County Reweaves Welfare Net to Emphasize Work

For the better part of a year, social engineers have been hard at work reshaping Ventura County’s welfare system, fashioning an approach to reform that seeks to root out poverty and ultimately create a welfare-free county.

It is unlike anything ever attempted in California, architects of the plan say.

At the heart of the effort is a push to funnel nearly all recipients of public aid into the workplace, with the hope that for most a payroll check will eventually replace their welfare checks.

And while there is no limit on how long someone can receive aid, officials hope to shed 20% of the welfare caseload every six months with the aim in seven years of having only a small percentage of county residents on the public dole.

Until then, the plan calls for continued support services--including health care, child care and food stamps--to help welfare recipients complete their trek toward self-sufficiency.

“Too many people want to punish people on welfare,” said Supervisor John Flynn, the chief architect of the reform package called Partnerships to Restore Independence and Dignity through Employment (PRIDE). “That is not our intent. Our intent is to improve the quality of life for people on welfare. But in order to do that, we need to change the way we do things.”

Flynn said he decided to spearhead the effort after seeing the need to improve programs for welfare recipients in his district and after recognizing that federal lawmakers were intent on overhauling the current system of public aid.

“People know there’s going to be change,” Flynn said. “I think they’d rather us mold the change than Newt Gingrich.”

At the moment, the vehicle for change is a bill in the California Legislature written by state Sen. Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley) on behalf of county officials that

would permit the county to mend its social safety net.

The bill would allow the creation of a three-year demonstration project that would put state and county agencies under one roof with the goal of helping participants make the transition from welfare to work. The project would also help recipients leap other hurdles on the way to independence, including the lack of child care and the need for more schooling.

So far, the bill has survived the scrutiny of key Assembly committees but could face tougher tests next month before the full Assembly and the Senate.

The legislation could hit Gov. Pete Wilson’s desk by September, officials say, and if signed into law would give county officials the green light to throttle up their efforts.

But even if the pilot project receives the governor’s blessing, Ventura County’s blueprint for welfare reform is still a long way from reality.

The bill seeks to waive or amend certain state statutes that govern welfare programs, but much of what the county wants to accomplish will also require the permission of the federal government.

And at this time of federal welfare reform, county officials are unsure how the local effort will fair if dramatic changes are handed down nationwide.

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The House last week( approved a sweeping reform package that is likely to win Senate approval and earn the endorsement of President Clinton. That plan includes provisions that would require every head of a family on welfare to obtain work within two years or lose all cash benefits and would limit financial assistance to a lifetime total of five years.

Then there is the nagging question of how to pay for all that the county hopes to achieve. The state bill makes no provision for additional funding, and county officials say they will launch the pilot project without asking for more money.

That has some advocates for the poor worried about how the county intends to stretch its dollars, and who stands to be hurt if the money runs out.

“I have to say that Ventura County’s approach is a much more reasonable and humane approach than many of the other proposals we’ve seen,” said Nancy Berlin, coordinator of the Fair Share network, a statewide association of welfare reform activists.

“But I do worry that every time you add more resources and have less money to pay for them, you are going to have to make some pretty hard decisions about where you spend that money. Our fear is that you will have people who everybody agrees are needy and need help, but who won’t be able to get the help they need because there isn’t enough money.”

In many ways, Ventura County’s proposal is about much more than how people collect their welfare checks.

It is a grand social experiment, one that seeks to get to the root of joblessness and the cycle of poverty that entangles one generation of welfare recipients after another.

It cuts deep into the social fabric of poor communities, setting ambitious goals that include a reduction in the birthrate for women while they are receiving public aid, a reduction in births for unmarried teenagers on aid and increased school attendance for children who come from welfare families.

But officials acknowledge that it is also a response to the rising number of welfare cases and to public demands for reform.

In Ventura County, those cases have risen steadily in recent years. In April, about 30,000 county residents received Aid to Families with Dependent Children and more than 42,000 received food stamps.

Currently, when people apply for public aid they undergo an assessment to determine their eligibility for a federally funded jobs program called Greater Avenues for Independence (GAIN).

During that initial screening, officials say, there is little assessment of an applicant’s long-term needs for getting off welfare. The goal at that point, they say, is to issue a check, not to get them a job.

Those who enter the GAIN program are offered more assistance, including access to job training, education programs and a host of other support services. However, there are more people who qualify for GAIN than there is space available in the program. And the length of time on the program is usually limited to about four weeks.

Under the county’s welfare reform proposal, the goal will be to prepare clients for the workplace.

All welfare recipients will be funneled into One Stop PRIDE Centers, where they will be screened to assess their readiness to work. Those centers will be staffed with workers from the social service agencies, the state Employment Development Department and other groups.

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According to the plan, those who are ready to work will immediately be sent out to a job site cultivated by county job developers. Those people are expected to be on public aid for a few months at the most but will continue to have access to support services.

Welfare recipients who need improved job skills will go into training programs to prepare them to enter the job market. They will continue to receive aid but must demonstrate that they are making progress toward becoming employed.

Those welfare recipients who have deeper problems, such as addictions to drugs or alcohol, will undergo a comprehensive, interagency appraisal designed to get them the help they need.

Finally, those welfare recipients who are unable to hold down jobs will still be expected to earn their aid. The plan calls for them to be assigned to a variety of community service projects.

“The AFDC program is really set up to issue a check every month,” said Helen Reburn, project manager and deputy director of the county’s Public Social Services Agency. “Nobody likes that, but that’s the reality. What we want to do is have a balanced and humane approach that hopefully makes it clear to recipients that the intent (of welfare) is to be a transitional program, not a permanent way of life.”

Many of the proposed changes would benefit the client and those who administer welfare programs.

For example, officials propose using a flat 40% deduction when computing net earned income to determine a client’s AFDC and food stamps benefits. Currently, case workers employ a complicated formula to figure benefit levels.

Also, officials propose only redetermining those benefit levels every six months instead of the current once-a-month drill.

The changes will simplify reporting and budgeting for clients. But they will also allow county resources to be shifted from eligibility processing to helping families toward self-sufficiency.

“If you look at why people are on welfare and stay on welfare, you really do get into a host of social and family issues,” Reburn said. “Under this plan, when somebody comes in . . . our goal is going to be to move them into employment and self-sufficiency as quickly as possible. That’s a dramatically different focus from what occurs now.”

Even now, as Wright’s bill wends its way through the Legislature, the county’s welfare system is being reshaped and reinvented.

In Simi Valley, where the first One Stop PRIDE Center is being set up, social workers are learning how to plug into the state’s job placement network. At the PRIDE Center, county and state employees will work side-by-side, sharing information to better serve clients.

“I really think it can work,” said Kathy Smith, who oversees the GAIN program in Simi Valley.

“I think the general public is now well aware that the welfare system is changing,” Smith added. “Whether by big steps or little steps, it’s changing. We’re taking a look at who we are dealing with and how to best use the money we have available to serve our clients.”

It is no easy task. Welfare recipients are on public aid for a variety of reasons. And even many of those who are job ready are having a tough time cracking the market at a wage that will pay the bills.

Ron Ford is among them. The 43-year-old Simi Valley man was laid off from a good-paying middle management job about 18 months ago. Despite scouring the job market since then, Ford has been unable to find a position that pays the rent and feeds his kids.

“I’m not looking for excuses, I’m looking for real work,” said Ford, who has survived on welfare benefits of about $700 a month for a year. “Nobody should just be handed a check without some type of responsibility to make yourself better. But I have no choice. If you’re not bringing in two grand a month, you can’t live in this city. And you’re not going to make that working at McDonald’s or Jack-In-The-Box.”

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Indeed, the cornerstone of the county’s welfare reform project is the push to put welfare recipients to work.

More than two-thirds of welfare recipients are unemployed, county officials say. And perhaps as many as 3,000 of the estimated 10,000 to 12,000 adults on welfare are ready for immediate job placement.

To cultivate jobs, “account executives” will contact each of the 17,000 businesses in the county.

Those with openings will be encouraged--and in some cases subsidized--to draw from the county’s pool of available workers. The county will also work with expanding companies to train workers to fit specific needs.

Welfare recipients will even be asked to take low-paying, temporary jobs with the expectation that they could lead to permanent employment that will eventually pay enough to get people off government assistance.

County officials acknowledge that the jobs program is largely untested, but they remain confident they will be able to form partnerships with the business community that will bring those jobs about.

“The first thing is to change the focus of gaining employment from a social service program to an economic development or business-related program,” explained Ron Komers, the county’s director of human resources. “The focus from day one will be on getting a job rather than getting a check.”

That change in focus doesn’t sit well with everyone, however.

Even though the plan calls for extended support services to welfare recipients, advocates for children and for the poor worry that without more money some families will suffer.

For example, the plan calls for subsidized child care for parents who find employment, or who are trying to find employment, through the new welfare reduction program. As a result, officials estimate that as many as 20,000 additional children could need child care at a cost of several million dollars.

County officials have proposed several innovative methods for meeting that need, including training qualified welfare recipients to staff child care centers.

But children’s advocates fear that what might end up happening is the shifting of child care dollars from other programs that benefit the working poor to programs that focus on welfare reduction.

“We’re concerned that the working poor, already making strides on their own, will not have access to money to continue to make that process happen for them,” said Kathleen J. Murphy, legislative chair for the California Child Care Resource and Referral Network. The statewide organization opposes the child care provisions of Wright’s Senate bill.

“This is not just an issue in Ventura County, it’s an issue in all welfare reform proposals. There just isn’t enough money for child care in any of them.”

Murphy and others also question the wisdom of putting untrained welfare recipients in the role of child care providers.

“Research shows that people who provide the best quality child care are people who choose to be there voluntarily, who have the skills and who are inclined to do that type of work,” Murphy said. “It is not those people who provide child care for lack of having anything better to do.”

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Those who have labored to lay the foundation for welfare reform in Ventura County recognize that many details remain to be worked out. But they say with federal welfare reform barreling down, the county is better served by having its own plan in place to deal with potential changes.

“We’re saying this is not going to cost you any more than it does today, that we’re going to work within the framework to help put people to work and help them get off welfare,” Wright said. “Maybe we can be the beacon for the federal government.”

In fact, groups that have opposed other welfare reform efforts have embraced Ventura County’s plan, citing it as a positive approach to reducing dependence on public aid.

“There are still some things that are not entirely clear, but it does seem to go in a good direction,” said Casey McKeever, directing attorney for the Sacramento office of the Western Center on Poverty and Law. The group initially opposed the bill but dropped its opposition after provisions of the legislation were modified.

“Our discussions with Ventura County people lead us to believe they are operating with good intentions and that they want to really have a program that betters the lives of families and just doesn’t leave people out in the cold.”

Still, other advocates for the poor fear that the plan makes sweeping promises about services it hopes to deliver but offers no mechanism for accomplishing those goals.

Paige Moser, co-coordinator of the Simi-Conejo chapter of the National Organization for Women, said the welfare system has long failed to deliver adequate services to the poor. And she is not convinced that the county’s plan offers a remedy.

“I think welfare does need to be reformed, I think it needs to be much more supportive of helping women and children,” she said. “But it doesn’t sound like there’s going to be a full commitment to doing the positive things they’re talking about.”

Undaunted, county officials say they have little choice but to move forward with the local effort.

Welfare reform isn’t a possibility, they say, it’s a necessity. And they say their only options are to sit back and do nothing or put together a program that deals with those changes.

“It seems monumental,” Supervisor Flynn said. “It’s about much more than people receiving welfare checks. It’s about what keeps people down at the bottom, and a welfare check keeps people down.”

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Ventura County Welfare Cases

Ventura County officials are revamping the welfare system. As shown, caseloads have risen in all welfare categories since 1989. The figures shown are for the month of April over a seven-year span. Each case might represent multiple recipients.

AFDC

Number of Cases in 1996: 10,332

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Food Stamps

Number of Cases in 1996: 15,179

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General Relief

Number of Cases in 1996: 204

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Medi-Cal

Number of Cases in 1996: 24,221

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Source: Ventura County Public Social Services Administration.