Welfare Reform in Cuyahoga County:
Issues and Concerns

Aired March 1, 1999

This is INFOhio After Nine, I'm David C. Barnett, welcoming you to Monday, the first day of March, 1999. And, the first day of an in-depth examination of welfare. More specifically, the reform of welfare, the changing face of welfare, that public assistance program that was instituted in this country in the 1930s, and is dramatically changing as we head towards the year 2000, as we hurdle towards the year 2000, really. The clock is ticking on a state timetable which says that thousands of Ohioans on public assistance have to be working, in about a year-and-a-half from now. Between now and then, we here at 90.3 are going to feature a series of stories that will explore the likelihood of that happening. What does it take to find a job for someone who has never been gainfully employed, and what is gainful employment? How much money does it really take to, say, support a single mother, to support herself and a couple of kids? What about training for that job? What about transportation to that job? A car, public transit? Do the kids need day care? Is it available, and how do they get there? And after our public person gets that job, what happens to them? Do they keep it, and what happens if they don't, because of any of these issues we just talked about? Over the next year, we're going to ask those questions and try to get some answers. We begin, though, with a review of the massive changes in entitlement reform. It's changes that have gone through and have happened in just the past two years. 90.3's April Baer reports.

April Baer–Federal welfare reform statutes were passed in 1996, as part of the mammoth federal budget bill. But if you really want to trace the roots of welfare reform, it's best to begin in 1994, the year Republicans took control of Congress and the Ohio House. Welfare reform was the jewel in the GOP crown, the issue Republicans hoped would unite fiscal responsibility with social responsibility. Former state representative Ed Casputis says there was feeling in Columbus that Ohio wanted more from its welfare system.

Ed Casputis–The perception, I know, of my colleagues in the Ohio House was that the safety net had become a safety hammock, and that we needed to fine-tune how we help those that come upon tough times, but not create a lifestyle where there would be disincentives for people not trying to have a career.

AB–With one fell swoop, Congress dismantled the two major programs upon which welfare was built: Aid to Families with Dependent Children, which offered cash and food stamps to families, and the training initiative, better known as the JOBS program. In 1996, Jane Campbell was a Democrat representing Northeast Ohio in the legislature.

Jane Campbell–I think what happened is that there was a real concern on the federal government's part that they have the political victory, to say "we passed welfare reform." Because basically what the federal government did is, said "we're passing welfare reform, we're giving it back to the states, five-year time limit."

AB–Campbell, now a Cuyahoga County commissioner, says at the time the federal mandates came down there was a lot of pressure on the state to live up to the new standards. Congress had rebuilt welfare in the form of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or the TANF program. Under the new laws, recipients now have a five-year limit to benefits, and must participate in some work activity after two years on welfare. But overall, the states are permitted considerable freedom to use block grants to set up other goals within the welfare system. Sue Pearlmutter is an associate professor at Case Western Reserve University, who specializes in welfare issues. She notes that Ohio made some interesting decisions in crafting a plan that actually stipulates tougher work requirements than are called for by the federal government.

Sue Pearlmutter–Many governors, like Governor Voinovich, were worried about the rate of participation based upon the rate of participation from the previous welfare program, the JOBS program. I think the decision was made here to go above and beyond the federal mandates, to assure that Ohio would not lose any money down the road.

AB–But Pearlmutter points out that although the state set the work requirements, it's up to Ohio's 88 counties to implement the plan. Commissioner Jane Campbell puts it another way.

JC–What the state of Ohio did is said, "we're passing welfare reform, five years is too long. In the state of Ohio, you only need three years to get off of welfare. The counties can figure out how to make this happen." So we're the end of the food chain (laughs).

AB–Commissioner Campbell remains optimistic that Cuyahoga and other counties can find success by taking care of the factors the county has control over, and by keeping close watch over those it can't predict.

JC–Right now the economy is very strong. We pray daily that the economy stays strong, because to try to do welfare reform in a recession economy is a prescription for disaster. The second thing is that we have to make sure that we provide support for families that are working, because even when they go to work there still is need for child care assistance, ongoing health care assistance. The stronger people are connected to those supportive services, the more likely they are to be successful in the labor force.

AB–Sue Pearlmutter concurs that basic services, from transportation to baby sitting, will be crucial in helping people support themselves, but she worries that many families on the rolls have become fragile because of substance abuse and mental health problems. Also, she predicts it's going to be tough finding the kind of jobs welfare recipients need.

SP–New entry-level jobs that are available to people with few skills are going to have to be the priority, and that means doing job development or getting somebody else to do job development, and I haven't seen that really happening. In the first place, there just are not enough jobs, and in the second place, even those jobs that there are, are not readily accessible to people.

AB–During 1998, Cuyahoga County was able to move 11,000 people off the rolls. As of October, over 21,000 are still looking for work. For INFOhio, I'm April Baer in Cleveland.