SSI for Ex-Cons: This One Just Fell in My Lap

In my day (only) job as a librarian, I'm used to colleagues pulling my fat out of the fire, and am mighty grateful for it.  The other day, a gentleman came up to the reference desk asking for legal cites, some of which looked downright weird.  He could not say exactly where he had gotten these--they were all written in a lengthy, handwritten letter, but he was vague about where it came from.  So I decided to take the lazy shortcut now available through Google, and put in one of the cites: "Public Law 93.365.92.603." 

What came up in Google was this from Snopes, the urban legend debunker site, and a personal favorite. It was a posting by a librarian who was given a very similar email twice in one week, with a lot similar "information"--about how these laws could be shown to Social Security offices so that ex-offenders could get their immediate SSI payment, which they could get within 72 hours.  I have family members on SSI, and can testify that you can't get ANY check in that time frame. Then, the email instructs you to go to the "general welfare" office in your state, to get a check issued in two hours.  Again, I've had relatives on assistance, and one actually had to wait twice that long for her worker to meet with her, much less get a check.  And the "medical card" that should be able to "be used at any doctor's office?" Please.  That ain't happening. Ex-offenders have to apply for and use the medical services for the poor available in your area like anyone else.

They go on to list a whole bunch of other stuff that you should be able to charge up: car expenses, work tools, "casual clothes," Again, these are not "benefits."  There are some nonprofits that work to help with a used car or repairs, or with work clothing, etc.  But these are things provided--when they are--by a patchwork of community groups, WHEN they have money available. 

The part of the email closest to the truth involves tax credits available to employers who hire ex-offenders and other specific groups of hard-to-employ people.  Even so, this is not immediate help. 

What can ex-offenders do?  Largely, they have to use the same social services that everybody else does.  There are places around the country that try to put ex-offenders in touch with the right people, and who know the right agencies to tap.  Here's a whole roundup of what I have been able to find that can help ex-offenders, including getting help on expungement.

As the librarian in the posting points out, the legal references in this email are not true, or not valid, or just weird.  But apparently some version of this letter is still floating around 11 years after snopes knocked it down.  If you get it, don't believe it.

New Hoax to Demolish--the Veteran's "Special Dividend"

Free money hoaxes come in many flavors--scams, partial truths, and earnest no-brainer e-mails passed along by well-meaning people.  This news of the veterans's "special insurance dividend" falls into the last category.  As my dad would say, they "mean well."  But there is still NOT a special insurance dividend.  But when some well-meaning person ships it off to their inbox, they think they are doing a good thing by passing it along.  But do what I do: check it against snopes.com, one of the world's great websites.

This false rumor has been around for over 50 years.  Like many rumors, it springs out of a past truth.  According to Snopes, after WII, there was a special dividend for veterans of that war, but all those benefits have been paid out.  To find out all the financial help for veterans (at least that I could find), try these veterans's posts.  And first, try the VA office and your country veterans's office.

Another Snopes Hunt

I knew it would happen, but I had to do it anyway. The patron was sure he heard somebody on a local talk show--he named the time and station--say that there were $5,000 grants for businesses starting up in Toledo. So I tracked down the hostess, Maggie Thurber, who was on vacation at the time, and who suggested I contact 2 substitute hosts. I did, and they didn't know about it, either. No, there's no grant for showing up and starting a business.

Grants librarians do a lot of snope hunting. We nearly always know how it ends, but we have to hunt the snopes anyway. Once in a while, it leads to a genuine grant opportunity. And we almost always know more afterwards than we did before, so it's not all wasted time. Yes, there are some financial incentives for Toledo businesses. So, unless you are a patron looking for your $5,000, some good came out of it.

...And Urban Legends Make My Head Asplode.

Usually, my postings are made up of specific links and bits of information that you can use re: financial help for individuals. Today I'll take some time to talk about useless crap you can't use: urban legends about everybody out there who is supposedly getting free money, like women, immigrants and minorities. People, they aren't. They aren't getting rich off your tax money. The Arabs down the street from you? They didn't get their party store or gas station from free federal grant money. And nobody is screwing you because you are a white male. Just trust me.

What prompted this little diatribe from me is that yet another white male told me that he wasn't qualified for any programs, because "I'm not a minority or a woman, I'm not qualified for anything." I asked him who said this, he said, "They told me I made too much money." Well, that is quite different than being a white male. Some programs for homelessness and poverty were indeed geared for women, especially women with children. But I found some programs that he probably did qualify for, and sent him on his way.

In truth, financial help programs are frustrating to find, because they are never just cash to spend as you want or need. They are pointed to a particular purpose, and have a bewildering laundry list of limitations: usually, you must live within a particular political entity (city, village, county, etc.), and there are income limitations (it could be below the median county income for one program, or 150% of the poverty level for another). The agency could run out of money, thus ending the program, and so forth.

But while some programs, like government contract set-asides are aimed for women and minorities, or some programs are for enrolled members of American Indian tribes, most programs are created for people in certain areas, with certain incomes, with certain needs (like housing and transportation). And of all the most pernicious rumors, the dumbest is about immigrants who are supposedly set up in business by Uncle Sam.

In truth, many immigrants who set up businesses come from entrepreneurial families in the old country who give them the seed money to start. Often, they live tight-fisted lives, plowing money back into the business until they are economically secure enough, and their business(es) well enough established enough to enjoy spending money on themselves. But generally, they live by the Amish axiom: "The smart Amish have a big barn and a small house. The dumb Amish have a big house, and a small barn." That's why you see them in their own businesses so much. The government has no programs I know of to set up immigrants in their own businesses.

But let me make this sporting: if you are sure you know immigrants who landed big government grants, and can verify that minorities are living it up on grants created specially for them, please let me know. Leave a posting telling me what government program this came from, and what federal or state department. I have set this challenge to my patrons who swore their friends and relatives got lots of money that way. None of them ever came back to confirm it. Once though, some lady *lied* to me and told me she was getting free grant money. When I contacted the agency, they assured me it wasn't true. So prove me wrong, everybody.