Governor Sees Workfare at Work, Lauds Results

Gov. George Deukmejian toured an experimental workfare program here Thursday, praised its success in putting welfare recipients to work and said he will renew his effort to expand workfare statewide.

“I think the climate is improving in the Legislature in terms of adopting this type of a workfare program,” the governor said. “Showing them the results of this program is the best and most effective way of accomplishing that.”

Deukmejian talked with a dozen welfare recipients required to participate in the San Diego County program. For the most part, they told the governor that the program is helpful but what they really want is full-time employment.

‘I Still Need a Job’

“I like the program. It works,” said Sandra Langley, a 33-year-old mother of two assigned to work as a cook at a child-care center. “I’m getting all the experience I can back there in the kitchen. But I still need a job.”

For nearly two years, the Republican governor has called without success for the statewide implementation of workfare. He initially proposed that 200,000 welfare recipients in California, including mothers with children age 3 and over, perform community service jobs in order to receive their benefit checks.

However, Democrats, who control the Legislature, blocked his plan because they oppose the idea of mandatory work.

The San Diego workfare experiment, authorized under former Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr., is the only such program in the state for recipients of Aid to Families With Dependent Children. The county requires welfare parents to attend job search workshops, to look for work and then, if they are still unemployed, to perform community service work for three months. Those who refuse to participate lose their welfare benefits.

Earlier this week, the New York-based Manpower Demonstration Research Corp. released a study indicating that the San Diego pilot program is cost effective and beneficial to those who participate. The governor cited the study as an argument for enlarging workfare.

During his San Diego tour, Deukmejian also visited a job search workshop and the Gingerbread Day Care Center, where Langley and two others are assigned to work. He chatted easily with the welfare recipients about the program and their chances of finding work.

“Our purpose is to create a good climate in the state so people who do invest money and create these jobs will want to do it here,” he said.

Of 11 people taking part in the workshop, eight told the governor that they believe the program should be mandatory. As he left, he signed autographs for most of the participants.