THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 30, 1994 TAG: 9406300593
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANCIE LATOUR, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940630 LENGTH: NORFOLK
But something about the public hearing Wednesday night by Gov. George F. Allen's Commission On Citizen Empowerment gave hope that there may still be sparks of inspiration left in the welfare debate - sparks that could lead to action.
{REST} Extra chairs lined the walls of a packed Norfolk City Council chamber, and even those were not enough to accommodate the citizens and representatives from grass-roots groups, civic organizations and private corporations who came to speak their pieces on how to change what one advocate called a 40-year-old national fossil.
As Kay Coles James, chairwoman of the commission, said, summarizing the thoughts of one speaker, ``We don't need to reform welfare. We need to blow it up.''
Coles James and a panel of 18 other commissioners made Norfolk their first stop on a five-city tour of town meetings. Their mission: to listen hard to what citizens have to say about why welfare doesn't work, and what can be done to fix it.
``I'm going to start by apologizing, because none of the commissioners will be talking tonight,'' said Coles James, who wanted to focus maximum attention on the community speakers.
Though there was no mistaking the obstacles that have choked the present welfare system to the point of paralysis, there was also no mistaking the amount of ammunition stored away in the ongoing efforts of little-known citizen action groups across Tidewater.
Fatherhood and youth were singled out in the two-hour meeting as the two prime sources of problems.
Speakers came to the podium with harsh realities, from beauty-salon anecdotes of teen mothers planning their next child to try to get more benefits, to statistics that four out of 10 children nationwide go home to a father-absent home.
``The single most important thing we can do as a nation is to reconnect men to the notion of responsible fatherhood,'' said Wade Horn, director of the National Fatherhood Initiative. He suggested father skills-building programs to forge the links of that reconnection. Equally essential to the revamping of welfare will be a more holistic approach to solving the problems of unemployment, child care, health care and food.
One speaker after another stressed the reasons the system has failed to provide cost-effective and compassionate assistance to those who are struggling.
The battle cry to the commission was simple: ``People who come in for welfare have to plan to get off welfare the day they walk in our office. And we must help them do that,'' said George Musgrove, director of Norfolk's Department of Human Services.
One way to achieve that goal, he said, is to make the agent who gives out checks and the agent who helps recipients find jobs the same person. Those who had been on some form of welfare emphasized the disincentives that tend to encourage people, especially young mothers, to stay on welfare rather than find a way to get off it.
``They told me my income was too high for benefits,'' said Charlotte Scott. Her $182 a week unemployment check prevented her from receiving any food stamps or medical insurance from Virginia.
The commission members kept their promise to remain silent and listen, jotting notes and nodding their heads.
``I think the things the commissioners were most surprised about were the number of obstacles to achieving self-sufficiency,'' said Coles James. ``Even a responsible, motivated person has to overcome Herculean heights to get off of welfare.''
Said Musgrove: ``It's an excellent place to start. It's got to be more than rhetoric, because the whole country has gotten to the point where they are demanding change.''
Musgrove was among the dozens of officials and citizens who mingled for up to an hour after the chairwoman banged the gavel.
``Knowing some of the people on this panel, I think there will be some positive change,'' said Mary Puryear-Butler, as one commissioner put his hand on her shoulder and whispered, ``You keep speaking the truth, Mary.'' The Virginia Beach public school educator electrified the crowd with her impromptu account of how she and her five brothers and sisters graduated from college even though her parents had been on welfare.
At the end of the tour, the 40-member commission will review all the information it has collected and integrate it into a plan of action for Allen. The four-pronged plan will include recommendations for executive action to be taken by the governor, legislative action to be presented to the General Assembly, requests for changes at the federal level, and private-sector initiatives.
The tour's next stops will be in Northern Virginia on July 5, Richmond on July 6, Southwest Virginia on July 12 and Roanoke on July 13. For citizens who were unable to attend the meeting, the commission welcomes all suggestions at the toll-free number 1-800-562-4694.
{KEYWORDS} WELFARE REFORM
by CNB