Welfare to Work (WtW) or "Hey Buddy Your Clock Is Ticking"

On August 22, 1996, President Clinton signed into law the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, the new welfare reform law that established the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. TANF replaces the former Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program. Under this legislation, the states have unprecedented flexibility to design welfare programs to meet the particular needs of welfare families. In return, the federal government demands new, measurable results related to moving families into work and self-sufficiency.

Title V of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 establishes a new mandatory Welfare-to-Work program, to be administered by the Department of Labor (DOL), which provides $3 billion over FYs 1998 and 1999 to help states and localities with high concentrations of poverty and unemployment move the hardest-to-place welfare recipients into the workforce.

Of this $3 billion, Texas will receive approximately $76 million. Fifteen percent will be distributed by the Governor to projects that aid long-term recipients and 85 percent will be allocated to the local workforce development boards (LWDB) or private industry councils in areas that have not formed LWDBs on a formula basis based on local poverty rates, number of TANF recipients, and local unemployment rates. An additional $700 million will be distributed on a competitive basis by the Secretary of Labor to local workforce development boards, private industry councils, localities and private organizations to further the goals of the Welfare-to-Work program.

Funds may be used for community service or work experience; public or private wage subsidies; on-the-job training; job readiness, placement, and post-employment services; and job retention and support services. Seventy percent of funds must be spent on recipients who have received assistance for 30 months or who will reach time limits within 12 months and who have two or more specified barriers to employment. Barriers include: noncompletion of high school with low skills; required substance abuse treatment; or poor work history. Thirty percent of funds may be spent on recipients with characteristics associated with long-term welfare dependency, such as school dropouts, teen parents or a poor work history. Noncustodial parents of children whose custodial parents fall into either category are also eligible.

There are three program outcomes associated with the Welfare-to-Work program: long-term employment, placement in unsubsidized jobs, and increased earnings. On September 1, 1995, Texas implemented its own Welfare reform program by obtaining a "waiver" from the federal government to implement welfare reform components different from federal welfare reform. A side-by-side comparison is given in Figure 1 at the end of this article.

Since the inception of Texas Welfare Reform, welfare caseloads have decreased by 27 percent. Approximately 183,000 people have dropped off the welfare rolls (including children). The Texas waiver reflects the basic "work first" philosophy of the WtW legislation. It is a definite departure from sequential programs that offer adult basic education including life skills and the SCANS competencies, followed by occupational training, followed by job search. Now, all welfare recipients who can work have a time limit of one to three years based on education/job experience (see Figure 2) before they are "frozen out" of the welfare system.

The clock is ticking for over 180,000 individuals in the State of Texas. This would seem a very bleak proposition were it not for a key philosophy of the WtW legislation that recognizes the critical importance of continuous skills acquisition and life-long learning as a means to unsubsidized employment and economic self-sufficiency.

Consider the following scenario. Your local workforce development board receives its TANF allocation of $1 million to serve approximately 90 to 100 individuals within the next fiscal year (some boards will receive above the $10 million mark). The board approaches local businesses with offers of federal tax credits if the businesses are willing to hire TANF recipients. Tax credits up to $8,500 are available per TANF client. The board also agrees to subsidize the employment of the individual for one year at a 50 to 75 percent rate. The company agrees to waive its normal academic hiring requirements and hire the individual on a probationary status with the understanding that the individual's skill levels will be brought up to par within the probationary period (six months to one year).

The individual works in an on-the-job training program for 25 hours per week and is in a basic skills/contextual-based education program for the other 15 hours per week. The education program would be subsidized by WtW funds and contracted to a local provider. It is here that the TANF client partakes in basic skills remediation including life skills and competencies that will allow him/her to create an upward mobility path with a potential for meaningful employment and higher earnings.

A mentoring system, similar to Comptroller John Sharp's Pathfinders, has been established (and subsidized through WtW funds) to ensure the elimination of barriers to continued employment The mentors have access to emergency WtW funds for anything from vehicle repair to utility payments. The ratio of mentor to clients is very realistic.

This is but one scenario. Others may include the Texas Works Program, Microenterprise/Local Initiative, Full Employment Pilot, Self Sufficiency Fund and Skills Development Fund that are being operated out of the Texas Workforce Commission. Whichever scenario, adult literacy and education will play a vital role in ensuring families are able to move into work and self-sufficiency.

Information for this article was obtained from the Texas Workforce Commission, Texas Department of Human Services and the Rural Capital Area Workforce Development Board, Inc.

Davis, L. (1996). Equality in education: An agenda for urban schools. Equity and Excellence in Education, 29 (1), 61-67.

Reyes, A. (1995). Funding at-risk contemporary programs: An urban high school case study. The Urban Review, 27 (2), 141-157.

Texas Education Agency. (1993). Pupil Accounting Fall Survey. 1993. Austin.

John Wooley is a program director in the Center for Initiatives In Education at Southwest Texas State University. The Center is the public service arm of the School of Education at SWT. The Center presently houses four adult education programs: the High School Equivalency Program for migrant students, the Ten County ACE Coop, Adult Education Professional Development and Volunteers In Training for Adult Literacy (VITAL).