Karl Breyman, the Green and Working Families Parties' candidate for County Legislature in District 2, today called for Rensselaer County to strengthen the effort to assist welfare participants in becoming self-sufficient by supporting job creation and improved access to transportation and education. Breyman also called for the County Department of Social Services to strengthen its assessment of individuals' barriers to employment.
Breyman noted that in December some Rensselaer County welfare residents will reach their five-year limit on welfare benefits. "The reality of welfare reform has been that those who most needed help in obtaining employment have not received the education and training they needed to become employable. Many of the individuals who remain are on welfare are the ones with multiple barriers to employment that welfare reform should have made a priority to assist. DSS also needs to do a much better job in assessing the employability of each participant and working with them to design a program to overcome those barriers," added Breyman.
Individuals who reach their five-year limit on federal welfare benefits are still entitled to participate in the state Safety Net program due to the state constitutional requirement to help the needy. However, the county share of the cost of the Safety Net program is 50%, doubled the cost of the federal TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) program.
Breyman said that the County had overly relied on make-work programs like workfare rather than utilizing programs like grant diversion and job creation. Academic studies over the years have shown that workfare has a terrible record in improving the employability or long-term earnings of participants; New York relies on workfare far more than other states to meet the federal work participation requirements for TANF.
"Studies show that the programs that are the most effective in moving people into unsubsidized employment are the ones that are most like a real job, combined with access to education and training. Even when nonprofits have come to DSS with individual clients that they want to work with in a grant diversion program, DSS has resisted. The County Legislature should establish programs to provide hard to place welfare participants with transitional jobs that provide them with the experience and skills they need to become employable," added Breyman.
In grant diversion, an individual's welfare check is given to an employer to pay for part or all of an individual's salary. Unlike workfare, grant diversion treats the individual as a real employee, making them eligible for unemployment, Earned Income Tax Credit and giving them the status and responsibilities of a regular employee. Under welfare reform, the County also has the discretion to use welfare funds for job creation.
Breyman said the county should also do a better job improving the education levels of welfare participants, from GED and ESL (English as Second Language) programs to college education. Counties have the option of allowing welfare participants to attend college for up to two years to satisfy their work requirements. A recent national study by the Children's Defense Fund found that the only group of welfare participants who found employment with wages above the poverty level are those with a college education.
"Welfare reform has decreased the number of welfare participants, but it has done little to reduce overall poverty or poverty among children. At the same time, the number of individuals forced to use food pantries has skyrocketed. The success of welfare reform should be based on helping participants become economically self-sufficient, not just on pushing them out the door" added Breyman. Studies have shown that most individuals who have left welfare still have an income below the poverty level. Breyman said the County should conduct a study of the economic status of welfare participants who have left the program in recent years.
Breyman also supported increased county efforts in support of child care and transportation, two of the major barriers facing low-income individuals who want to work. The Green Party believes that all children should be entitled to quality affordable child care, as well as to pre-K and after school programs. Transportation is a major problem in Rensselaer County, especially in rural areas where mass transit is limited to nonexistent. Breyman said the county, in addition to strengthening mass transit, should implement a Wheels to Work program that trains welfare participants as car mechanics while also fixing up donated cars to give to participants who need one for employment. Breyman also called upon the county to strengthen its efforts to provide transitional benefits such as food stamps and child care to individuals leaving welfare for employment.
The Greens are committed to ecology, grassroots democracy, nonviolence and social and economic justice.
