THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, April 19, 1996 TAG: 9604190519
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TERRI WILLIAMS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
What role will neighborhood civic leagues play when welfare reform sweeps through South Hampton Roads and nearby localities later this decade?
Civic league activists will explore possible roles for neighborhood groups and other aspects of welfare reform in a forum at 10 a.m. Saturday. The meeting, sponsored by the Hampton Roads Coalition of Civic Organizations, will be at John Yeates Middle School in Suffolk.
In an era of federal and state cutbacks, civic league members say it's time for neighborhood groups to do some hard thinking about helping welfare recipients make the transition to work. About 40,000 area recipients will be affected.
``You sometimes get caught up in your own world and forget about others,'' said Carolyn Lincoln, a Virginia Beach civic activist helping to organize Saturday's forum. ``You've got a lot of working poor out there. We need to get to know what's happening out there economically.''
On April 1, 1998, Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Virginia Beach, Suffolk and Franklin, and Isle of Wight and Southampton counties, will move to welfare reform, social-service officials say. That means recipients will have 90 days to find a job or they'll be placed in community service work in exchange for their benefit checks. Cash payments will end, but they still would receive medical child care for another year.
Social-service administrators are gearing up, telling those on welfare about job training and jobs. They're also trying to inform the general community.
``We're trying to recruit businesses, telling them we have a ready pool of people,'' said Dorian Green, programs coordinator for the Virginia Department of Social Services.
In a political environment that's moving away from spending money on government programs, civic activists say they need to step up their role, said Lincoln, a steering-committee member of the coalition of civic organizations.
``It's important for civic leagues (to help) because the leagues are made up of the people,'' she said. ``You can't stay on an island all to yourself.''
Civic leagues already possess the know-how about neighbors helping each other, no matter what income level.
In her middle-class Bellamy Woods neighborhood, for example, residents organize car pools, Lincoln noted. The civic league also organized a Halloween party last year so parents would not have to worry about their children trick-or-treating on the street.
The same approach can be devised to help neighbors make the transition off welfare, Lincoln said. Since community-service work will be a component of welfare reform, civic activists can help identify volunteer opportunities within the neighborhoods, she said.
Educators at Paul D. Camp Community College in Suffolk know about welfare issues as well as the precariousness of depending on federal dollars.
The college offers a course called Gender Equity that helps mostly those on public assistance become self-sufficient through career development.
But future funding is uncertain. Today, the college will learn whether it will continue getting about $75,000 in federal monies for the program. Officials are confident, but economic times now are tough, said Joyce M. Hickman, Gender Equity director.
``We're talking about making people independent, but where are all these jobs?'' Hickman said. ``All we're hearing about is layoffs.''
But Lincoln says communities often overlook the obvious. ``We have to go back to people resources,'' she said. ``We have plenty of inner strengths and wealth.'' ILLUSTRATION: THE FORUM
What: Welfare Reform Forum hosted by the Hampton Roads Coalition
of Civic Organizations.
When: Saturday, 10 a.m. to noon.
Where: John Yeates Middle School, 4901 Bennett's Pasture Road,
Suffolk.
For transportation: Call Joshua Paige, president of the Norfolk
Inner City Federation of Civic Leagues, at 461-6157.
KEYWORDS: CIVIC LEAGUES by CNB