THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 21, 1996 TAG: 9604210094
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TERRI WILLIAMS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 51 lines
Social service administrators at a forum here Saturday discussed ways civic leagues can help people leap from welfare to work.
The Hampton Roads Coalition of Civic Organizations hosted the forum at John Yeates Middle School to talk about the roles communities will play when welfare reforms hit South Hampton Roads.
Starting on April 1, 1998, welfare recipients in Suffolk, Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Virginia Beach, Franklin and Isle of Wight and Southampton counties must find a job within 90 days or they'll be placed in community-service work in exchange for their benefit checks.
Community service work benefits both the recipient and the community, said Martin D. Brown, spokesman for the Virginia Department of Social Services. Volunteer work, said Brown, gives the recipients job training, enabling them to move more easily into full-time work.
``None of us got to be independent on our own,'' Brown said. ``Someone guided us to that path.''
Brown said people who want to help others free themselves from welfare can step up their efforts by volunteering transportation or child care or assisting recipients with job skills. Several localities have already started that work, he said.
For example, in Madison County, citizens organized to get city school buses to take welfare recipients to jobs in the area. In Norfolk, the Junior League has provided clothing closets and food pantries.
But not everyone in the community has welcomed welfare recipients with open arms, said social service administrators.
Many in the local school systems don't want recipients volunteering as school aides, said Christine Bishop, a regional specialist for the Virginia Department of Social Services, Eastern Regional office.
Bishop said many state agencies are beginning to work together to help those on welfare, but it hasn't been easy. ``We've had a hard time getting buy-in in the school systems,'' she said.
But welfare recipients and some civic activists at Saturday's forum said the community could be more proactive.
``I don't see enough mentorships and support,'' said a recipient who did not want her name published. ``I don't see enough support within the black community like other communities.''
KEYWORDS: WELFORM REFORM by CNB