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Date , Mon 27 Jul 1998 180558 -0400
FromEd Schwartz <edcivic@libertynet.org>
SubjectJobs and Opportunity Improve Neighborhoods (JOIN) Web Page
First--the URL
<http//www.libertynet.org/nol/join.html>
Now the explanation
For the past year, the Institute has brought
neighborhood groups, adult literacy and job training programs, day care centers, human service agencies, and advocacy organizations together in a city-wide coalition in Philadelphia dealing with welfare reform called "JOIN"--Jobs and Opportunity to Improve Neighborhoods.
JOIN's agenda addresses the steps that we believe need to be taken to help welfare recipients achieve self-sufficiency--adult literacy and training, reverse commuting to suburban jobs, child
care, and public service jobs paying a living wage for people who can't find work in the private sector or government.
We've posted information about JOIN to these lists before...but not for
awhile. But our work on JOIN in Philadelphia moves forward.
I know that many communities on these lists don't
have large populations on welfare as we do here in Philadelphia. But if you're concerned about the homeless as a national disgrace, then get prepared to be even more horrified at what is likely to happen here.
Within the next two or three years, the five year limit on welfare benefits will start expiring around the
country. Even though caseloads have dropped considerably, there will still be thousands of households left without income--especially in
urban centers and large industrial states like California. What will happen then? Will America simply let these women and children end up in the streets?
JOIN is fighting in Philadelphia for welfare-to-work strategies that will mean family self-sufficiency for people who now receive public assistance.The information on the web site is self-explanatory.
I'm interested in what is happening in other parts of the country around this issue and making tangible
relationships with groups that are either already addressing it...or want to address it.
Ed Schwartz, Institute for the Study of Civic Values, 1218 Chestnut St., Rm. 702, Philadelphia, Pa. 19107 215-238-1434 edcivic@libertynet.org
"Citizenship is the American ideal. There may be an army of actualities opposed to that ideal, but there is
no ideal opposed to that ideal."
--G.K. Chesterton
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Mon, 07 Sep 1998 223930 -0400
FromEd Schwartz <edcivic@libertynet.org>
SubjectWelcome Back
Having been immersed in Philadelphia for the past several weeks, I'm
struck at how different--and more difficult--our problems seem to be in relation to what's happening elsewhere. Here, welfare reform is a matter of major concern for every activist in the City...since thousands of people in every neighborhood are being told, "work 20 hours a week by next March--or lose all income." In states with workfare, there are at least jobs for people in this position. Here, the Commonwealth has not created workfare. So there's growing alarm about what will happen to people who can't find jobs. Is this really not a problem anywhere else?
Every issue in Philadelphia, in fact, is shaped by our collective response
to poverty. The whole question of our viability as a city revolves around whether we can generate enough jobs to absorb the poor, or whether the social conditions surrounding poverty will continue to drive the middle-class away?
Reading the congenial discussions of education on civic-values--or
following the requests for land-use plans that go back and forth on build-com--make me think that I'm in a different country. Are we the *only* city represented here facing these serious crises, or is it just that the people from poorer places just aren't speaking up?
Welcome back..
Ed Schwartz
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DateTue, 08 Sep 1998 093753 -0700
From"Mark Pomerantz" <Mark.Pomerantz@ci.seattle.wa.us>
SubjectReWelcome Back
Good to hear from you Ed. One thing we're trying to do in Washington State reWorkfare
is
work with non-profit orgs to help them start viable businesses to employ "hard to place" "disabled" etc individuals in other words people that the "market" isn't eager to hire. So far the Mayor of Seattle, my boss, has signed off on this and the State is allocating $200,000/yr. for the next 3 years to jump start this. We have had about 25 agencies meeting regularly about it and we are exploring both training and venture capital opportunities. Please get in touch with me if you're interested in this. This might be a good forum to start. We could call it the "Social Enterprise Forum". BankOne and the City of Columbus, Ohio are supporting something similar. Beth Bubis at BankOne and Michael Reese of the City Council staff are the contacts there.
------------------------------
>DateTue, 08 Sep 1998 212343 -0400
>FromDavid Swain
<jcci2@leading.net>
>OrganizationJacksonville Community Council Inc.
>SubjectREWelcome back
>Thanks for the welcome back, Ed. It's been awhile since I contributed much here--and here--(I wasn't sure whether to
send this to civic-values
>or to build-com, so I'm sending it to both.) I've been pondering the welfare reform situation from a very different >environment, and, I must say, there's a very different atmosphere here from the one you describe in Philadelphia. As I've posted here in the past, there are some important "structural" reasons that could explain some of the difference. For instance, our official unemployment rate is >hovering at around 3.5 percent. Of course, as elsewhere, that rate is much higher among poor people, single women with children, minorities, and, especially, African American males. More importantly, the "city" in my metropolitan area is not very equivalent to the City of Philadelphia. Jacksonville's 700,000 person city/county includes both inner city and suburbs--though the suburbs are now growing quickly into >the adjoining counties. Thus, my political jurisdiction is not an economic basket case, as Philadelphia's seems to be. With the overall vigor of our area's economy, poverty is to some extent hidden and to some extent ameliorated--but certainly still exists.
>So, what's the "real" situation with welfare reform here? As far as canbe ascertained, and no
objective analysis has been done, the welfare rolls have diminished substantially as a result of former recipients going to work.
Not into good jobs and not necessarily into permanent jobs but into jobs of some kind. The "creaming" process has ensured
>that those best prepared for the transition have or are making it in some form or fashion (translateprobably
an increase in the working poor). Recently, phase two around here has begun to fucus on the need >for workforce training--assistance for recipients who will/can work with
some vocational skill and perhaps some employability training. It's the >Chamber's big emphasis this coming year, though their perspective, of course, is not entirely related to welfare reform. Besides jobs and now training, emphasis has been placed on day care and transportation.
>We're fortunate to have a publicly funded Children's Commission that is >now putting substantial amounts of local tax money into subsidized day >care.
The director of the commission insists that they have "eliminated" the waiting list for such care. I don't quite believe it, >but the fact remains that, with a combination of federal, state, and >local dollars, most low-income children whose parents seek day care can get it at an affordable cost, and all welfare recipients, those in transition, and those off the rolls, qualify (in fact, have preferential qualification) for such assistance.
>Transportation has been a more difficult issue.
We have a pretty dysfunctional bus system (and no other mass transit), and getting this >system to reform itself is proving extremely difficult. There's a lot >of heat within the Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA), meaning that something's happening toward change, but there's no evidence yet >that the heat will produce light in the form of meaningful changes. >It's a classic case of bureaucratic rigor mortis. But of course that >doesn't occur in any other city around the country, does it? To what >extent is it a factor in Philadelphia?
>So, as we deal, with varying levels of success, with jobs, training, day care, and transportation, the
creaming process seems to be continuing the transition process off of the welfare rolls.
However, the pace is slowing, and the reason may well be that we're getting down to the recipients who are not able to respond "appropriately" to being creamed (terrible terminology for real people). Ed's analysis of this situation has been that the remaining unmet need for upward economic mobility is >education--adult illiteracy. And that's where my organization comes in.
After quite a debate, our governing board has decided that one of our two major citizen-based studies over the coming
months will be on the issue of adult illiteracy in our community. And not just adult >illiteracy but illiteracy as it relates to workforce issues and employability. I personally made sure the
connection was made to >welfare reform in the decision-making process, and I'd like to thank Ed >for helping me think straight about the issue through his postings several months ago here.
So you can't say everything's fine here regarding welfare reform, but
>you also can't say that "welfare reform is a matter of major concern for >every activist in the City" as Ed said about Philadelphia. There's no >impending economic disaster here, though there certainly is a good deal >of individual suffering. Nor is there a sense of impending doom, as of a date certain, when all recipients will become former recipients--out on the street. I don't know the details of Florida's law, but >apparently the situation is more friendly, or at least more gradual, here.
From my point of view, doing a JCCI study on adult illiteracy offers an opportunity to raise the salience of the welfare
reform issue in our community from a pretty low level (widespread unawareness and >ignorance).
It's not a quick fix, because our results won't be public until May 1999. However, by then, my guess is that the creaming process ill have gotten far enough down in our community that the real, remaining welfare-reform crisis will have become evident--and our >citizens committee will havemade some recommendations for what to do >about it. We'll see if that strategy works.
>Just a quick plug in closing.
JCCI's two studies this past year have been on the status of the nonprofit sector in our community (how we're >responding to shifting funding sources and demands of funders etc. etc.) >and on the use of incentives for economic development by our local government (issues of equity and targeting have been especially >interesting). Anyone wishing a copy of either study by snail mail,
>please let me know by e-mail. We're just now beginning the two-year
>process of
citizen task-force advocacy for implementation of each study's recommendations.
So, for us, these studies are just beginning their life cycle. A year from now, we'll begin on implementation of the study on adult illiteracy.
>David
David Swain, Associate Director
>Jacksonville Community Council Inc. Phone (904) 396-3052
>2434 Atlantic Boulevard, Suite 100 Fax (904) 398-1469
>Jacksonville, Florida 32207 E-mail jcci2@leading.net
> Web site http//www.unf.edu/~clifford/jcci/jccihome.htm
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