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ACLU and NAACP Request Federal Investigation of W-2 Program
February 19, 2002
Two major civil rights organizations in Milwaukee are asking the federal
government to investigate the Wisconsin Works welfare reform program.
The organizations say W-2, as it is now operated, discriminates against
disabled people and people of color.
In a 28-page complaint being sent to Chicago today, the American Civil
Liberties Union of Wisconsin Foundation and the Milwaukee Branch of the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People are asking
the Office for Civil Rights -- part of the U.S. Department of Health &
Human Services -- to investigate the state's failure to properly serve
the disabled and households with disabled family members.
The ACLU-WIF and the Milwaukee branch of the NAACP charge that the Wisconsin
Department of Workforce Development has not followed the Americans with
Disabilities Act in its operation of W-2. The disability issue is crucial
because U.S. government statistics show that nationally, at least 44%
of those taking part in welfare programs suffer from physical or mental
impairments. In Wisconsin, DWD itself admits that the W-2 caseload mostly
consists of individuals with severe barriers to employment.
Because DWD doesn't even make W-2 agencies screen W-2 participants for
disabilities, the agencies often don't know that a participant has, for
example, a learning disability, mental illness, a physical health problem,
or a child with a serious behavioral disorder. Because DWD pressures W-2
agencies to send people to 40 hours a week of activities, W-2 agencies
often send people to assignments they can't do because of their disabilities
-- and then penalizes the families by taking money out of their monthly
checks.
The ACLU-WIF and NAACP also are calling for an independent evaluation
of racial differences in W-2's operation. A study prepared for DWD in
2001 showed that while 1 in every 2.7 Caucasian participants who neared
W-2's time limits got an extension of time on W-2, only 1 in every 10.9
African-American recipients received an extension.
According to Chris Ahmuty, Executive Director of the Wisconsin ACLU,
"We'd like to see DWD run W-2 to help disabled families achieve real self-sufficiency
- not just push them out of the system."
Jerry Ann Hamilton, the president of the Milwaukee Branch of the NAACP,
said her organization decided to file this complaint because it is first
and foremost a civil rights organization whose mission is protecting the
rights of all people, including the rights of disabled persons of all
races. Ms. Hamilton said that the Milwaukee Branch of the NAACP is also
troubled by the evidence of racial disparities in the granting of extensions
under W-2, and advocates for the fair treatment of all people in the W-2
program.
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