Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 1, 1994 TAG: 9406010069
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By ROBERT FREIS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
"There's not some kind of radical, right-wing, let's-get-the-poor kind of agenda. The idea is to redirect and refocus the energies of people on welfare. Get them out of the system and make people self-sufficient," he said.
Scott, rector of St. Peter's Anglican Church in Christiansburg, is one of 38 members of the commission and the New River Valley's lone representative.
Currently chairman of Montgomery County's social services board, Scott has long been involved in charitable projects.
Montgomery County Emergency Action, a project he founded nearly 20 years ago, uses private donations and public revenue to provide temporary relief for low-income families who need housing, clothing, food or other basics.
Personal experience with that program's clients has convinced Scott that the welfare system, as presently structured, is "a new form of slavery."
"We need to give people back their lives. I'm very committed to individual responsibility and individual freedom. But we need to give people the tools to accomplish that."
The commission's assignment from the governor is to come up with a plan that requires able-bodied welfare recipients to work for benefits, provides day care to single parents and includes incentives for getting full-time employment.
There's been some controversy about the commission, which is seen by some as a means to promote the governor's conservative Republican political agenda at the expense of low-income Virginians.
One Blacksburg welfare recipient, who asked that she not be identified, said the reform commission's goals have a familiar tone. "It doesn't sound like anything new to me," she said. As long as any wages earned by welfare recipients are subtracted from "meager" benefits, "You're in a rut."
Locally, concerns among social workers over Allen's dramatic shift in the state's welfare philosophy were eased by Scott's appointment, said Stephonia Munson, Montgomery County's human services director.
"I feel really heartened. Father Scott has such a rich history of helping people," she said.
"I'm not active in politics. I'm not on board because of party involvement," Scott said. "My interest is in people. I've always viewed this kind of work as an extension of my priesthood."
However, Scott finds himself in agreement with the commission's mission, which he sees as an attempt to reform the system.
"Nationally there's a sense that something's got to change," that the current system isn't working, he said. "If we don't do something, it will get nothing but worse."
Scott calls the "Great Society" social programs of the 1960s "a dismal failure."
Temporary solutions to alleviate poverty became entrenched, as did a cycle of dependency that eroded values of family, community and individual achievement, he said.
Instead, partnerships should be forged among government agencies, non-profit groups and private industry to provide vocational training and jobs.
Scott said working with low-income residents in the New River Valley has shown him that most welfare recipients want to escape the system.
It's also clear, he said, that being on welfare is not an easy life. "I don't know of any Cadillac welfare recipients."
Many stuck on welfare could progress if they had better access to transportation, child care and job training, he said.
Scott says some fellow members of the commission probably have fiscal issues at the top of their welfare reform agendas. No one has predicted how much it will cost to revise the system.
"For me, it's so far away from a dollars issue. It's a human interest issue. It's to help people restore their lives. That's why I'm on board."
by CNB