THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 20, 1995 TAG: 9501200502
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON, N.C. LENGTH: Medium: 100 lines
Two years ago, Teresa Gibbs was out of work and raising her three children on food stamps and $297 a month in welfare benefits.
Today, Gibbs, 27, is working as a machine operator at a local textile mill, dreams of being a nurse and is trying to buy her own home in downtown Washington, where she was born.
Gibbs said the switch from welfare to work hasn't been easy. But now, as she charts her new life, she said she feels like she ``won the lottery.''
``I am proud of myself. Very proud,'' she said in a recent interview at the end of her shift at National Spinning Co., where she makes about $6.60 an hour. She recently completed a job-training program based in Beaufort County that has become a model for those seeking to reform the nation's welfare system.
The program was established in 1993 by the company and the Mid-East Commission, a five-county regional council of governments in northeastern North Carolina, through its local Private Industry Council under the Job Training Partnership Act.
``We were looking for high-skilled, better-paying jobs with benefits . . . and industry wanted to reduce their turnover rate,'' said Karen L. Clary, JTPA director with the Mid-East Commission. ``This program grew out of that need.''
The program tries to move longtime welfare recipients like Gibbs from dependency on government programs into the work force. It helps them complete their education and gives them skills to bring to jobs at local industries.
In the Industry Based Academic Enrichment Training Program, participants attended classes part-time for about four months at the Mid-East Commission office in Washington, where they received classroom instruction in reading and math and other work-related fields. Coupled with this, National Spinning agreed to hire the participants to work 24 to 32 hours, basedupon individual schedules.
Gibbs, who said she never really liked school, dropped out in the 12th grade before she received her high school diploma. She admitted that going to class for the first time in about a decade was difficult at first.
``I had to adjust to it . . . really adjust to it,'' she said. ``At first, just getting up and going to school again was hard.''
But she decided to stick with it, primarily, she said, so her three children could have a better life.
Of the eight participants who have begun the program since 1993, seven have completed it - a success rate of about 87 percent. And like Gibbs, who said she still receives food stamps but no longer receives Aid to Families with Dependent Children benefits, the participants have reduced their demand on government programs.
``No one ever made them realize the value of an education before. We were able to link the classroom with jobs . . . with a pay check . . . and with real life,'' Clary said of those who completed the program. ``I think that's what motivated them.''
The Mid-East Commission plans to expand its operations in Beaufort County to serve a new group of eight people every six to eight weeks. Mid-East also hopes to begin a similar program in Pitt County to serve homeless people and a program for long-term welfare recipients in Martin County working with a local industry.
Based on the success of this program, Beaufort County industries, community organizers, educators and local governments also are working to expand local job-training efforts.
The latest effort - known as One Stop Shopping - will feature a central job-training program linking trainees to jobs in several local industries, a new small business incubation program that emphasizes minority-owned businesses and 24-hour day care services - all at the same location.
``We want to begin to work with those people who want to work but don't have the skills,'' said the Rev. David L. Moore, pastor at the Metropolitan A.M.E. Zion Church and one of the authors of the expanded program. ``This is really a model that we are trying to put together . . . to reach those folks that are really hard to employ.''
``I want to show that there really is a way to get people off of public assistance,'' Moore said.
Most agree that the task will not be easy or cheap.
National Spinning and the Mid-East Commission found that it costs about $4,000 per participant to give the necessary attention and training to move long-term welfare recipients to the work force.
Job program directors like Clary are finding that most AFDC recipients on the rolls for more than two years have not graduated from high school and have an average of eighth-grade reading and math skills.
And many of those on welfare, job directors find, have so little work experience they need help preparing for interviews, opening bank accounts and arriving to work on time.
``Most people come to this program without the social skills . . . most people take for granted,'' said Jeff Tubaugh, product line manager at National Spinning.
To be successful on their new jobs, welfare recipients often need one-on-one attention from a counselor, program directors find. The attention helps with day-to-day problems like transportation to work or day care for children. Without that attention, welfare recipients usually quit their jobs or drop out of programs.
But, over time, the government will save money on its initial investment, advocates say.
``Case management is expensive. You will spend a lot more up front,'' Clary said. ``But you will cut the welfare rolls.'' by CNB