Training Debuts for the Jobless on Relief

For some Orange County aid recipients who have not found jobs, the next phase of welfare reform is going to force them into the kitchen for lessons in rolling sushi, barbecuing turkey and wood-grilling pizza.

State law requires jobless welfare recipients to begin mandatory public-service work in March. County officials have set up a variety of job-training programs for these people, ranging from working in computer labs to test kitchens.

Recipients selected for food-service training will learn to bake bread and cut meat in classes with names like “Pasta Pasta Pasta” and “Chilling and Grilling.”

County welfare officials hope the classes will help these recipients finally land and retain jobs by giving them needed skills--even if that involves learning how to prepare seaweed and raw tuna.

The county’s approach is different from some that at other jurisdictions, where officials plan to place recipients into traditional public-service work, such as picking up trash alongside highways.

“We are coming up with an alternative to the more punitive type of community service,” said Angelo Doti, the county’s welfare coordinator. “We are talking about moms and dads who are raising families but continue to fail.”

The training isn’t coming a moment too soon for Bernice Diaz, a 32-year-old Santa Ana mother of two who has worked only intermittently since the welfare-to-work requirements kicked in.

“I hope that it’ll help me find a job,” Diaz said. “It’s very tough to get started if you haven’t been working.”

Diaz worries that she does not have enough skills to make it through the training. “It’s embarrassing to say this, but I guess I just wonder if I can do it,” she said. “I do think that if it were laid out in a kitchen, let’s say, it could be helpful.”

Over the last six years, the county reduced its welfare rolls from 45,000 to 13,000. But there remain 2,000 people such as Diaz who have not found steady work. The other 11,000 people are unable to work, receive other training or have found work and still get benefits.

The “hard cases” like Diaz will pick one of seven occupation areas in which there is strong demand for workers, Doti said. The areas are: hotel and entertainment industry workers, such as waiters and maintenance staff; data-entry workers; assistant cooks; nursing assistants; child-care providers; other domestic-care workers; and clerical workers.

Beth Chiaro, coordinator of student support for the North Orange County Regional Occupational Program, said the training will be decidedly hands-on.

Aspiring nursing assistants learn to take blood pressures and to lift patients in faux hospital rooms. The trainees serve as apprentices in real hospitals and nursing homes.

Data-entry workers could practice in nonprofit organizations.

As the recipients attend classes, social workers will help them with glitches in child care, health problems and being on a schedule.

“It’s very hard for them. They have a lot of distractions,” Chiaro said.

Under Orange County’s program, a single mother with two children would get her usual welfare benefit: $660 a month plus $250 in food stamps, and child-care and transportation reimbursement.

The mother would be required to receive a two-day assessment at a Rancho Santiago Community College District facility to determine whether learning disabilities, anger management or psychological issues may have hindered employment. The recipient will then be assigned to work with a team, including a case manager, behavioral counselor, health-care practitioner and employment trainer. These specialists will help the clients choose a training area.

Doti said he believes the program will give recipients direction.

“We know a lot of them get stuck,” Doti said. “They do not have hard skills on the job. What we need is this training so that people can advance.”