What the hell does Davis think he's doing?!?!?!

Ok.. i'm about to go on and on about something that has really angered me. Please bear with me as this is going to be probably a long and politically charged rant.. Most of you know that I live in California and that I work for a Community College here. Specifically, my department is an extention of the community education department. We do a variety of things ranging from working with welfare recipients to get education/jobs/self sufficient, GED preparation, and many more important services to a very high need/low income population of students. What i'm going to discuss today is regarding students from the CalWORKs program. (single parents on welfare to generalize) My department provides services to CalWORKs participants to recieve workforce training, tutoring, job assistance, and just plain friendship and counseling. (as well as other special program students such as WIA participants.

I have worked at Mt SAC for over 5 years. Being 25 years old, now that's really saying something. I'm not trying to brag it's just I LOVE what I do. I help people and make a direct impact on improving their quaility of living. It is an immensely rewarding and gratifiying job. We have clients/students who come in who are 'generational welfare recipents'. They are on welfare, their mothers and grandmothers were on welfare. Calworks is one of the proactive programs out there that breaks the cycle. I know it works because I personally know many many of our students who have become successful and financially independant. Just imagine a single mother who has grown up dependant on welfare with a below 1st grade level in both reading and math. This particular student 1 year later with the assistance of CalWORKs funds to pay for childcare, tuition, and books and supplies has recieved her GED and matriculated thru her AA degree to be a nurse. That is amazing and not a special case scenerio. This is the kind of work we do. It is an immensely important service that we provide the community. There is not one person who I work with that doesn't go way above and beyond the normal call of duty to help students. I work with the most dedicated people who really care about their students. Our caseworkers and students call students that we haven't seen in a while. We encourage students to do well academically. Essentially help students who have multiple barriors to success to make it though and get off public assistance.

What I am so upset about is Gov. Grey Davis' veto of CalWORKs budget money that was passed through both legislative groups. This was a total shock to everyone. I will post hard #s tomorrow when i get the fact sheet. Suffice to say nearly the entire CalWORKs budget is totally cut statewide. Gov Davis is cutting monies to services for the people who can least afford to loose it. All Community Colleges are scrambling to try and figure out what to do. For my school it means that we will be unable to provide most of the services we worked so hard to put together. I'm sad, angered, and disappointed. I am embarrased to say I voted for this man... as a matter of fact it was the teacher's unions that put him into office. Thank goodness this is an election year. We are actively geting the word out and having registered voters write letters to their legislators and the gov. how this will really hurt their lives. I'm not so worried about not having a job come July 1st as I am that all these children are going to just be the next generation on welfare... It's a grim future. If you live in California or know someone who lives in California please please have them write letters to the gov and local legislators and make sure they include that they are registered voters. We have until May before final drafts of the budget are announced. Just to give you an idea of the wide spread affect this is going to have. All credit side students services are now going to be swamped with special needs students when they are already ill equipped to deal with the 'normal' student populations. This is all campuses state wide. Unemployment rates will continue to increase because all these people won't be able to find decent jobs. Why? because they don't have the work skills. *sigh* let's be proactive...
Contact Info:
Governor Gray Davis
California State Senators - Click on individual names for contact information. If you aren't sure which senator represents your district click 'Your Senator.'
California State Assembly - Click on individual names for contact information. If you aren't sure which assembly legislators represent your district click 'find my district.'

(please forgive grammatical and spelling error.. I'm really tired and well.. I always sucked at grammar anyway)