Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company The Boston
Globe
October 10, 2002, Thursday ,THIRD
EDITION
SECTION: GLOBE NORTH; Pg. 1
LENGTH: 1058 words
HEADLINE:
GLOBE NORTH 1; WELFARE RULES FAIL ACTIVISTS' REALITY CHECK
BUSH'S LATEST PLAN ADDS WORK HOURS, SHORTENS TRAINING
BYLINE: By Brenda J. Buote, Globe Staff
BODY: As a single mother, Sabrina Webby spent years
struggling to make ends meet, cashing state welfare checks for a chance
to make a better life for herself and her young daughter. By chance, she met an
advocate for the poor at a Malden shelter who became a friend and mentor, and
convinced Webby to go back to school and earn a college degree.
It took nearly six years of struggle, of schlepping her child to study
groups at Bunker Hill Community College and getting by on scant public
assistance, but today Webby is off welfare and working full time, helping
other families end the cycle of poverty.
She owns a two-family home in Everett and commutes to
Boston, where she works as a community organizer for Homes for Families, a
nonprofit organization that strives to end family homelessness. As an activist,
she has been closely following the debate on Capitol Hill over welfare
reform. As a former welfare recipient, she has some sage advice for
federal lawmakers: Get real.
"People think that a job
is an easy answer, that instead of welfare people should just go to
work," said Webby, who is now in her early 30s and has two children. "But there
are so many other issues. Child care. Transportation. Your child's health. Your
own health. For people who have an education, who have things pretty well
together, it's tough. For those who are homeless and trying to work, raise their
children, and look for housing, it is nearly impossible."
Webby attributes her own success to the fact that she was able to
receive welfare benefits while working part-time and attending classes.
As part of this year's reauthorization of a 1996 federal welfare law,
President Bush wants Congress to require welfare recipients put in a
40-hour work week, compared with the 20 hours the Commonwealth now requires.
Under the president's plan, welfare recipients would have just three
months to overcome personal barriers to employment. After that, only 16
hours of job training or education would count toward the full-time work
requirement. The president's goal is to have 70 percent of all welfare
recipients working full time by 2007.
A laudable goal,
perhaps. But is it realistic?
In the suburbs north of
Boston, advocates for the poor argue that many of the state's neediest families
would be unable to meet the proposed demands.
"I feel
this would make already punitive legislation more punitive," said Nancy
Schwoyer, executive director of Wellspring House in Gloucester, a
community-based organization that strives to address the needs of low-income
families. "It's inhuman to expect a head of household who is on welfare
to work 40 hours a week, given the stress that this would place on families.
Already, there aren't enough day-care slots to meet demand, and often times the
jobs that pay enough aren't near public transportation."
Today, only 6 percent of the state's 46,035 adult welfare
recipients hold jobs, and 91 percent are exempt from work requirements. Roughly
30 percent of those who are exempt have a documented disability. Many
others are caring for children under the ageof 6.
State
officials have said it would be impossible for the state to meet the president's
proposal without restructuring state law, spending additional state dollars and
reordering priorities at the Massachusetts Department of Transitional
Assistance, which provides training and services, such as child care, for those
clients most prepared for jobs.
Between February 1995
and January 2002, the state's welfare caseload dropped 55 percent, from
102,993 to 46,035 adults. State officials credit the decline to a strong
economy, an emphasis on job search and training, and time limits that restrict
many welfare recipients in the Commonwealth to 24 months of cash
assistance in a five-year period.
State officials have
said the high percentage of the caseload that is not required to work reflects
the fact that the rolls are down dramatically since 1995, leaving on
welfare the neediest and hardest to employ.
Bush's plan would abolish the federal waivers that allowed nearly 20
states, including Massachusetts, to experiment with welfare changes
before the federal law was enacted. In 1995, the state requested and was granted
a waiver to set up its own rules. Under this year's reauthorization, Bush wants
Congress to rescind those waivers, forcing the state to move funds out of
transportation, education and training programs and into services for
harder-to-place welfare recipients. Federal lawmakers have until Dec. 30
to take action.
"The waiver has allowed Massachusetts
to take into consideration the particular resources and ways in which the
policies can be implemented in a practical way," said Donna Haig Friedman,
director of the Center for Social Policy at the McCormack Institute at
UMass-Boston. "If there's a one-size fits all policy implemented across the
whole country, particularly if it requires 40 hours of work a week, we already
know that will not work - the 20-hour work requirement is difficult for many
families to actually carry through on. It's a complete setup for failure in
which families and children end up paying the price."
Some local activists said that Bush's plan could force some parents to
leave their children in unsafe or unhealthy day care situations in order to meet
the demands of a full-time work schedule, particularly given the fact that many
entry-level jobs require employees to work second or third shift, when child
care is nearly impossible to find.
"Bush's plan is very
troubling," said Beth Hogan, executive director of the North Shore Community
Action Program, an agency that advocates for the poor and helps about 10,000
people each year through job training programs, among other services. "We'd like
to see education and training count toward the work requirement, and a guarantee
that welfare recipients can continue to receive subsidies until they can
move along a career path and earn a living wage."
With
rents up nearly 40 percent in the Greater Boston area since 1995, Hogan noted
that many families are paying as much as $1,200 a month for a modest two-bedroom
apartment. "Even if you're making $9 an hour, you're still going to be
struggling to make ends meet," Hogan said. "Education and training is going to
be the linchpin to moving people out of poverty."