The Rhode Island Interfaith Coalition and the Poverty Institute, both of which advocate for the state’s least fortunate, are asking the general assembly to suspend last year’s welfare reforms due to the economic crisis.

Due to welfare reforms enacted last year that prohibit a beneficiary from receiving state cash assistance (welfare) for more than 24 months in a 60-month period, approximately 3,000 Rhode Island families will be “timed out” of the benefit.

There are approximately 8,000 families currently receiving cash assistance from state taxpayers. An average family of three receives $554 each month in assistance.

The idea behind the reform was those losing income would find employment in order to supplant it. But given the economic crisis in Rhode Island, with unemployment above 11 percent, advocates are saying that asking those on welfare to simply find a job is unrealistic. The unemployment rate was 7.5 percent when the changes were enacted.

Of the 635 families who receive the cash benefit from the Cranston Department of Human Services office (which services Cranston, Scituate and Johnston), 167 will be taken off the program thanks to these changes. There are 559 families who currently receive the cash assistance from the Warwick office (which serves Warwick and West Warwick) and 148 of those will stop receiving the benefit.

That means 26 percent of the families at both offices will stop receiving cash assistance in the middle of what seems like a perfect economic storm.

The state created a program called Rhode Island Works to provide job training and assistance for those receiving welfare.

The Rhode Island Interfaith Coalition – a diverse group of Rhode Island clergy people from faiths including Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Hindu, Muslim and other religious faiths – is asking the state to postpone the date that families will be taken off the cash assistance program.

“The Interfaith Coalition was created to help reduce poverty in our state,” said Rev. Dr. Liliana DaValle of the American Baptist Churches of Rhode Island. “Our top priority this year is to prevent 3,000 families from being plunged deeper into poverty and left without means of support. We are counting on our elected officials to protect these families by postponing for 12 months the time limits that they enacted last year. They couldn’t know how bad things were going to get, but now they have the opportunity to make sure that these families get the cash assistance they need to survive and help finding work in this challenging economy.”

The group, along with the Rhode Island Poverty Institute, held a press conference at the statehouse on Tuesday afternoon to ask the legislature to postpone the end of the month cutoff date.

Linda Katz, who serves as the executive director for the Rhode Island Poverty Institute, said the people who are receiving the assistance would like to find a job, but simply cannot.

“These people don’t want to be on cash assistance. What they want is to be able to get a job, but thanks to these economic conditions, they can’t,” said Katz. “This isn’t a program where you can sit home, be happy and live off the money.”

Katz said she couldn’t understand why the legislature won’t postpone the cutoff date.

“We think that’s the humane thing to do in this time to protect the children,” said Katz. Fr. Bernard Healey, from the Catholic Diocese of Providence, agrees.

“The economy has made it harder and harder for families in Rhode Island to make ends meet. These are some of our state’s most vulnerable families. Now is not the time to cut the slender thread of assistance that may be all that stands between the family and homelessness,” said Father Healey.

According to numbers compiled by the Poverty Institute, approximately 6,700 people are using the homeless shelters across the state – including almost 1,600 children this year. The food pantries have seen a 20 percent increase in request for assistance over the same time period.

“Our economy is in crisis – our families are in crisis. The faith community is on the front line in meeting the day-to-day needs of families and we cannot meet a new demand from 3,000 families. We need a systemic solution, and that is to postpone the cash assistance time limits for 12 months,” said Rabbi Alan Flam, of the Swearer Center for Public Service at Brown University.