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Welfare
Reform: Cure Worse than Disease
Published Saturday,
September 13, 1997
No columnist in this
paper is going to say that welfare is wonderful. The system has
become a distortion of Americas general willingness to lend a helping
hand to others down on their luck.
But new federal and state welfare reforms put a dagger in the hearts of
1000 of Nevada Countys weakest people. They will be hurt badly,
and we dont have a plan to correct the problem.. Unless we
organize now, this county will be in the business of creating, not eliminating,
desperate poor people with sick babies and no prospects for any decent
future. This will move us one step closer to winning the coveted
We Resemble Somalia award.
Are welfare recipients an undifferentiated mass of illegal immigrants
and black career mothers from the inner city? Only on TV.
Nevada County is not exactly known for its influx of illegals or its diverse
racial mix. Our typical AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependent Children)
and food stamp recipient is likely to be: a) a young white girl whose
crime was to become pregnant; 2) a mother with two pre-teen boys, laid
off by a local high-tech employer; 3) a disabled young man who needs retraining;
or 4) an older man or woman with no resources.
Californias new ABAWD (Able Bodied Adults Without Dependents) work
requirements bring up more questions than answers. The plans
effects are still unclear to Social Service workers, Health Department
workers, educators, and recipients, but they are working hard to find
out.
As I understand the plan, if youre able-bodied, youd better
be working 80 hours a month or be in a job training program to get your
AFDC grant. Sounds OK, if you can find a job or any decent job training.
Of course if youre working, your AFDC will be reduced. Also,
food stamp eligibility will change, and (since its income!) your
grant will be reduced a little more.
Fortunately, there are some exemptions. I think being under 18,
over 50, pregnant, or responsible for a dependent child will exempt you.
So government (under pressure from us voters) has reformed welfare by
just telling recipients, Get a job and leaving the community
holding the bag. This is going to be an impossible situation, damaging
people with potential in order to punish a few abusers. The plan
is excessive, and it will create a local underclass of people with poor
shelter, too little food, health problems, and a propensity toward crime.
The only available solution seems to be jobs. The problem is that
we dont have a lot of jobs, and the recipients arent trained
for them anyway.
As of July, 1997, the California EDD shows we have a fairly flat labor
force (its down .6% from last year) and an unemployment rate of
6.1%. Of course, thats lumping Lake of the Pines (2.4%) with
Grass Valley (8.8%). There are 2,520 unemployed people right now.
That doesnt seem to include AFDC recipients, because an unemployed
person is one who made specific efforts to find a job within the past
four weeks and who was available for work during the survey week.
Sounds to me like well be adding 1000 fresh faces to the unemployment
rolls.
The Unions front page article of September 8th says Nevada County
will receive a whopping $260,000 grant for welfare-to-work job training.
My, my, my. What will we do with that generous 260 bucks a head?
It wont buy a lot of job training.
Who will create quality jobs and provide extra training? Not county
government, because the supervisors are busy freezing and cutting wages
for current employees. Not churches or food banks, because their
job is to pass out food, not train people. Not businesses that thrive
on cheap bodies. Not Tektronix, because it can no longer afford
to care.
The leaders in this crisis could well be the Economic Resource Council
and the Action Team. They are organized and committed to an improved
county. Of course, both groups would need to set their current priorities
aside for the moment.
The workers in this crisis will be committed individuals and small businesses.
The individuals will provide one-on-one training and mentoring.
The businesses will provide good jobs with a future, because they will
care more about people than squeezing another penny of profit.
Barry Schoenborn is a technical writer, and a ten-year resident of
Nevada County. You can write to him at barry@wvswrite.com. The opinions
of columnists are not necessarily those of The Union.
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