A mother in Washington, DC, spent thousands of dollars on a lavish vacation after receiving money from a taxpayer-funded program to help low-income people.
The D.C. government’s pilot program was issued in 2022 to offer more than 100 low-income mothers $10,800 to assess how cash payments with no strings attached could help a family in the future, the Washington Post reported February 1.
Canethia Miller was a stay-at-home mom when her third child, Nazir, was born in the summer of 2022, making things work financially through a host of public benefits.
After setting aside some of the money from the pilot program for expenses, she took her family on a $6,000… pic.twitter.com/3bmUz0JBXQ
— Post Local (@postlocal) February 1, 2024
A nonprofit group called Martha’s Table facilitated the program, and its website said that Strong Families, Strong Futures DC was a direct cash assistance program to help moms in the D.C. area.
“Supported by the D.C. Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, we will invest directly in families during the pivotal first year of their child’s life,” the site read.
One mother of three, 27-year-old Canethia Miller, decided to take her payments in a lump sum of $10,800, the Post article said:
She was a stay-at-home mom when her third child, Nazir, was born in summer 2022, making things work financially through a host of public benefits. Her two-bedroom apartment in Anacostia is subsidized, and with Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) as her only income, her rent payments are about $120 a month. Food stamps and WIC, a program that offers nutritional support for low-income mothers, offered another lifeline for Miller to provide for her infant and two older children, ages 5 and 8.
In 2022, Breitbart News reported that food stamp benefits increased by 12.5 percent as families struggled to afford groceries with prices that skyrocketed in President Joe Biden’s economy.
The Post article noted Miller took a break from working on her bachelor’s degree in social work to help her family and later heard about the program.
Miller saved some of the money for essentials but said, “The other side is, I wanted to blow it. I wanted to have fun,” adding she wanted her children to experience something she would not have been able to provide without the money.
Her family — including her children and their father — took a five-day, $6,000 vacation to Miami. In preparation for the trip, she spent some of the funds on clothes for the children and a makeover for herself that cost $180.
Miller believes the trip will encourage her children to work hard in school so they can achieve more in life. The outlet continued:
She also wants to set a good example: Miller says she was never taught about financial literacy in school or by her parents. But the infusion of cash, and financial literacy courses offered through the program, has helped her with some firsts. She opened up a savings account, aiming to keep at least $50 in it. She used the remaining $4,000 or so from the pilot in a matter of months, mostly on bills and a used car.
Researchers said recently that in 2022, a record half of people in the United States renting a place to live used a significant chunk of their income for rent and utilities, the news coming as citizens struggle financially in Biden’s America.