DATE: Monday, July 21, 1997                 TAG: 9707180014

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B6   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: OPINION 

SOURCE: BY DOW CHAMBERLAIN 

                                            LENGTH:   82 lines

STILL NEEDED IN VIRGINIA: MEANINGFUL WELFARE REFORM

How well is welfare reform working in Virginia? Before that question can be answered, we need to consider what the goal of welfare reform is. If the goal is to empower all Virginians to achieve economic independence, there is scant evidence that replacing Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) with Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) has done much to help needy families become self-sufficient.

Welfare reform needs to be placed in context: Virginia is in the top tier of states economically, and rated 13th in per-capita income. Before reform was enacted in 1995, Virginia's welfare expenditures were modest by any measure, and well under control - in fact, about as close to zero as a modern, industrialized economy can reach.

Before 1995:

600,000 Virginians lived in poverty, but only 184,000 received welfare;

Only 2.9 percent of the state's population received AFDC, compared with a national average of 5.8 percent;

Virginia was 48th among the states for per-capita expenditures on AFDC;

Average recipient benefits ranked 40th in the nation;

General Fund expenditures were about $116 million per year.

But Virginia's welfare population, though small, has a high ratio of people with a variety of needs and social problems that make it difficult for them to move from welfare to work. Virginia has no plan in place to care for children who have the misfortune of being born to parents who need long-term assistance, and it is not clear what progress, if any, has been made to support children with long-term needs.

We don't know how many children will live in want without the benefit of cash assistance. We do know that the Clinton administration admits that welfare cuts will place an additional 1 million of our country's children into poverty.

Virginia's welfare rolls have been cut, but unemployment is the lowest it has been since 1990. Welfare rolls are also shrinking in states that have not attempted reform. Because the poorest workers are usually the last hired and first fired, it will be difficult to know how well the changes are working until the first economic downturn.

Moreover, those people who have ``moved from welfare to work'' may not have found employment that will provide any kind of economic independence once their subsidized transportation and child-care benefits expire.

The majority of AFDC recipients who have moved from welfare to work are employed about 30 hours per week in food service, housekeeping, child care or retail sales. They earn less than $6 per hour. These workers will not be eligible for public assistance if they are laid off, and will not have earned enough to qualify for unemployment insurance.

We will never reach absolute zero; the poor will always be with us. This does not mean that present welfare policy cannot be improved. Meaningful reform would include at least four principles: adult education programs that provide the necessary skills to earn a living wage; job readiness programs evaluated and funded on the basis of their success rate in job placement; affordable, quality child care based on a sliding fee scale; and reliable public or private transportation.

Reforms implemented in communities like Culpeper began with communitywide planning and cooperation long before the welfare law was passed. School, church, business and local government leaders met on a regular basis from a concern that transcended reducing the welfare rolls: They sought to create a healthy community which offered opportunity for all families, including welfare families. The county spent $750,000 to develop a child-care center to serve the entire community. Because the total population is of manageable size, a private/public partnership has made remarkable progress.

If meaningful reform is to become political reality, Virginians who care about social justice must learn to stand in solidarity with the poor. Candidates seeking office in 1997 must not be permitted to side-step the needs of children who have been placed at risk by present policy.

By speaking out on the four principles of genuine welfare reform, people of conscience can assure that the next administration and session of the General Assembly will not make an empty boast that welfare rolls have been cut. Rather, we will all take pride that Virginia leads the nation in providing for the welfare of all its children. MEMO: Dow Chamberlain is a United Methodist pastor in Richmond who was

executive director of the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy

from 1993-1997. VICPP is an organization that advocates social justice

and compassion in public policy. KEYWORDS: WELFARE REFORM

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