A prii 16, 1997 • T in P orii and O bservi r
P age B2
Welfare issues are the next battleground
sv C eles K i \( ., Ill
Theodore II White, the late,great
chronicler of presidential campaigns,
once said that there are only three
great national issues: "Bread and
butter, war and peace and Black and
white.”
The current controversy over the
elimination—or at a minimum, the
restructuring-ofthe welfare system
as we know it, embodiesall of White’s
three great issues.
Man’sconcern for survival in both
the best and worst of times, is para-
mount-hence bread and butter The
current controversy unfortunately
pits the middle and upper class
against the least fortunate among
us—war and peace
Finally, the debate over welfare
often lapses into vitriol that some
times points fingers between the
races-thus Black and white.
Aid to Families with Dependent
Children (A F D C ) was a federally
prescribed welfare program devel
oped in the 1930’s to help single
mothers who were widowed and
those who were abandoned by their
husbands There were no work ex
pectations of these women and it
was likely that once remarried their
needs for welfare ceased. But that
was then, this is now. Societal ex
pectations and conditions are much
different today, but A F D C ’s objec
tives remains fundamentally un
changed
However, a number of steps have
been taken, particularly in Califor
nia, to get welfare recipients back on
the employment rolls. Even with
these changes, approximately 80
percent of the state’s recipients are
still no, working, not even part time.
On A u g .22, 1996 President
Clinton signed the Personal Re
sponsibility and Work Opportu
nity Reconciliation Act o f 1996
which has effectively eliminated
the welfare program. The new fed
eral legislation sends block grant
funds to the states to prov ide time-
-limited benefits to families. Un
fortunately, due to the shortsight
edness o f many conservative leg
islators, their actions to throw
people o ff the program w illy nilly,
is making a bad situation worse
This w ill have a drastic effect on
people who need this program the
most—poor whites, undocumented
aliens, Blacks and other minori
ties.
What are we going to do to help
alleviate the crisis that will occur
when these new welfare change take
full effect? Minority communities,
Whitehouse hires from welfare
With welfare rolls down by 20
percent since he took office, Presi
dent Clinton aims to chip away a
little more by hiring thousands of
welfare recipients into federal of
fices
including the White House.
The president was summoning
his Cabinet today for its first full
meeting of the second term to review
numeric, agency-by-agency hiring
goals and time tables for reaching
them
Aides said Clinton would commit
the federal government, which em
ploys 1.9 million people, to hire
close to 10,000 welfare recipients
over the next four years. The first
2,000 or so would be hired before the
Sept. 30 close of this fiscal year.
As proof that welfare hires can
work, two former welfare moms
employed by the Social Security
Administration were expected to join
Clinton and Vice President AI
Gore for at least par, of the afternoon
Cabinet meeting. Spokeswoman
Ann Lewis said Wednesday that the
president’s executive office — one
of the government’s smallest out
lets, with 1,500 employees would
recruit and hire its share from the
welfare rolls as part of Clinton’s
drive to find jobs in the public and
private sectors for 2 million welfare
recipients over the next four years.
"We think we have an obligation
to set an example,” Lewis said. She
added that mostly entry-level jobs
would be open. Union leaders have
expressed reservations about the hir
ing initiative and its potential to
push other job applicants from the
pool, especially after the Clinton
administration cut or contracted out
more than 250,000 federal jobs over
the last four years.
The announcement of specific
government hiring goals, which
Clinton first ordered last month, was
timed to coincide with the release of
new administration data showing
that about 2,755,000 individuals
have gotten off the welfare rolls since
January 1993
from 14,115,000
recipients to 11,360,000 recipients,
or a 20 percent drop.
White House officials credit the
general ly stronger economy plus fed-
erally approved state welfare experi
ments with the overall drop. In itsfour
years in power, the Clinton adminis
tration has granted waivers to 43
states, allowing them to implement
their own welfare changes.
According to the Department of
Health and Human Services survey,
only Alaska, California and Hawaii,
plus the District ofColumbia, showed
a caseload increase, with Hawaii’s
welfare rolls actually increasing by
20 percent.
Clinton has tried to soften the
blow of welfare legislation he signed
last year, which imposed a lifetime
benefits’ limit of five years for fami
lies on welfare, by pushing the pri
vate sector, nonprofit groups and
churches to find room on their pay
rolls for people trying to get off the
dole.
"The president has always said
that the welfare reform legislation
was a step — it was not the end of the
journey,” Lewis said.
The push for federal agencies to
hire welfare recipients was launched
last month, when the president, in
his weekly radio broadcast, gave
agencies 30 days to develop recruit
ment and hiring plans. Gore is over
seeing the effort.
Clinton specifically suggested that
agencies invoke an existing trainee
program that allows agencies hiring
entry-level workers to duck most of
the red tape normally involved in
government hiring.
At the end of the three years, they
may be converted to career civil-
service status and promoted.
in particular, have lost at least one
generation by welfare coming into
their communities; are we now go
ing to lose another generation as a
welfare goes out of the community?
The burden clearly falls on commu
nity leaders, church organizations
and academics.
Small businesses, for example,
need to create new ways to do their
work in a technological society where
the computer reigns supreme. Then
they could hire these former w elfare
recipients and train them where they
can be truly productive Employ
ment in sweatshops and dead end
manufacturing piecework just won t
do.
As we get closer to the end of the
century, we must be mindful that
when the underclass suffers, the rest
of us will ultimately pay the price.
Celes King, III is a Los Angeles
businessman and state chairman ot
the Congress of Racial Equality of
California.
OREGON’ S WELFARE CASELOAD
Jan. 1993 117,656
Jan. 1994 116,390
Jan. 1995 107,610
J a n .1996 92,182
J a n .1997 66,919
Caseloads in Oregon -43%
JOBS Plus Shows Positive Impact on Unemployed
The Oregon Employment De
partment released new data that
show a state program, better known
as a welfare-reform effort, has had
a dramatic impact in helping un
employed Oregonians return to
work.
The statistics show 585 unem
ployed people successfully have
used JO B S Plus during the past
eight months, earning paychecks
rather than receiving unemploy
ment payments from the state. In
cluding welfare recipients, a total
of 1,914 people had found work
through JO B S Plus since the pro
gram went statewide in July 1996.
Employment Department officials
said the high number of unemployed
placed through JO B S Plus was espe-
cially impressive because, in most
areas of the state, welfare recipients
receive job-placement priority over
those receiving unemployment as
sistance. In addition to JO B S Plus
placements over the eight-month
period, the Employment Department
found work for 11,797 unemployed
Oregonians, placing them in jobs
that have no subsidy from the state
program.
“Our emphasis is helping get un
em ployed w orkers back in
unsubsidized jobs,” said Virlena
Crosley, director of the Employment
Department. "But JO B S Plus is an
excellent tool for helping many work
ers get back on the job, especially
those likely to exhaust their unem
ployment benefits.”
Arkansas Club of Oregon, organized in 1984 is known for
serving over three hundred free Thanksgiving dinners, their
Adopt 4 Needy Family for Christmas, Annual Tea, and Formal
Ball. Members front row: Pearl Wilson, Glenda Bennefield, Ethel
Holmes, Alice Clayton, Mary L. Cooms. Back row: Paul Knawls,
Wesley Lowe, Cortez Samuel, President Charles Green, Marge
Moore, Tommy Ray Smith, Thomas Moore. (Not in photo)
Belinda Warren, Mary Alice Britt and Authur Harris.
T he K orean A merican A ssociation
O regon
of
Living Color, 5001 N.C MIK Blvd.,
Portland, OR 97211; Phone: 287-7788
Boston Market, 726 N.€. Killingsuuorth
Portland, OR. 97211; Phone: 282-6776
Bargain Place Meet, 710 N.C Killingsuuorth
Portland, 97211; Phone: 287-8082
Dekum Food Market, 800 N.C Dekum
Owner: Sonny Kim; Phone: 283-1240
Alberta St Market, 915 N.C. Alberta
Portland, OR 97211 ; Phone: 281-6388
Knott St. Grocery, 2709 N.G 7th
Portland, OR 97212, Phone: 284-7490
Ainsworth Market, 5549 N.€. 30th five.
Portland, OR 97211; Phone: 281-0479
Mid-K Beauty Supply, 5411 N.€. MLK Blvd.
Portland, OR 97211; Phone: 335-0271
Superfine Foods, 4803 N. Lombard
Portland, OR 97203; Phone: 283-3866
LeRho Chateau, L.T.D. DBA King Food Mart
3510 M.l.K. Blvd., Portland, OR 97212
Phone: 281-0357
C.L. Inc.; DBA Prescott Corner Maket
1460 N.6. Prescott, Portland, OR
Phone: 284-7418
J's Food Mart, 3275 N.E Killingsuuorth
Portland, OR 97211; Phone: 281-8489
We A ppr € ciat € Y our ßusiNess and S upport
T hank Y ou