The daily struggle in a hard place
0:58 AM 4/20/04
Andy Hall and Dean Mosiman Wisconsin State Journal

The big man with listless eyes persists, even though he already had gotten a free bag of groceries at the county office on Allied Drive. <

"I've got a headache," Henrickus Echols Sr. tells a receptionist. "A real bad headache." <

Plus, he says, it's too cold in his apartment for his fiancee and four children on this bitter January morning. <

He gets more help this winter day - pills for his head, a phone call to city housing inspectors for his heat. <

For Echols, even a meager handout brightens his day-to-day struggle with poverty. <

Like nearly six in 10 families living in the Allied Drive area, Echols' family relies on public assistance. <

Programs such as food stamps, W-2 welfare payments and job training, medical assistance and the state BadgerCare health plan are used here at roughly three times the Madison rate, giving the neighborhood the highest concentration of needy families in Dane County. <

Despite government help, many here seem late on their bills. Poverty is a depressing common bond among the races, cultures and life stories of this neighborhood. <

There's rarely just one reason for being poor in Allied Drive or the other bad neighborhoods in America. It's lack of education and job skills. It's making bad decisions about relationships or budgets, having babies too early or selling drugs. It's addiction to drugs or alcohol. It's a lack of health care. For some, it's an absence of ambition, vision or hope. <

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Spillover impact <

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The impact of these neighborhoods is felt beyond their borders with big police and fire service bills, declining property values, and misbehavior in schools, says Gary Sandefur, a UW-Madison sociologist and expert on the effects of poverty, race and single parenthood. <

It's critical, Sandefur said, to understand the lives of residents in places like Allied Drive before proposing solutions. <

The problems besetting Echols, 23, and his fiancee, Beverly Williams, 22, are in many ways typical. <

They also offer reason for optimism. Inspired by the example of a relative, they're beginning to pursue independence. But there are setbacks. <

They are high school dropouts who moved from a brutally violent Chicago neighborhood to Allied Drive in September 2002. They have twin boys Henrickus Jr. and Tyrickus, 4; and daughters Tykia, 3; and Malaysia, 9 months. <

In January, Echols and Williams worried about an upcoming eviction hearing. They were two months behind on the $525 rent for their two-bedroom apartment and owed about $200 in late fees. <

Eviction would knock them off the two-year-long waiting list for a federal Section 8 apartment voucher. <

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10 rejections <

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The family's only vehicle, an old van, wouldn't run, a common problem here. <

Echols, fired from his job at a sandwich shop last fall - he says he was wrongly accused of stealing and drinking at work - had been employed as a forklift driver, security guard and drywaller before coming to Madison. <

But by April, he still hadn't found work, getting rejected by 10 restaurants. He is now enrolling in a truck-driving school. <

Williams has no real work history but plans to pursue a general equivalency degree and become a certified nursing assistant, to earn around $12 an hour. She finished training this month - with the help of her fiancee who stayed home for two months caring for the children. She expects to start working soon. <

For now, the family's income: $600 in food stamps and Echols' $583 Social Security disability payment, which he said comes from a temper-control problem. They get free food from the county Joining Forces for Families office and the neighborhood pantry. And a family friend buys clothing for the children. <

It's typical, said Rita Adair, social worker for the neighborhood's Joining Forces for Families office. <

Ryan Estrella, a caseworker at the office, said he is usually working with about 10 homeless people who are hanging on in Allied Drive. "There are people who live house to house," he said. More than a dozen children, friends and relatives may jam into a two-bedroom apartment. <

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A lifeline <

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The office's food pantry is a lifeline, giving away leftover food from vending machines across the county every day. <

Another pantry run by the faith-based Allied Partners is busy, too, more than doubling assistance since 2000 to 113 families served last year. <

"We;re just allowing them to use a bit of their grocery money to purchase other things," said Mike Bodden, who runs the pantry with his wife, Anne, and Connie Weisse. <

The Boddens also see bad choices - enormous television sets, women spending on fingernails instead of food, children waiting for the bus in T-shirts at the start of winter. In some ways, the food pantry enables some who stay jobless and poor, Mike Bodden said. <

A girlfriend, friend or relative and social services can make it possible for some young men to forgo jobs, leaving them to television, video games and hanging out - and vulnerable to alcohol, drugs and gangs. <

"The challenge is motivation," said Nancy DiBenedetto, field supervisor for the state Department of Corrections, who is familiar with 180 people on parole and probation in the neighborhood. "Some people can't find jobs, ever." <

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Was a gang member <

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Yet it's easy to find Allied Drive residents who feel fortunate to be here and want to make their own way. <

Echols and Williams are among many who say hardships pale compared to the dangers of life in bigger cities. <

He says he was a member of the Gangster Disciples in Chicago and was nearly killed three times by a rival gang. And her 19-year-old cousin was slain in their far south side Chicago neighborhood on Christmas Day 2000. Williams told him she was fleeing to Madison with the children and, if he ever wanted to see them again, he must come. <

Like many arriving here, they were put up in a motel room for five nights by the Salvation Army, which operates the county's homeless network. The agency sheltered 2,700 families and turned away just as many last year. It sees many outcasts from improving Madison neighborhoods and newcomers from outside Dane County, mostly from Milwaukee, Chicago and Minneapolis, Maj. Paul Moore said. <

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Allied Drive is "the place of last resort for people," Moore said. "We try to encourage people to find housing in other parts of the city. Ultimately, they decide where to go." <

After leaving the shelter, the Echols family moved into a cousin's apartment in Allied Drive. Soon they found their own place nearby. <

Now, like others, they're trying to escape. <

Since coming to Madison, Echols has kept a clean record. Police in Allied Drive say they've had no problems with him or Williams. <

The couple used their tax refund to forestall eviction and keep their place on the waiting list for a Section 8 voucher. Someday, they plan to rent a place on Madison's North Side - far from Allied Drive. <

They're drawing upon the example of Williams' cousin, Chris Brown, who came to Madison from Chicago five years ago and lives on the North Side with Madison native Barb Dittberner and their 2-year-old son, Jaylen. <

Brown, 26, holds a steady, $12-an-hour job at a carpet warehouse - and is proud that his days as a member of the Conservative Vice Lords gang are over. <

"I've improved myself a lot, too, up here," Echols said. "Same with Beverly. We're doing a whole lot better" <