Training for Welfare Moms
We are pleased that The Times reported on an important new study on training welfare mothers for work (Part A, Sept. 20).
Unfortunately, the headline, “Basic Education Found to Be Job Path for Poor,” is misleading. In fact, the study showed that only when basic education was integrated into specific job skill training was the program truly successful.
Considering that the states must begin to implement new programs to shift welfare mothers to self-sufficiency under the Family Support Act, the article was right on target when it said that one of the purposes of the study is to “prompt state officials to consider alternatives to the traditional school-first work-training programs.”
This is wonderful opportunity to try on a much broader scale the model for training welfare mothers for work we find so promising.
PHOEBE COTTINGHAM
Project Director
Minority Female Single Parent Demonstration
Rockefeller Foundation
New York
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