Learning Skills to Survive in the Workplace

Aired April 1, 1999

Welcome to a drippy first of April, 1999. This is INFOhio After Nine and I'm David C. Barnett. Thousands of welfare recipients in Ohio are being edged off public assistance and they are under a deadline. State welfare reform legislation has set a three-year time limit on a person receiving welfare benefits, and adults are required to work 35 hours a week or be in school to learn marketable skills as they move from welfare to work. As a part of our year-long series, "The Changing Face of Welfare," 90.3 correspondent Harry Boomer is following the progress of several families as they try to work their way off public assistance.

Harry Boomer–A class of women in transition from welfare to work is sitting in a 12-week class at Orion, a job-training skills enhancement company. The facility is located on Lee Rd. in Cleveland Heights. After six weeks of training, and mock interviews, the women are encouraged to begin looking for work.

Bonnie Newell–Anytime someone's going to give you a skill, take it.

HB–Bonnie Newell, a mother of three young girls, sat in classes like these, listening and learning.

BN–Technology is moving, and it's growing, and if I sit still and be dormant, I'm not going to grow with it, so I have to grow with technology and in order to get back in the working force, I have to brush up on some skills.

HB–That's why she was referred to Orion, one of many companies in greater Cleveland which specializes in moving people, particularly those on welfare, towards stable employment. Lauren Atkins of Orion.

Lauren Atkins–What we do in the first week that they're here is we help them to identify what skills they have, and that could be as a homemaker, what they did in the home, on previous jobs what they did, or any training that they received, what skills they received from that, and then look at what they want to do, and we do a lot of...to helping them research if the skills they have match the occupation they want to do, and then better yet, is that an occupation that has openings in this area. We're very successful at having employers come in here and talk to our members as well. We have several employers coming in, we have one coming in today.

HB–For several weeks, a classroom full of women have been getting hands-on experience with computers, and they've been listening to instructors tell them about what it is like in today's job market. However, Jim Frakleton brought them face to face with that reality.

Jim Frakleton–If you tell me you can't work Sundays, don't fill out an application, please, I cannot hire you. It's not fair to all the employees in the store right now that have to work Sunday. I'm not going to hire someone that says, "well, I can't work Sunday." I'm not telling you you're going to have to work every Sunday, but you're going to have to work one out of three, one out of four, whatever it might be, they rotate them in the store, and the same thing with holidays. Number one, you're not only going to run register, you'll unload trucks, you'll put up stock, you'll do cleaning, you'll do price changes, you'll do plan-o-grams, you'll have an opportunity to learn a lot of different jobs within the store.

HB–That kind of "this is the way it is out there in the work-a-day world" is in some ways just as valuable as learning to work the computer keyboard. Again, Lauren Atkins.

LA–Many employers are willing to train the individuals on what they specifically do, but they need to know that they're going to show up on time, that they're going to work as hard as they can, they're not going to get upset when a supervisor tells them they did something wrong or when a coworkers tells them they did something wrong, and they're going to be able to succeed in the company.

Nicole Thompson–I'm hard-working, and I can get through basically all the tough things that have been put before me, because I'm graduating college, and I'm not a statistic anymore.

HB–Nicole Thompson is on welfare. She has three girls, ages 9, 5, and 2. Instead of using the county welfare programs to work her way to self-sufficiency, she's using the Cuyahoga Community College education system. In May, she is scheduled to graduate with an associate of applied science degree from Tri-C.

NT–I always knew I wanted to go to college and I wanted to be in some law enforcement field, so I knew that having, you know, I had children and I knew that welfare would not always be there and I had to use it as a stepping stone to get where I wanted to be and education is the only way. My oldest daughter has already told me that she wants to go to college and get an education.

HB–Nicole Thompson is determined not to pass the legacy of a welfare mentality on to her children. So is Bonnie Newell, who also has three young daughters.

BN–I want my children to understand that they don't have to have welfare, as long as they get the education, do the things that they have to do.

HB–For now, it is up to their mother. Newell recently got a part-time evening job, working four hours a day. She makes $7 an hour collecting bills by phone. It takes her an hour-and-a-half to get to her job in Beachwood. She has to catch three busses to and from work each day.

BN–I'm one of those that - I don't really need a push, but if you're going to give me some education, some training, that would allow me to get a better job, where I no longer need the system, then I'm all for it.

HB–For INFOhio, I'm Harry Boomer in Cleveland.