Policy & Practice | Summer 2026

when accessing benefits? If instead of spending so much time on why they were in need and making them tell their sad story over and over again, triggering trauma and diminishing their dignity, we invested that same effort in helping them envision where they wanted to go and then committed resources to supporting that vision? If we listened to their pain points with empathy and then with great convic tion affirmed them by saying, “Oh, the places you will go…” Could you imagine the transformational effect that those mere words could have on a weary soul reluctantly entering a human services office in need of help and seeing no way out? It would be like daybreak after a long dark night. Those words would serve as both a reminder and a declaration that accessing benefits doesn’t have to be a life sentence. Instead, with the right attitude, resources, and support, it can become a valuable pit stop on the way to better things, better places, and better days ahead. Those words would give hope. And hope would provide vision. And vision would lead families to freedom. So, in the infamous words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “Let freedom ring!”

Sometimes it's messy, complicated, slow, and staggered. But despite how the path evolves, the goal should always be to encourage individuals to keep moving forward—not to discourage them into becoming stagnant. The unfortunate reality is that there are generations of families accessing benefits because somewhere along the way someone got stuck in the system with no vision of how to get out. And in some cases, they didn’t even know they could. But we can change that. Instead of transferring generational poverty, we can equip and empower families to pass down genera tional vision, resilience, and hope. As I imagine my desired future for families accessing benefits, I am reminded of a well-known story by Dr. Seuss, “Oh, the Places You’ll Go! ” The book describes life’s journey as being filled with both excitement and chal lenges; and emphasizes that setbacks are a natural part of life rather than a sign to give up. It challenges the reader to expect hardship, but to know that no matter the challenges faced, they are capable of achieving great things and going to amazing places if they keep trying and never lose confi dence in themselves. I wonder what would happen if that’s the way clients were greeted

month-by-month, I continued to work toward my goal of not just hovering above the poverty line, but soaring over it. And you know what? Just like my mother, I did it. Some might say that we were the exceptions, but I have com mitted my life to ensuring that families thriving after a crisis and successfully exiting assistance becomes the rule. Looking back, I wish that instead of receiving a coldly written notice of discontinued benefits, I had received an affirming salutation like, “Congratulations, your family has reached a financial milestone!” I wish there had been options, programs, and services provided with the news of my reduced benefits to support future success and to encourage my family to thrive. Something that offered encouragement instead of instilling fear and dread. So often I have heard people say, “I can live better on benefits than working,” and while not ideal to hear, it’s also not untrue. Somehow we have to create a system that celebrates indi viduals for achieving financial goals that advance them closer to stability, instead of punishing them if we say that is why the services exist. Economic mobility is just that … movement, and that movement is not always simple or linear.

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Summer 2026 Policy & Practice 21