Welfare Reform to Test Government, Volunteers : Civic involvement will be critical in meeting needs

Some of our travels around Orange County in recent days have revealed just what will be involved in implementing changes in the welfare system at the local level. The county has a reputation as a land of affluence and plenty, but this perception does not always match reality.

At the Second Harvest Food Bank (formerly the Food Distribution Center) in Orange, for example, officials estimate that each month nearly 400,000 people are at risk of going to bed hungry. A recent visit proved instructive: the facility estimates that nearly 60% of these people are children and seniors, and that many county residents who are served by local charities, pantries and soup kitchens are right on the cusp of poverty, people who may actually be holding down full-time jobs. Clearly, the threat of hunger is not for “somebody else”; some 16% of the county’s population is considered at risk.

As many as 14,000 legal immigrants stand to lose their food stamp benefits at the end of this month as welfare change is implemented. Food banks and charity groups report that they are readying for increased requests for help. These changes are coming just months after the Orange County Social Services Agency cut off food stamps to 1,100 able-bodied adults without children. In line with federal rules, the county has been denying new food stamp benefits to legal immigrants since September 1996.

Recently, the county has been awaiting action in Sacramento. All in all, sweeping welfare rules changes will affect an estimated 100,000 adults and children in Orange County. In fact, nobody really knows how all of this will come out. This calls for care and prudence in implementation to avoid having people fall through the safety net.

Meanwhile, the county advises that its role is changing dramatically. It will find itself monitoring such things as school attendance records and requiring drug tests. It is important that it not be overbearing or punitive.

Organizations like the Share Our Selves food bank in Costa Mesa have expressed concern. Founder Jean Forbath wonders about “an element of Big Brother.” The county understandably also has concern about added workload arising from this monitoring.

The county has been given wide latitude to design its own job training, education and child care programs. This is certain to put additional burden on those doing the implementing.

In many cases, it will test the capacity to make sound judgments. For example, supervisors will decide how many months new mothers on welfare will have before being required to find jobs; the state legislation calls for anything from three months to a year.

The Social Services Agency already has begun designing a plan to move welfare recipients from welfare to work. The county also will have discretion on such matters as whether new welfare recipients will stop receiving benefits anywhere between 18 and 24 months.

New child care and job training will be provided, and a crucial question will be explored--whether the county will form partnerships with nonprofit organizations, church groups and others to provide welfare-to-work services.

This task is compounded by the fact that, in addition to its affluence, the county has a demonstrated need to increase awareness. The county does have a core of dedicated providers and volunteers in many agencies. However, in an area known for its philosophical discomfort with government programs, it will be a real challenge to prove that volunteerism and civic involvement can make up the difference.

In so many ways, Orange County will be tested by welfare reform, as government gives way to something else. That something else is nothing less than how we approach the lives of the less fortunate.