Safety Net Programs: COVID-19 Increases Demand Throughout Wisconsin
Without the jobs and income they need to get by, Wisconsinites are increasingly turning to public supports such as BadgerCare (Medicaid) and FoodShare (“Food Stamps”).
A Project of the High Road Strategy Center
Without the jobs and income they need to get by, Wisconsinites are increasingly turning to public supports such as BadgerCare (Medicaid) and FoodShare (“Food Stamps”).
This recovery is fragile and increases in infection suggest it may be temporary.
In just a few months, COVID-19 has upended workers in Wisconsin, leaving some without jobs, others dangerously exposed at work, and sending still others to work in their homes.
2020 has proven the fallacy of a post-racial America. Our healthcare, economic, justice, educational, electoral, and democratic systems have all buckled under the weight of racism.
A few weeks after being laid off from his job as a cook, Anthony Steward contracted coronavirus. Now recovered, Anthony reflects on how unions can provide support during COVID layoffs and furloughs. “March 11th. That’s when they told us we’re not going back to work until further notice.” Anthony was working as a cook at …
Laid off from one job and working with minimal safety measures in her other job as a healthcare worker, Demetrica Shipp is facing eviction if things don’t change. “I’ve been a healthcare worker for 35 years and this is the worst I’ve ever seen it. We don’t have the things to keep people safe,” Demetrica …
There have been promising and strong growth since the March economic contraction, but it is too early to predict that “normal” is on the horizon.
Michael Chapple has always made his living in the food service industry and now works as a cook at a Milwaukee-area hospital cafeteria. Since being dubbed ‘essential’, Michael feels the health risks his job poses for himself, his 80-year-old mother, and 15-year-old son are not worth the paycheck he collects for his work on the …