objections?

5. How does your approach address disparities?

6. To support your argument, use at least three credible sources of information for your brief. So that your audience can reference this information afterwards, be sure to cite your sources using APA format, both within your brief (in-text citations) and in a separate References section at the end of your brief.

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