good morning. >> hello. i'm pat lawson muse. the federal government shutdow is impacting workers, families, businesses, the entire region's economy. toda we are examening the impact on the dmv and how local ganizations are reaching out to help those who are furloughed. my guests paul who is community director with the waington council of ghost, gloria brown burnett is social services director for prince george's county appromately also joining us today is timothy johnson who is chief strategy and impact officer for the united capital area. hank you for being with us

today. paul, on thursday congressman elijah cummings tweeted in maryland contractors are without pay, unable to stand in their communities. he's concerned about the ripple effect in ourie commun talk about the role that federal workers and contractors pave -- play in the dmv. >> it's a huge impact in the region with a very strong resilient economy, but you can't begin to overstate the impact of the federal government. 400,000contractors, $75 billion in federal contracting for all sorts of goods and services. ju a huge, huge, economic impact to the region. >> the ministration's top economist has warned that the u.s. economy's first quarter growth rate could fl to zero. if this continues, what about theashington area's economy? we traditionally had one of thet strongest i country, one of the most resilient in the

nation. >> we do have one of theost resilient, but this is hard. this is hitting small businesses and individ pls. sople are feeling it more than others. we think 40% of the civilian work force, 145,000 workers are out o jobs. probably a similar proportion with contractors.k when we t about them, it's folks of all income levels. cr's cuttings all sorts of households. >> gloria, we have seen lots of long lines at fd banks. are you seeing an uptick in the numbers of people who are applying for services? >> absolutely. we took a look atur data at the same point last year and we see more than i a 2rease in people coming into our offices trying to seek assistance. as you ow, we're pushing out the 211 aperators who the human services one stop to share with people how they can access services from us and our

partners. >> what are they asking for? what are your staff members telling you, people are sayheg when come in to apply, when they call? the primary need is food. they want to know if they're eligible for our snack program and assistance, rent assistance, mortgage assistance, car insurance, car notes, because th don't want to get those types of things reported on theircredit. so they're interested in transportati, something as basic as transportation assistance and gas cards and thingshat we kind of take for granted, but they're really being impacted by. >> timothy, we know that some local nonprofits are in need food for funds to help with their clients. what about your agencies and nonprofits, what are they seeing and how is it impacting them? >> sure. s we'ring this across the region where the significant uptick and this is just as of a ays ago before the weekend began increases for food,

increases for assistance for utilities and for rent, t mortgagensportation. a lot of these are new faces, not particularly the low income families that -- >> who are already in assistance. >> yes. these are new folks who also hve challenges of learnin to navigate the system. we've been trying to serve as a point of reference. >> have your agencies had to scramble to respond to the influx of calls and all of the inquiries? >> one of the first thine did at the council of governments just last week is we convened a joint meeting with mothy and the fol from the united way to really sort of triage how severe is the i situation, wha being done on the ground, what needs to be done. in fact, we'reg hav a followup conversation this coming week. >> gloria, h much scrambling has your department had to do to respond to the crisis?

to call in extra staff? do you need extra staff to handle the calls to process the applications? >> right. we did have to work overtime projects to proce applications earlier this month in order to meet aat deadline as established to give the february benefits out to our constituents. so i had a lotf staff. even the weekend that we had the snowstorm, i had staff who trujtrucame us and were making phone calls to ourmers and made sure we had everything we needed. to timothy's sepoint, t are people who don't usually access our services and we need them t know it's okay and that they should be accessing. this is the time they should be accessing our services. there's no shame in this. thisfas notheir making. this is what we're here for. >> we are here to talk about the impact on the people who make up our application here in the dmv, the furloughe workers and their families. we'll continue our discussion right after this.

we're talking about theim ct of the government shutdown on the dmv. when i think of downtown washington, i think of what you normally see at lunchtime, for g example, dur the week with federal workers, you know, visiting food truous,sts buying from ndors, people wandering around and going into and out of museums. what's downtown washington like now? >> we certainly hear,nd heard this morning this city has lost a million dollars a day from a lack of patrons in.ming people are obviously trying to meet their basic needs. they're not going to be buying lunch or going out to the movies and what not. far fewer people on thetreets and patronizing a lot of the small businesses around the regie. >> it mayind of hard to underestimate the impact. you've got restaurants that

depend on the happy hour crowds. people go to work. >> dry cleaners. >> i was in the hair dresser's a coupay of ago and he said, you know, when women don't have money, one of the first things they stop doing is coming to see me. >> that's rig hair, nails, yeah. we put those things off. and this is reay happening. i think something we have to recognize is how this is impacting those people. because we're, from what i do, federal programs, t you hav justify and verify and credential that you are in need. these people don't have federal i.d.s. they're not federal contractorsa but they'reolutely being impacted by the people who haven't frequenting businesses. >> timothy, you work with the united way, but you also work with local governments. what kind ofhe response can give? i know the d.c. council and the mayor have looked at ways to pull in mey to help fund the

od stamp program. they're concerned about getting the ability to give people unemoyment benefits if they can prove that they're not getting a paheck. >> sure. well, the great thing about ,working with th we've had an opportunity to hear from all of the local governments and county governments throughout the region, so there's a variety of programs and ideas that are on the tableha municipalities are thinking about from suspending eictions a having the resources be shared. i think havinghem share one another and lead to our nonprofit partners. we're able to get the word out as to what help is available, where can you direct people. >> where do most of the federal workers inur region live? >> about 15% of federal workers live in the district. about 20%, close to 20% in

fairfax count and about 18% in montgomery andor prince 's. really our four largest inrisdictions. >> where do you the most vulnerable? >> we really do find in communities throughout the region, we did an analysis looking at federal workers around the region at sort of the mid to lower income ranges. we found communities in literally every jurisdiction. in fairfax opportunity, oxon hills, camp springs, montgomery county. you can find people in this region and i think everyones knomeone that's been impacted by this. >> timothy, many of the contractors -- well, many of e contractors who were affected come from the latino community. maai areenance workers. they clean offices. they're cooks and foo services workers. they don't get back pay. what happens to them? t >>t's a question. if you work for a larger

contractor, there's at least maybe a question. if you don't, these are dollars that may never come back to your budget. they're hit particularly hard. some are scrambling to figure out how do ee makes meet on the day-to-day basis and what arehe long reaching implications. have physical centers where folks can come in to get help around budgeting, especiallyimt a like this. how do you stretch what may be a nonexistent source of income. how do you mak smart choices and services that will help you stretch your householdudget? what we don't want people doing is making a decision between medication or food and figuring out do i need to maybe pay my liott bill and pay something else critical? we know a lot of jobs have clearanc attached to i and if you start missing your payments, it could affect your ability to have a job. some really tough choices. we're trying to work closely owth the county governments to figure out can we help people stay whole as much as

possible. we really need this to end. >> there is concern about deral work force, some of the most creative inventive, reliable, valuable workers in economy. there's the potential for real brain drain. i know people who areco idering leaving federal employment because they feel their stability has been diourbed. >> ihink that's a very real possibility. there's anecdotal stories saying maybe it's time for a career change. >> we'll take a break and be right back. stay with us.

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y34hby y16fy we're continuing our talk now about the shutdown and the ongoing impact. everybody's hoping this will be over sooner rathe than later. gloria, you mentioned the added influx of callsnd applications. what exactly is social services doing in prince george's county for all of these people, the current clients and those who

are new? >> so in additiono the programs that we operate out of the federal government, the snap and emergencyssistance for families with children, temporary cash assistance, the countyxecutive office has added additional capacity to our ability to do crisis intervention services. by adding the additional w funding,re able to serve more people. that program is actually more flexible than our federal programs and so we're using that as an opportunity to really focus on some of those areas that aren't covered by the federal programs like people need assistance with transportation or wit paying their car insurance so that they're not getting into that difficulty witheir driver's license down the road. >> there's a cash assistance component? >> if cash is what is identified as the immed,te ne then yes. for the most part, we try to work with who the vendors are. >> what about qualifications? does it depend on the person's

income licelte whether or not they get help? >> income is always an consideratnd resources, but we're using -- we're using all of our resourc at our disposal to a try toress issues as they come to us. trying not to paint a one size fits all, but you come to us and say that ulities is y pressing need, we're going to work with you and theli ues companies have been incredible inelng us with turn offs and what not. we'll focus on negotiating that and negotiating with your landlord and making pages where we need to. >> tell us about therg ecy assistance fund. >> back in 2013 when we were de dealing with a similar shutwn, we constituted the emergency assistance fund. we reactivated that fund and funded it with $50,000 and put a challenge out t the corporate

partners and community to help us raise more funds.we are happy we've actually had the community answer that response and we've increasedou e of dollars able to about $187,000at we had g partners step up and match our $50,000 withhe an 50. citizens like your viewers provided an additional $50,000. through those dollars we were able to work with capital area food banks, catholic charities to help provide pop-up markets where we served 3,500 families the last two weekends. served additional families giving them rent assistaute, ity assistance, help with school loans and car payments and keep them in good stead and not fall behind. we have four, one in d.c., one in prince george's, one in fairfax as well as in prince william county to really help people get ahead by not only

figuring out how to help budget for crisis but also serve as a clearing house of other resources in the community. >> paul, you mentioned you'll be analyzing data and you're pulling the various organizations together, governments, nonprofits. tell us how you're targeting the response, how the coordination works. >> first and foremost, we're trying to get a handle on the severity, the magnitude. we'll be bringing folks again this week and probably want to open up some other ehstders, bring in apartment managers, folks that can perhaps weigh in on the housi side, the income accounts. >> if i were to ask you how well the washington area is weathering this shutdown so far, what would you say? >> i think it's probably uneven. i think generally speaking, again, we have a veryie res economy, but i think individuals fic areasng it in spe

and some folks as you've heard are feeling it very, very hard. >> gloria, you have bind the numbers that we've been talking about, the f 800,000eral workers and the extra or contra they're very painful individual stories. stories about people who are impacted in many ways. one of them from prince george's county sean lattimer choosing between paying rent or keem che expenses, stories what do you think when you hear stories like that? >> i would hope saean would kno how to contact us s he's not struggling wit that what dealing with the health issue. i want the community to know is is no time to be shamed, that this is here for them and

this is why we're they've been paying taxes into this system for years and this is what we'reerefor. >> it's important to say that, that they don't need to be ashamed. we saw workers at the world central kitchen saying i don't want to be here. i don't want to be in this line. i' not used to being in this position. i'm generally the one giving help and now iskave to for help and it really is very tough. >> it absolutely it goes far beyond what we see on camera. people are rlly struggling and it's impacting our chdren, cause they're in these homes and they're dealing with the trauma just like everyone else. so there was one instance where the father was concerned he couldn't makert his child sup payments. that's real. because that child support payment is signihecant to household that it's going to. >> can a father come to>> you? we can't make child support payments, but we can certainly negotiate with child support. >> we'll be right back. stay with us.

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welcome back. uouicoeo ws, areur w oaiting to get the calle letter saying it's over and the can come back to work? it's tax time. a lot of folks are considering filing or maybe considering delaying filing. >> absolutely. one, i would tell them don't delay filing. get in as early as possible. also there's ways you can saven money not spend money needlessly. we know there's voluntary tax assistance programs. united way partners with a lot of organizations. if you need your taxes done for free andee you the income criteria. you can save money not paying a paid preparer and get your taxes y fromeople to stay a the lure of the payday advance companies.

unfortunately there's a lot o organizations out there that prey on folks atim like this. >> we can imagine they are getting a lot of business now. >> i would so. we keep talking about the federal workers. it's also the contractors. they're often not compensated. they're the folks that clean offices, run the cafes or childcare centers and day care centers. back to gloria's point, federal workers are in home, the children are not in day care and it leaves the day careorrs in risk. >> we told a story earlier this week and then fred is an epa mail room worker with physical and mental disabilities who lives alone and pays his own rent. he just wants to pay his bills. he loves serving the public and seng his co-workers. stories like that are heartbreaking. >> they are we cannot

minimize the mental impact of this. we urge people to reach out and get the help that they may need. talk tosomebody. because this is real. what you're feeling is real. it's not just you. you're not going through this alone. behavioral health services are available. there e hotlines that are available, 211 that will connect you s c that you talk to somebody and work through this. >> gloriaro burnett, paul timothy, thank you for what you're doing. for a list of resources, go to our website and search resources and see any news 4 your sunday program, search community on our website. that's "news 4 your sunday". i'm pat lawson muse. we'll see you next week.

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developing overnight. police find three people shoo t death in southeast. this morning investigators scrambling to collect evidence and track down the shooter. flames in the night. firefighters he been on scene all night since this fire broke out at a recyclingndenter. post shutdown cleanup. after five weeks of no to little maintenance who chipped in to spruce up mother nature's backyard. we welcome you in o this sunda morning, the 27th of january, 2019. am tuss. good morning to you. i'm david culver. >> and good morning. i'm meagan fitzgerald. you're waking up to a