The strength of a thriving democracy is reflected in the health and well-being of all its people.
Human services, provided by government agencies and community organizations, enhance our well-being by assisting us in navigating life’s inevitable ups and downs. Although the term “human services” is unfamiliar to many, it is a fundamental part of our society, akin to health and education. These services —including access to quality childcare, healthy food, job training, temporary cash assistance, affordable housing, mental health support, and more—are essential for promoting the social and economic mobility of the American people.
What’s at Stake?
In the United States, we are experiencing a dangerous dismantling of the frameworks and social structures that uphold the human services system. Using the misleading rhetoric of “waste, fraud, and abuse,” efforts are underway to reverse decades of progress through the wholesale cutting of programs, blatantly disregarding their impact on families and the nonprofit organizations that local communities rely on. Instead of focusing energy on ensuring our public systems operate more effectively, government agencies are being vilified en masse, further amplifying the public’s distrust.
Such an unrestrained attack poses a destabilizing threat to our democracy.
People working on the front lines of this struggle—in public human services agencies at all levels of government and in community organizations—face unprecedented challenges as efforts to undermine and eradicate these crucial services intensify. Public servants and community leaders can’t do the work alone; they urgently need our support. As historian Timothy Snyder reminds us, institutions do not defend themselves; they rely on people. We must unite to protect these vital services that enhance the well-being and integrity of our communities.
Despite our national self-concept as a leader in innovation, the US encounters surprising resistance to efforts to create shared prosperity, even as the American Dream remains out of reach for nearly a third of this nation. The long-standing stigma associated with anti-poverty programs fosters an “us versus them” mentality, leading to judgments about who deserves help and who does not, as well as doubts about whether assistance can genuinely reduce poverty at scale. As a result, people are often blamed for their circumstances, and there is disapproval of government institutions that offer economic assistance as incapable and not up to a task. These mindsets are so deeply ingrained in our culture that we may not even recognize when we think this way, or when they are being used against our interests.
Shifting Mindsets
About a year ago, I started writing a book that delves into the deep-seated cultural narratives shaping and distorting Americans’ views on poverty and welfare. My goal has been straightforward: to uncover the largely untold history of this country’s human services system by revealing its unwritten rules. Examining the connection between current beliefs and historical narratives illustrates how Americans have been conditioned to believe that poverty is both an individual’s choice and a problem too big to solve. These contradictory ideas fail to tell the whole story of what is possible and hinder social and economic progress for everyone.
We can tell a more complete story. Just as a cornerstone is essential to constructing a home, the human services system is the infrastructure people need to flourish in a democratic society. The key is to make this narrative both visible and relatable. The future of our democracy depends on it.
I need your help in spreading these narratives about what it takes to enhance America’s well-being. By addressing the challenges we face together, we can ignite change, engage a broader audience in defending human services, and work towards a fairer future for everyone.
Tracy – a powerful statement on the understanding and perception of poverty and the role of human services. Thank you for calling this out. Every effort aimed at clarifying the narrative and supporting and sustaining the network to stitch the public-private neighbors in need ecosystem with efficacy and compassion is critical. Even with SNAP a less than 10% error rate is intolerable but who is paying attention to the 90+% of benefits delivered accurately to stave off hunger for so many hundreds of thousands of children, families and seniors? Persuading policy makers on how important human services is should not be such a hard task when the data and the lives touched are clearly visible in communities across the country!
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Tracy, thank you for the courageous and valuable contribution to much needed public discourse.
In these times when so many Americans are rightly deeply alarmed, angry and frightened about what’s happening to dismantle our government and all the supports it provides and to end representative democracy, it’s rare to read an essay that helps us recognize, think and about understand the roles key public sector programs plan in achieving the kind of society we want – one where everyone can be healthy and thrive. This, in truth, is what’s at stake in this moment, but it is hard for many to step back and think this through when they are blinded and overwhelmed by the barrage of traumatic daily news. Helping us realize that false narratives about people and communities who experience poverty and other marginalizations are a threat to democracy itself is an essential insight into where we are and how we go forward. Looking forward to read what you are thinking and sharing.