Evie Phelps is an organizer for Lawrence County Deserves Better — a new grassroots organization. Phelps said by forming a community, people don’t have to navigate complicated issues and policy language alone. (Abigail Ruhman/IPB News)
Rural communities are forced to grapple with significant policy changes to social service programs at the state and federal levels. An organization in southern Indiana is bringing people together around a shared mission — that they deserve better.
Everyone had their own reason for being in Friendship Park on Main Street in Mitchell, Indiana.
A mother shared how Indiana’s Applied Behavioral Analysis therapy cuts would affect her and her family. An Army veteran held a poster that explained her presence was something she felt fell under her oath to serve the American people. Someone else carried a sign telling the U.S. representatives and senators for Indiana that they represent all of Indiana, “not just the 1 percent.”
Evie Phelps is an organizer for Lawrence County Deserves Better — a new grassroots organization. Phelps said community members face a complicated mix of problems and changes, like cuts to behavioral therapy at the state level or proposed work reporting requirements at the federal level.
“So much federal legislation is happening at the same time as the state legislation,” Phelps said. “You don't know which house is on fire. They're both on fire at the same time, and you're trying to put water on both of them.”
Rural communities tend to face more challenges with fewer resources — like food and health care deserts. This can make social service programs like Medicaid, Medicare and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, critical to those areas.
Phelps said the proposed cuts in the federal reconciliation bill are really concerning to the people in rural communities, like Mitchell. She said those cuts aren’t the only problem people are trying to navigate or track — but even if it was, Phelps said it can be really overwhelming to try and track the federal reconciliation bill on your own.
“It's 1,000 pages,” Phelps said. “If you have a group of people that are researching in different ways, that can be really beneficial for understanding what's going to happen next.”
By forming a community, Phelps said people don’t have to navigate complicated issues and policy language alone. She also said there are more voices calling attention to smaller issues like state level changes that can get overshadowed by the changes at the federal level.
For Phelps, the complicated mix of issues goes beyond the changes signed into law in Senate Enrolled Act 2, being discussed in the federal reconciliation bill or even required by an executive order from the governor.
READ MORE: Hoosiers call on Indiana's U.S. senators to vote 'no' on cuts to SNAP, Medicaid, Medicare
Join the conversation and sign up for our weekly text group: the Indiana Two-Way. Your comments and questions help us find the answers you need on statewide issues, including our project Civically, Indiana.
Phelps used to be a federal employee.
She said the rhetoric of “fraud, waste and abuse” being used against people who rely on social service programs reminds her of the same language that was used against federal employees as they were laid off or asked to leave.
“It feels like we're reduced to numbers,” Phelps said. “It feels like the most vulnerable populations have now become the scapegoat for way bigger problems. I'm worried about the students I used to teach as a substitute teacher being able to have enough food. I'm worried about Meals on Wheels being able to provide food for next year. It's a disguise of fraud, waste and abuse.”
Phelps said that’s part of why Lawrence County Deserves Better does more than just organizing rallies and protests. It also invests time in tangible things that benefit the community. For example, the group runs food drives and plans to do other projects to address food insecurity. Those efforts will also support the local food bank which has also been affected by policy changes and economic downturns.
“It is one thing to talk about your community,” Phelps said. “It's a very different thing to do something for your community, and that's what we really want to drive home.”
Phelps said the organization is new and the group is still figuring out how to make Lawrence County better. She said the group formed because they had to start somewhere, so they started by building a community by meeting their own neighbors.
“We felt like we needed to do something, and we just couldn't do it by ourselves anymore,” Phelps said.
The organizers ensured people took the time to meet each other and form connections. Even if everyone’s reason for feeling drawn to the group was different, they all shared one similarity: they wanted something better for the community.
Phelps said that comes from speaking out and doing good for the people in their town and county. She also said she thinks everyone in Indiana is craving some transparency, understanding and caring from their elected officials and the government right now. And where that is lacking, Phelps said community members have the ability to connect and build support systems.
Abigail is our health reporter. Contact them at aruhman@wboi.org or on Signal at IPBHealthRuhman.65.
