True Charity members tell Congress work and accountability matter more than aid

Two True Charity Network practitioners testified before a House subcommittee as lawmakers marked 30 years since welfare reform. Their message: relationship-based charity and personal accountability do more to move people out of poverty than dependency-driven systems.

Why it matters: - The House hearing put new attention on whether federal welfare programs still reward work and personal responsibility 30 years after the 1996 reform law. - The testimony argued that local, relational charities can help people leave poverty more effectively than systems built around long-term dependency. - The debate matters for families on assistance, nonprofits serving them, and lawmakers weighing the next phase of welfare policy.

What happened: - Missy Hanks of The ELM Foundation in Huntsville, Alabama, and Misty Kelso of Watered Gardens Ministries in Joplin, Missouri, testified Tuesday before the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee's Work and Welfare Subcommittee. - The hearing marked the 30th anniversary of the welfare reform law that created the modern Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. - The hearing was titled "Welfare Reform at 30: Restoring the Promise of Work and Personal Responsibility in Federal Welfare Programs." - Hanks and Kelso described how accountability, goals and relationships shape their work with people facing poverty, homelessness and addiction. - Both witnesses are members of the True Charity Network, a coalition of churches and nonprofits focused on relational, outcome-driven charity.

The details: - The 1996 reforms replaced open-ended cash assistance with time-limited, work-based benefits. - Since 1996, welfare caseloads have fallen from 4.4 million families to 570,000. - The labor force participation rate among never-married mothers rose from 59% to 74% in five years. - Over the same 30-year period, SNAP participation rose nearly 60% and Medicaid participation rose 115%. - Hanks said leaving Alabama state casework was driven by her sense that good intentions were not enough. - Hanks testified, "I honestly felt like I wasn't really helping anyone." - The ELM Foundation uses an effort-based model that requires participants to set and pursue goals toward self-reliance. - Hanks told lawmakers, "Accountability is not punishment. Accountability is empowerment." - Hanks also said nonprofit work is too often disconnected, saying, "We have what I call the wild wild west out there in our nonprofit agencies. We're serving in silos, not sharing information, [and] not tracking outcomes." - Kelso said she previously experienced homelessness, addiction and dependence on public assistance before rebuilding her life and family. - Kelso testified that government aid had kept her trapped for years, saying, "I would say that it did keep me stuck for a long time." - Kelso urged lawmakers to focus on the people behind program statistics, saying, "The women we serve are not problems to be solved. They are people." - The True Charity Network says it now includes more than 300 member organizations across 35 states. - The network says its members collectively serve more than 1 million people each year. - The ELM Foundation is a privately funded operating foundation that provides grants and relational case management for education and workforce development. - Hanks has more than three decades of experience in government-funded and privately funded assistance programs. - Watered Gardens Ministries serves women and children experiencing homelessness, addiction, poverty and trauma. - Watered Gardens was founded by James Whitford, who also co-founded True Charity and serves as its CEO. - True Charity provides nonprofits and churches with resources, training and connections to organizations using dependency-free, relational approaches. - More information on True Charity is available at the organization's website. - More information on The ELM Foundation is available at ELM's website.

Between the lines: - The testimony reflects a broader critique of welfare systems that measure spending and enrollment more than long-term independence. - The witnesses made a case for local organizations to fill gaps that government programs often miss, especially around trust, follow-up and personal accountability. - The hearing also underscored a shift in the conversation from how many people are served to whether people actually move out of crisis.

What's next: - Lawmakers are likely to keep revisiting welfare reform as they compare federal assistance programs with local charity models. - The hearing could add momentum to proposals that tie aid more closely to work, outcomes and personal responsibility. - True Charity and its member organizations will likely use the hearing to promote relational, outcome-based approaches in future policy debates.

The bottom line: - The witnesses told Congress that poverty reduction works best when aid is paired with relationships, accountability and a path to self-reliance.