Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, October 3, 1995 TAG: 9510030098
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LYNCHBURG LENGTH: Medium
Allen was in Lynchburg for the formal debut of the state's new welfare plan in a region that includes Bedford, Lynchburg, and the counties of Bedford, Campbell, Appomattox and Amherst. The region is the second in the state to phase in a plan that cuts off Aid to Families with Dependent Children benefits after two years.
Beginning this week, about 1,000 of 2,300 AFDC recipients in the six localities will have 90 days to start working for their benefits. That had some employers who attended a round-table meeting with Allen and his advisory Commission on Welfare Reform concerned about what kind of applicant they could expect.
Would they have a high school diploma or its equivalent?
They should, Allen said.
In addition, education is a key component of the welfare plan, he told them.
The welfare plan requires all children ages 5 to 18 to attend school to be eligible for AFDC, Allen said. And all mothers and fathers under 18 also must attend school to be eligible for benefits.
"Education, getting that basic education, that high school degree, means a great deal" in the welfare plan, Allen said.
But he took his comments further by calling for "educational reform."
"A high school degree ought to mean a whole lot more than it does right now," he said. "But I'm not going to get into the insufficiencies and failures of our current school system, which in itself needs to be improved. We need to improve academic standards to have that degree actually mean something."
State Secretary of Health and Human Resources Kay Coles James, who accompanied Allen, echoed his call.
"Welfare reform means nothing if we're graduating kids from high school who cannot read their diplomas once they get them," she said. Businesses "really need to push for accountability in our education, where people strive for high educational standards."
Employers also urged that education include training in job-hunting.
"They can't come out of AFDC and think that if they put one application in at one company, they'll get the job," said Stan Robbins, personnel director for Mrs. Giles Country Kitchens Inc. in Lynchburg.
"They have to understand that they're in competition with the rest of the people out in the work force. I see a lot of frustration in people who are new to the work force.
"They don't understand why they don't get to see the personnel director the first time they come to our company. They don't understand why they don't get an interview, that I have 50 other applicants."
Recipients required to work will have 90 days to find either:
A job in the private sector that would enable them to leave the welfare rolls immediately.
A job where the state reimburses the employer for part of the wages the recipient earns. The reimbursement is equal to the combined value of AFDC and food stamps the recipient otherwise would be getting.
A community work experience job, where recipients work in a nonpaying comunity service job in exchange for welfare benefits.
by CNB