wfn.org | Welfare Reform Affects UM Institutions

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

CONTACT: 	Linda Bloom
(10-21-71B){97}
		New York (212) 870-3803			  Feb. 23, 1998

NOTE: This is the first in a series of three stories about the impact of
welfare reform on United Methodist institutions. A sidebar accompanies
this story.

Welfare reform brings changes
to United Methodist institutions

				A UMNS News Feature
				by Linda Bloom*

	Until recently, the welfare recipients who participated in the
adult literacy program at Moore Community House in Biloxi, Miss.,
learned basic skills to help them land better jobs.
	Since Congress instituted its welfare reform measures, passed in
1996, that program has been suspended, according to Carol Burnett,
Moore's executive director.
	"Under the new federal law, all of those students have been
forced into low-wage jobs," she explained.
But are these the types of jobs that will make families economically
viable in the future?
"I don't think people realize how frequently it is the case in the
United States that work doesn't pull people out of poverty," Burnett
said.
The reform act sets incentives and targets aimed at getting states to
move welfare families into the work force.
Moore Community House is only one of the 121 United Methodist-related
national mission institutions feeling the impact of welfare reform.
Other changes, according to a May 1997 survey of 72 of the institutions,
are:
*	a reduction in the number of clients receiving public
assistance;
		*	a lack of available jobs and fewer referrals to
job-training programs;
		*	an increase in the need for affordable child
care, housing and health care;
		*	a loss of funding for single women who are
chemically dependent; and
		*	an increase in the need for various classes,
ranging from skills training to English as a second language.
The institutions also reported that families are under more stress and
in greater need because of changes in the system.
"There's probably not any institution that hasn't talked about the
effect of welfare reform," said Anne Unander, a United Methodist Board
of Global Ministries executive who consults with centers like Moore
Community House.
During 1997, residential treatment programs lost funding for such
programs as placement, education and respite weekend care. Several
community centers also lost financial support for job training, literacy
programs, day care, after-school care and family home-care services.
	Other cuts have been made to gang-related counseling,
immigration services, adolescent and youth programs, senior programs,
nonviolence training and counseling, and health-related programs,
according to the survey. More funding cuts are expected this year.
	In Louisville, Ky., the Wesley Community House started a program
called "Louisville Works" in response to a previous welfare reform act
in 1988. The program trains young adult mothers on public assistance for
long-term job placement. With such services as job search and retention
support and in-house day care, the program has had an 85 percent success
rate.
But the new welfare reform led Kentucky to abandon funding programs that
provided job training and child care. That same funding had supported
"Louisville Works."
To fill the gap, the Women's Division of the Board of Global Ministries
authorized a $40,000 grant last October. The grant buys time to allow
the program to become an accredited training institute and secretarial
service, making participants eligible for financial aid.
				# # #
* Bloom is news director of United Methodist News Service's New York
office.

United Methodist News Service
(615)742-5470
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