Editor’s note: This op-ed was published on April 22 by DC Journal, an InsideSources publication. It was authored by Angel Jackson, an anti-poverty advocate, volunteer and RESULTS Fellow in Houston.

Angel Jackson

I’m a proud member of America’s working class.

People like me give back to our communities daily. We’re frontline workers who operate essential services, raise families and volunteer to improve lives for those less fortunate. We’re White, Black, Brown, old, young, urban and rural.

We have America’s back. But who has ours?

The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. However, the hourly wage required for a modest two-bedroom, market-rate apartment averages $32.11. That’s more than four times the minimum wage!

Meanwhile, there’s a national deficit of more than 7 million units of affordable housing, with impossibly long waiting lists for the existing units. No wonder our basic human needs are often out of reach.

A better life is possible, but it takes investments. My life is proof.

I was in the foster care system as a teenager. It was challenging, but there were investments in us that helped us get on our feet once we aged out.

For example, I received an education training voucher along with a caseworker to help me figure out a plan for transitioning out of foster care. The Preparation for Adult Living (PAL) program helped me apply for Medicaid, SNAP (formerly known as food stamps), and a housing voucher.

These stepping stones helped me get into my home and find employment in the service industry. Otherwise, I would’ve fallen through the many holes in our nation’s safety net.

Still, wages in the service industry are low, and schedules aren’t regular. This makes it hard to complete higher educational goals or to care for kids. Hard work often doesn’t help one get ahead — it exhausts you and pays so little that you have to find additional ways to make ends meet.

The programs that helped me get on my feet were invaluable. However, they have such strict requirements that you lose desperately needed assistance if you earn even a dollar over the very low income threshold required to qualify. These programs give young people entering the workforce a fighting chance to survive.

If we want to thrive, we need more support — with fewer barriers. I’m fighting for a stronger safety net that allows us to make a living wage and put away a little savings before removing the critical assistance we need to get into a sustainable economic position.

I’d been hopeful after the successes of President Biden’s American Rescue Plan, which expanded benefits and eligibility for critical programs like the Child Tax Credit, Medicaid, and food and housing assistance. These reinforcements significantly reduced poverty, especially for children.

However, poverty shot back up when lawmakers allowed those expansions to expire.

Now, we’re careening further backward. Instead of seeking to strengthen programs that help families and communities, the House GOP budget proposal aims to slash them. Instead of helping working families, they want to put that money toward $4.5 trillion in tax cuts for the wealthy.

On the chopping block are the programs that helped get me on my feet as I transitioned out of foster care: the Social Services Block Grant, SNAP (or “food stamps”), Medicaid, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, and the Child Care and Development Block Grant.

We are America’s essential workers. We keep the nation running, even with a very low minimum wage. We can only keep doing so if we aren’t pushed through the growing holes in our national safety net.

Americans need us more than they need to watch another billionaire buy another yacht. Join us to ensure we are all as strong as possible. Together.

This blog post was originally published by DC Journal.