United Way Seeks to Ease Impact of Welfare Reform

Even as welfare reform is being credited with driving down the number of California residents on the dole, the United Way of Greater Los Angeles is trying to stave off what it sees as the program’s darker side: more suffering.

In a report released Thursday, the charitable organization is renewing its push to raise $59 million--and promises, in return, to take specific action in the areas of health care, children’s programs and hunger.

“If welfare reform isn’t done with some assistance from the nonprofit charities, it’s going to be very difficult for it to be successful,” local United Way President Joe Haggerty said as the organization released its “Impact: L.A.” report. “We would like to play a positive role in terms of helping to make welfare reform happen.”

United Way announced its six-month fund-raising campaign--with a goal smaller than those during the flush 1980s--last month. On Thursday, the group described what it views as the most pressing of Los Angeles County’s problems and its proposals for addressing them.

“Not only will we measure success by how much money we raise, we are now quantifying our results through direct impact on people and services provided to meet needs,” Haggerty wrote in Thursday’s report.

To that end, the group is hoping to provide for poor L.A. County residents:

* 600,000 doctor visits

* 1 million meals

* Child care slots for 60,000 youths

* Activities and programs for 400,000 children

United Way is hoping to achieve these goals by expanding its support to charities already working on each of these problems.

For example, United Way plans to work with home health care agencies to provide residential care that is cheaper than hospital visits.

State officials said Wednesday that the combination of a robust economy and new time limits for receiving public assistance has caused the number of welfare recipients to fall by almost 140,000 people in a three-month period.

In Los Angeles County, welfare rolls have dropped 36,000, the lowest caseload in five years.

The United Way report, however, warns of a greater need for some of its services as further restrictions on welfare go into effect in January and the county’s unemployment rate remains greater than that of the state and the rest of the country.

“As we transition many people off welfare, the only way they’re going to move into productive jobs is with child care and health care and training,” Haggerty said. “And that’s going to have to be provided by nonprofit charities.”