Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, August 3, 1995 TAG: 9508030038
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LYNCHBURG LENGTH: Medium
But a steering committee charged with making it possible is worried that recipients won't be qualified to take the jobs that are available.
"I believe there are jobs, but whether or not we're going to get these people to qualify for them is what we're trying to struggle with," Ted Simpkins, executive director of the Central Piedmont Industry Council, said Wednesday. The council is one of several organizations working to pull together the welfare-to-work plan for Bedford, Lynchburg and the counties of Bedford, Campbell, Appomattox and Amherst.
"Together with that is: Do we have enough resources to do that? I don't know if we do or not."
Simpkins said the industry council spends an average of $5,000 to prepare a person for a job.
The steering committee, he said, will have $800 to $1,000 per person.
The possible result? "I don't think these people are going to be prepared for these high-tech jobs that are available," Simpkins said.
On Oct. 1, the six-locality region is scheduled to begin requiring recipients of Aid to Families with Dependent Children to work within 90 days in exchange for benefits. Benefits will be cut off after two years.
The region has an average monthly AFDC caseload of 2,285. A little more than half of those recipients will be exempt from the work requirement because they are physically or mentally handicapped, caring for a child younger than 18 months old or living in an extremely rural area.
About 1,000 will be required to work.
The six localities have been given a combined $1.8 million to pay for job training, education and job-placement programs, and day-care costs for recipients who are required to work. Bedford and Bedford County will receive $330,093.
That money must be allocated up front by localities, then reimbursed by the state. Leighton Langford, director of the Bedford County Department of Social Services, said he doesn't know where the county Board of Supervisors will find that kind of money.
Providing the $330,093 up front would likely exhaust the board's contingency fund, he said. The board had to provide $85,000 to $90,000 in the last budget year for similar services because the Social Services Department was working with a much smaller number of people, Langford said.
"In October, we've got to work with everybody," he said.
The steering committee, comprised of representatives from social service departments, colleges, corporations and economic development entities, met Wednesday at Central Virginia Community College in Lynchburg to review proposals on structure and delivering services to recipients.
They adopted a regional structure, which includes a 10-member board and three committees that will handle employment, resources, and technical aspects of the welfare plan. The state's 11th Planning District Commission will be the board's administrative entity.
The steering committee also agreed on a plan for addressing a range of recipients' needs - career counseling, self-esteem building, job-readiness training and job development and placement.
The committee will meet again on Sept. 6.
by CNB