States strengthen work and training programs - for food stamp recipients in South Carolina

States Strengthen Work And Training Programs

Early Efforts in South Carolina Offer Valuable Framework

Efforts to link public assistance benefits with work have gained acceptance steadily in recent years. State, county, and local governments have been experimenting with ways to reduce individuals' long-term dependence on public assistance, and the success of those experiments has led to increased public and Congressional support for work and training programs.

In the Food Stamp Program, work requirements for recipients are not new. Since 1971, there has been a requirement that able-bodied adults register for work with their food stamp office.

In 1977 legislation, Congress gave states the option of requiring food stamp work registrants to search for jobs, and then in 1981, authorized any political subdivision in any state to operate a workfare program. As of 1986, 40 states had implemented the job search requirement, and 21 jurisdictions were operating food stamp workfare programs.

This spring new regulations, which expand and improve food stamp work efforts, went into effect. States must now operate an employment and training program to help food stamp work registrants prepare for and obtain work.

Approximately 10 percent of all food stamp recipients fit the criteria for these employment and training rules. In general, food stamp work registrants who are between the ages of 18 and 60 and who are physically and mentally able will be required to comply with the new rules.

Sixteen- and 17-year-olds must also comply if they are heads of households and do not attend school or are not enrolled in an employment training program at least half-time.

However, the rules allow a number of exemptions within these general criteria. For example, people who care for young children or incapacitated adults are exempted. Additionally, states are given latitude to exempt other individuals or categories of individuals for whom they deem participation in an employment and training program impractical.

Of the 19 million people currently participating in the Food Stamp Program nationwide, about 1.9 million are affected by the employment and training rules.

Because states are allowed flexibility in designing their programs, employment and training programs vary from state to state. Yet every state's program includes at least one or more work training, work experience, or job search activities, which are defined as "components'.

As states gain more experience and discover which components are most successful in promoting food stamp recipients' employability, their employment and training programs can change and improve. Components may be added, revised, or dropped to fit the needs of the state's recipient population and labor market.

Before the food stamp employment and training rules became effective in April this year, the South Carolina Department of Social Services had already gained extensive experience in operating various work and training programs associated with both the food stamp and AFDC programs. Within the Department, there has been a longstanding commitment to finding ways of breading the cycle of poverty and dependency.

The needs of the people the Department serves are great. In South Carolina, 10.8 percent of the population receives food stamps, and 3.7 percent receives AFDC benefits. The state has one of the highest illiteracy rates in the country, with 25 percent of its citizens functionally illiterate, and it has the nation's highest teenage pregnancy rate.

State officials estimate that 80 percent of public aid recipients could benefit from services designed to help them become economically self-sufficient. For that reason, South Carolina has often been in the forefront of testing new approaches to help recipients achieve economic independence.

Workfare is one approach used

When Congress authorized demonstration projects to test workfare in the Food Stamp Program, two South Carolina counties were among the first to sign up for the project. One was an urban county, Greenville, which began operating its food stamp workfare program in 1981. The county government of Greenville has continued to sponsor workfare ever since the demonstration phase ended.

Under workfare, eligible food stamp work registrants are required to work at jobs with public or private nonprofit agencies to earn part or all of their household's monthly food stamp allotment. If a workfare participant fails to comply with workfare requirements, the participant's household is ineligible to receive food stamps for 2 months or until a member of the household satisfies all outstanding workfare obligations.

"In Greenville, we wanted to place food stamp recipients in a work atmosphere so they could get back on track with employment,' says Sharon Smith, county workfare director. "We decided to test workfare to see if the benefits outweighed the administrative costs. So far they have.'

According to Smith, the county's average monthly savings from workfare range from $28,000 to $35,000. These savings are computed based on the value of the job services performed by participants and the amount of food stamp benefits not issued due to participants finding jobs or being sanctioned.

"Our county, as a whole, has been very receptive to workfare,' says Smith.

A highly cohesive group of public and private human service agencies have provided job sites and the necessary supervisory support. Among the organizations providing jobs are the county government, five city governments, the Greenville hospital system, the Greenville County school system, the Urban League, Meals on Wheels, the YMCA and YWCA, the Greenville County Recreation Commission, Greenville Technical College, and others.

These organizations furnish on-the-job training to workfare participants, supervise their work, and maintain records and reports required by the workfare program.

Participants work in a variety of jobs

In an average month, about 185 people are employed at workfare job sites. Smith places participants in jobs at work sites closest to their homes since many of them to not have transportation. Unless participants have transportation and request a particular type of job because of prior work experience, they are always assigned to a site within 2 miles of their home.

Participants work as clerks, secretaries, hospital aides, cafeteria workers, child care assistants, building maintenance workers, data entry assistants, and recreational aides, as well as in various other types of jobs.

People placed in jobs with the school system or with hospitals have had the most success in converting to permanent jobs with their workfare employers. "Schools and hospitals have been particularly good in working with clients,' explains Sharon Smith. "They're willing to give a chance to clients who show an interest and willingness to work.'

Recipient satisfaction with jobs at these locations and the availability of vacancies are factors that have also facilitated the transition from workfare to paid employment.

The majority of Greenville's workfare participants are women, and most have prior work experience. Smith has found that women over 30 are the most willing to comply with workfare requirements. Younger women, she says, often don't value work in the same way older women do.

Other approaches have also been used

Workfare is just one approach South Carolina staff have tried in their efforts to increase recipients' self-esteem and employability. In addition to the tood stamp workfare programs operating in two counties, two other counties implemented the AFDC's version of workfare, known as the Community Work Experience Program.

Counties without food stamp workfare elected to implement job search programs, which assist and encourage food stamp recipients to find paying jobs on their own.

New approaches to skills training have also been tried. Because illiteracy poses a major problem for the state, developing recipients' reading skills ranks high on the Department's priority list. The Intergenerational Reading Program is one especially innovative example of how the Department of Social Services has addressed illiteracy.

In this nationally recognized program, college students, who receive training in a phonic reading method, tutor welfare mothers so that the mothers can learn to read and pass the skill along to their children, thus breaking the chain of family illiteracy.

One mother, a fifth generation welfare recipient, is reading at the third grade level after being enrolled in the program for only 1 year. Recently she enrolled her two daughters in the reading program with her.

What has been learned from past experiences with employment and training programs? "I don't know of any approach we've tried in South Carolina that hasn't worked,' says Bernice Scott, state food stamp employment and training coordinator.

"Whatever you try must depend on your population. In general, we've found the most successful programs are those designed specifically for a particular group of people.' She cites as an example the state's home health aide project, which was targeted specifically to AFDC mothers with children over 12 and which was started with particular jobs in mind.

New state office coordinates services

According to Scott, staff at the Department of Social Services have had strong support from the top in all these efforts. The Department's commissioner, James Solomon, Jr., is a strong advocate of programs that foster self-sufficiency. Two years ago, he established a state Office of Self-Sufficiency to bring all work support services provided by the Department under one division.

The creation of the state office was the first step toward integration of all Department of Social Services' employment and training services down to the local level. Four local work support units have already been set up, serving clusters of counties with high numbers of public assistance recipients.

The South Carolina legislature gave added support to the Department's efforts by passing the "South Carolina Employables Program Act' during its 1986 session.

The law specifies that public assistance recipients must register for and accept appropriate employment as a condition of receipt of benefits. It also designates the Department of Social Services as the agency authorized to conduct demonstration projects designed to expand employment opportunities for assistance recipients.

After establishing the Office of Self-Sufficiency, Commissioner Solomon appointed a 3-member Business and Industrial Advisory Committee to provide guidance about the operation of work support services. The committee is comprised of executives from leading South Carolina industries, such as the textile industry, utility companies, and retail sales firms.

"I can't begin to tell you how important this committee is,' says Mary Frances Payton, state director of work support services. "You've got to have the business community behind you. We've found that business leaders are ready to put food stamp and AFDC recipients to work in South Carolina.'

Recipients asked about their needs

One of the committee's first recommendations was that the Department conduct a needs assessment of food stamp and AFDC recipients. A random sample of 500 clients in counties with local work support units was selected, and these recipients were asked to identify obstacles to their seeking and finding employment.

Lack of training, limited education, and problems in reading and completing job applications ranked as leading reasons preventing recipients from working. Lack of child care was cited as a reason by 25 percent of those responding. Only 3 percent of those surveyed said they were not interested in looking for work.

"This assessment really opened our eyes to what people felt were their needs,' says Payton.

To make maximum use of the resources already available, Commissioner Solomon directed his staff not to duplicate services but to link other agencies' services into the Department's work support system.

In keeping with this goal, the Department signed cooperative agreements with several agencies, including agencies dealing with literacy, adult education, mental health, vocational rehabilitation, employment services, and alcohol and drug abuse treatment.

Local work support staff conduct evaluations of recipients and refer them to the programs or services within this agency network that will help them become "job ready.'

Previous efforts will be valuable

Experiences with various work programs will be valuable to Department of Social Services staff in building a food stamp employment and training program.

As Bernice Scott explains, for the first 6 months under the new rules, their emphasis is on job search and placement assistance. "Greenville's workfare program has been retained,' she says, "but job search activities have been given a higher priority in the county.' She foresees changes in and expansion of the state's food stamp employment and training program during the coming years.

Both Scott and Payton believe food stamp recipients are receptive to the new rules. "When people see you are really going to help them, word gets around, and they cooperate with you,' Payton says.

Regardless of what it takes--workfare, job search, or skills training--the employees of the Department of Social Services are determined to help end the cycle of poverty and dependency trapping so many of South Carolina's citizens.

Says Payton, "Profit is not just measured in terms of money. It's honorable to work. We cannot afford to have another generation of children grow up without a work ethic and without role models for work.'

For more information, contact:

Mary Frances Payton, Director Work Support Services Department of Social Services P.O. Box 1469 Columbia, South Carolina 29202 Telephone: (803) 253-6338

Photo: A food stamp recipient (above) goes on a job search after being instructed by South Carolina Department of Social Services staff on techniques for finding work. Midlands Technical College is one educational institution providing training to public aid recipients.

Photo: Working in a Greenville, South Carolina, workfare program, a food stamp recipient (right) learns food service skills. Many public and private social service agencies, including hospitals and schools, have provided jobs to workfare participants.

Photo: The South Carolina Department of Social Services has a number of innovative training programs. Here, a college student tutors a welfare recipient in the Intergenerational Reading Program.

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