(Sacramento) In preparation for a critical budget hearing this Wednesday, May 5th, a group of 30 low-income parents and children with LIFETIME staged a sit-in at the office of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger last Friday, to protest his proposed cuts to children's welfare benefits that parents warned would take the shirts off their backs – and the diapers off their babies.  LIFETIME is a statewide membership organization of low-income mothers and fathers pursuing education and training as the means to get their families off welfare - and out of poverty - for good.  To make their point, parents brought a case of diapers and a stack of more than 250 jars of baby food to illustrate what the proposed welfare cuts will mean to poor children.  For more than two hours, low-income parents held a tense standoff with state police, who threatened to arrest the mothers and take their children into the custody of Child Protective Services if parents didn’t leave. 
 
The sit-in was in follow up to LIFETIME’s “The Shirts Off Our Backs” event on January 12th, where more than 150 low-income parents, children and supporters marched to the Governor’s office to protest his proposed budget cuts to welfare benefits for the state’s poorest children.  Coverage of the event was broadcast on ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and Univision affiliates in Sacramento, the SF Bay Area, Santa Barbara and Los Angeles, and featured footage of Costigan promising to meet with parents to discuss how the proposed budget cuts would hurt poor families.  Protestors noted that Costigan broke his promise, and has ignored more than a dozen calls and letters from LIFETIME members to set a date for the follow up meeting he promised. Parents returned to Sacramento on March 15th to make the request in person, only to be told by Deputy Legislative Secretary Jennifer Fitzgerald that they “were wasting their time” if they thought Costigan would meet with them.
 
Fitzgerald’s remarks – and Costigan’s inaction – prompted the sit-in, where more than 20 poor mothers engaged in nonviolent civil disobedience to make their point.  “I’m willing to go to jail to protect my son’s future,” said LIFETIME member Pepper Moore, a single mother and student at Cal State Hayward, “and to make sure our Governor keeps his promise to kids.”  “Costigan promised to meet with us in front of the tv cameras,” said LIFETIME board member Vivian Hain, a CalWORKs student at Vista College in Berkeley, and mother of three, “but that promise has been broken – just like the Governor’s campaign promise to put children first.”
 
The standoff ended only after state officials staged an emergency evacuation drill that emptied the State Capitol building.   Nonetheless, parents and children vowed to return to Sacramento until the proposal to cut children’s welfare benefits is reversed.  Said LIFETIME member Tammy Marquez, a CalWORKs student at De Anza College in Cupertino, “we want the Governor to get our message that we’ll be back for the hearing on May 5th - and we’ll keep coming back – until he keeps his promise to our kids.”
 
Protest organizers noted that the average welfare cash grant to a poor family in California is 53% of the federal poverty line, with little change in benefit levels for over 15 years.  “The Governor wants to slash welfare benefits and suspend Cost of Living Adjustments,” says LIFETIME Executive Director Diana Spatz, “even though welfare benefits are the same level they were in 1989, when I was a welfare mom.”  Even children worry how their parents will make ends meet if the proposed cuts go through.  “I’m asking the Governor to keep his promise to kids,” says nine-year old Jasmine Hain of Oakland, “my family is already poor.  What more does he want?  The shirts off our backs?”

Yours in justice,

Diana Spatz
Executive Director
LIFETIME