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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 America’s 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 County’s weakest people.  They will be hurt badly, and we don’t 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.
 
California’s new ABAWD (Able Bodied Adults Without Dependents) work requirements bring up more questions than answers.  The plan’s 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 you’re able-bodied, you’d 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 you’re working, your AFDC will be reduced.  Also, food stamp eligibility will change, and (since it’s 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 don’t have a lot of jobs, and the recipients aren’t trained for them anyway.
 
As of July, 1997, the California EDD shows we have a fairly flat labor force (it’s down .6% from last year) and an unemployment rate of 6.1%.  Of course, that’s lumping Lake of the Pines (2.4%) with Grass Valley (8.8%).  There are 2,520 unemployed people right now.
 
That doesn’t 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 we’ll be adding 1000 fresh faces to the unemployment rolls.
 
The Union’s 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 won’t 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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