Lorain County and Welfare Reform:
An Interview with Lois Floyd

Aired October 12, 1999

April Baer–While Cuyahoga County does have one of the highest percentages of welfare recipients per capita in the state, it's certainly not the only county that's dealing with the changes in welfare reform law. Lorain County is also another one of the 88 dealing with the problem, and right now we're joined by Lois Floyd with the Lorain County Prevention, Retention, and Contingency Department. Ms. Floyd, thanks for being with us today.

Lois Floyd–Thank you.

AB–How is Lorain County following the people who have been coming off public assistance? Over here in the Cleveland area, this is something that hasn't been done, so again, it's tricky to find out what happens after welfare. Is that true in Lorain County too?

LF–Yes, it is. I think it's true in every county. There is not a mechanism to really track the individuals once they leave the system. We are trying to get individuals involved in the Medicaid program, the Healthy Start program to give coverage for children in medical issues, get them involved in food stamps, and if they enter into those areas, then we have some idea what's happening with them, but there is a large majority that are leaving the system that are not entering into the Medicaid or the food stamp programs, and we really have no idea what's happening to them.

AB–Very often it seems like people are eligible of some kinds of benefits, but they're not coming to get them, that's something that we keep hearing again and again. Is there anything, you think that hasn't been tried in terms of getting the message out that should be?

LF–I'm not sure that there's anything that we haven't tried. We're going to put more effort into it. Our county is looking at extending hours, opening the hours up to the public, doing more outreach in terms of the Medicaid and the food stamps, and certainly as we focus on the PRC program, the Prevention, Retention, and Contingency program, we will be promoting the Medicaid and the food stamps. Now those have their own eligibility and target a different population, for instance, food stamps target individuals with 133% of the poverty level and Healthy Start right now is at 150%, and Lorain County's PRC program also targets individuals at 150% of poverty.

AB–It's been suggested sometimes at the federal level that since some people aren't necessarily taking advantage of the programs that are out there, maybe they shouldn't be offered, maybe the state might be able to save some money. Do you perceive that the need is definitely there, that these programs still need to be offered?

LF–The programs are still very much needed. Even in our program, where we opened up the PRC program to 150% of poverty, we just did this in August, and what we're finding is a lot of struggling families who are minimum-wage jobs, who just are not able to make it, and for one reason or another, some of them don't participate in the other programs, and we try to encourage this, particularly your health care issues. Many of the lower-paying jobs don't provide real adequate health care, or they do for the actual participant, the individual who is working, but not for their family, and the Healthy Start program can certainly go a long way to help in addressing the health care issues of the children.

AB–Ms. Floyd, not to ask you to wrap up all the problems of Western society all at once, but is there a short answer for why it is that people still have problems making it on their own when they get off of welfare?

LF–It's the lack of education. We know that higher-paying jobs are tied to education, but you've got to get people into employment first, get them into some good work habits, get their family's stability issues taken care of, and the education is obviously the next step, so I think that the welfare reform program has done a good job in getting individuals off of the cash programs, but they are minimum-wage jobs, and you see individuals who will cycle back in, and a minimum-wage is not going to keep a family together.

AB–Lois Floyd heads the Lorain County Office of Prevention, Retention, and Contingency. Thanks for talking with us this morning.

LF–You're welcome.