How to Become Self-Sufficient & Get Off of Welfare

Getting an income is the first step in getting off welfare.

Welfare is a useful form of assistance for people who have lost a job and are struggling financially. Working out ways of supporting oneself without government help opens up new opportunities and usually increases income. Pursuing alternatives to welfare dependency through both personal and systemic changes can help to make individuals more self-sufficient.

Instructions

Make Personal Changes

1. Find a job that pays enough to support you and ideally uses your skills and involves personal interests.

2. Develop your resume and your attractiveness to potential employers by consulting with employment agencies and hiring professionals. Some of these services may be available through your welfare department.

3. Upgrade your educational qualifications. This can be done through a number of means, including completing your GED, attending trade school to learn a specific skill or attending university to complete a bachelor's degree or start graduate school.

4. Start a small business that will provide you with an income. This option appeals to people with an entrepreneurial spirit as well as people who live in economically depressed areas and are unable to find a job working for someone else.

Make Systemic Changes

1. Get involved with political groups and public organizations that are focused on welfare reform.

2. Lobby your state and local government to develop revised welfare regulations that help to provide money to the truly needy while decreasing administrative and bureaucratic expenses.

3. Work to change welfare regulations that discourage welfare recipients from working by penalizing them when they get a job.

References

• Washington Post: Welfare as I Know It; Janet Schrader, Aug. 25, 1996
• The Star; Remove Bricks from Welfare Wall