A Washington, DC mom admits she splurged $10,800 in taxpayer funds on a lavish Miami vacation, clothes, bags, shoes and a $180 haircut.
In 2023 Canethia Miller (pictured left) was accepted into a DC government pilot program to help impoverished women and their children.
Miller, 27, was a single mom struggling to make ends meet for herself and her three sons. The Strong Futures program is one of many across America that offers cash to new or expectant mothers.
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser received $1.5 million in taxpayer-funded grants for the program.
132 mothers in the DC area chose to receive either monthly payments of $900, or a $10,800 lump sum.
Miller opted to take the cash as a $10,800 lump sum, rather than in 12 smaller monthly payments.
She immediately went on a shopping spree and took her three sons on a 5-day trip to Miami, according to the Washington Post.
“I wanted to blow it. I wanted to have fun,” she told The Post. The spending spree included 15 brand new outfits for her sons and a $180 haircut to make her not “look like a working, stressed mom.”
Miller also treated her children’s father to romantic steak dinners on the taxpayers’ dime while in Miami.
They splashed out on new gadgets and toys for her kids, and a boat tour past Miami’s most waterfront mansions.
Within months, the $10,800 was gone. Now Miller is broke and struggling to keep $50 in her bank account, according to DailyMail.com.
Miller justified blowing the money. She wanted to inspire her sons and teach them that, if they work hard, they can afford a Miami mansion.
Miller shared her story as part of a profile into DC’s ‘Strong Families, Strong Futures’ pilot program.
She now believes the program should offer a financial literacy course that teaches the importance of saving and maintaining good credit.
“A lot of communities in my area don’t know the financial gain of credit, saving for your kids; that’s why we’re broke. That’s why we don’t have nothing to pass down or no house to give down,” Miller said.
Erika James, 34, also accepted the $10,800 lump sum. But she took a different approach than Miller.
James put away most of the money and used the rest to pay down debts and bills.
The mom-of-2 told the Washington Post that she deposited most of the cash into a savings account for her 11-year-old daughter, De’Vire.
“If it was in my account, it would just be swipe, swipe, swipe — it’s better to put it in her account,” James said. “I look in my bank statement and see De’Vire and I want to touch it, but I know I can’t.”
James’ only splurge was $600 on her son’s first birthday party.
Most Americans oppose giving reparations to people who are financially illiterate and materialistic.
A recent poll shows two-thirds of Americans are against giving cash payments to the descendants of slaves.
The Pew Research Center found that about three-quarters or more of white adults oppose reparations, and so do a majority of Latinos and Asian Americans.
A large majority of Black Americans support reparations for themselves. But in the Pew survey, most of them said reparations is unlikely to happen in their lifetime.
