Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, October 2, 1995 TAG: 9510020069
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BEDFORD LENGTH: Long
Every weekday morning, a van picks up Frances Foxx in front of her Bedford apartment and carries her to a part-time job at a manufacturing company.
A welfare recipient with two children, Foxx got the job through the Bedford County Department of Social Services three months ago. She works for the experience, not pay.
At first, Foxx was happy to get up in the morning, get her daughters off to school and go to work, she said. Working warded off depression and boredom.
Now it irks Foxx that, on payday, other employees get checks while she goes home empty-handed. She is ready to work for pay and live without welfare and the stigma that accompanies it.
Beginning today, 1,000 Aid to Families with Dependent Children recipients who live in a six-locality Central Virginia region that includes Bedford and Bedford County will have 90 days to find a job and start working for their benefits. Under Virginia's new welfare plan, AFDC benefits will be cut off after two years with an optional third year of transitional benefits - child care, medical costs and transportation.
The plan is designed to move people from welfare to self-sufficiency. Most of the plan - no extra benefits to recipients who get pregnant; unmarried mothers under 18 must stay in school and live with a parent; recipients must provide information on the fathers of their children - became effective July 1.
But the plan's work component is being phased in over four years. The city and county of Culpeper and Fauquier, Rappahannock, Orange and Madison counties were first.
The cities of Bedford and Lynchburg and counties of Bedford, Amherst, Appomatox and Campbell are second in line. From June to September, a steering committee of representatives from the six localities met monthly to pull together a welfare-to-work strategy.
"My sense is that people are still committed to making this thing happen," said Ted Simpkins, executive director of the Central Piedmont Private Industry Council and chairman of the committee. "There are still some challenges with regard to how it gets done, technical kinds of issues - an inconsistency of what the state perceives as the process and what the local folks perceive as what they can do. There are still some questions that remain unanswered."
Gov. George Allen's call to religious, nonprofit and charitable organizations to shoulder some welfare responsibilities has not had great response in the six localities, Simpkins said. He is worried about support services for welfare recipients, primarily child care and transportation to and from jobs. For that, localities will need "tremendous" contributions from civic organizations and churches, he said.
"My sense is that although it will require a great deal of involvement by the voluntary sector, I don't know if we're there yet because that sector is already overdemanded," he said. "I don't know if they have the capacity to do more than they're already doing. That's going to be the biggest challenge."
Leighton Langford, director of the Bedford County Department of Social Services, said that although he has discussed the plan with several civic groups and churches, none has committed to anything yet.
Several individuals and facilities have offered day care, Langford said, but there still is concern for day care after 6 p.m. The bulk of good-paying jobs are second-shift jobs, he said.
The availability of jobs doesn't appear to be a problem, Langford said. There is enough part- and full-time work - at temporary agencies and service industries like fast food restaurants - to sustain recipients before their benefits are cut off.
"I hope things will improve enough for people to sustain themselves," Langford said. "It's difficult for a person to make it on $4.65 an hour. They can get AFDC for 24 months. And then the transitional benefits. But what happens after that?''
The plan is to prepare people for available jobs that allow a person to live without welfare, Simpkins said. But employers may not be encouraged to participate simply because the law now requires that welfare recipients work, he said.
"I'm not so sure employers are going to be able, honestly able, to hire people out of civic responsibility," Simpkins said. "They're going to ask 'How can that person help my company?' And that's a fair approach."
Doug Brockman, executive vice president of Sam Moore Furniture Industries in Bedford, said industry has an obligation to help. If jobs aren't provided, recipients obviously can't work, he said.
Sam Moore executives approached Bedford County when they heard about the new welfare plan. The company is hoping to hire 25 to 60 new workers in the next 12 months. Not all will be people working their way off welfare, Brockman said, but he hopes many will be."Obviously, some will be labor jobs but we hope some of [the welfare recipients] will train for skilled jobs. And they'll make very good money after they're trained.
"We want to provide the opportunity for them to earn their money. We want to help any way we can."
The Bedford County Social Services Department isn't expecting a flood of clients today. Langford estimates the department will process about 50 a month over the next six months. Eventually, all will go through an assessment to determine abilities, employment interests, and education and training needs. Then they must find work, with the department's help, within 90 days. Then the two-years-and-off clock starts ticking.
Those affected must be new welfare applicants or current welfare recipients reapplying for benefits. A current recipient who, for example, joined the AFDC rolls in August or was redesignated to receive benefits in August would not have to join the new welfare plan until January.
"Once you get in it, you can't get out," Langford said.
The six localities have been given a combined $1.8 million to pay for day care, job training, transportation, and education and job-placement programs. The localities are eligible for another $50,000 for planning purposes.
Bedford and Bedford County's share is $330,093. That money must be allocated up front, then reimbursed by the state.
Last week, the Bedford County Board of Supervisors appropriated more than $75,000 from the county's contingency fund to cover welfare costs for the next three months. The county's share of total costs is $21,000.
Staff writer Richard Foster provided information for this story.
by CNB