Salem Reporter’s most widely read story last week started with a frustrated mom in Keizer reaching out.
Elizabeth Sherwood messaged our newsroom’s Facebook page, explaining she’d gotten a letter from the Oregon Department of Human Services telling her to expect a payment on her state benefits card. The money was to be used to buy clothing – something she said her teenage daughter badly needed.
But when no money came, Sherwood called her local welfare office. She learned the letter was a mistake – and the agency hadn’t contacted her to let her know. That meant disappointing her teenage daughter, whose worn shoes she hoped to replace.
Sherwood’s story prompted me to reach out to the state agency with questions. Officials acknowledged that the agency had mistakenly told 20,000 families around the state to expect a payment, and had not notified any of them weeks later.
When I interviewed Sherwood, her biggest frustration was feeling unheard. She was upset about the error, but more upset because the state hadn’t taken time to let struggling parents like her know. She’d tried to contact her case worker, but was told she couldn’t because a computer system was down, and her family coach had moved onto a new job with nobody telling her.
The story I wrote about the error prompted three other Oregonians to call or email me. All said they, too, had received the mistaken letter from DHS and had been wondering what was going on, waiting without information from the state. They were grateful for Salem Reporter’s work explaining the error and frustrated nobody thought it was worth letting them know what had happened.
The day after the story ran, Julia Shumway, a reporter with Oregon Capital Chronicle, asked Gov. Tina Kotek about the issue. Kotek told her, “I think anytime you set expectations that people are getting help, and then something has been misreported to them, that is bad customer service.”
For me, this story was a reminder of something journalists, myself included, don’t do often enough. We write about government programs regularly, but often present high-level information about new developments or funding, quoting only bureaucrats with state agencies. We rarely speak to the people these programs are intended to serve, and when we do, we don’t go back to state officials with the questions the clients have.
A lot of Oregonians depend on state help. Oregon Health Plan, the state’s Medicaid program, insures 1.5 million Oregonians – more than any other insurance program in the state by far. About one in six Oregonians receive SNAP benefits, often called food stamps.
Reporters can’t investigate every instance of a state program not doing what was advertised, or individual frustrations with a system. But Oregonians like Elizabeth are often the first to know of large state errors affecting thousands of people – and I suspect they often don’t contact reporters because they expect we won’t listen.
If you’re in the Salem area and a government program isn’t doing what it’s supposed to, please let us know. If there’s a mistake affecting your business, your family or your livelihood, we want to hear about it. You can reach our team at [email protected], or contact any of our reporters using the information on our website.
Our newsroom is here to serve ordinary people and hold those in power accountable for the decisions – and the errors – they make. We need your help to do it.
Contact reporter Rachel Alexander: [email protected] or 503-575-1241.
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Rachel Alexander is Salem Reporter’s managing editor. She joined Salem Reporter when it was founded in 2018 and covers city news, education, nonprofits and a little bit of everything else. She’s been a journalist in Oregon and Washington for a decade. Outside of work, she’s a skater and board member with Salem’s Cherry City Roller Derby and can often be found with her nose buried in a book.
