Changing Terms Of Entitlement State Workers As Well As Clients Targets Of Welfare Reform

Washington has a new name for people on welfare. They are Work First Program enrollees.

And they aren’t even “on welfare” anymore. People are “in transition.” To jobs.

The new language reflects a culture change under way at the Department of Social and Health Services as welfare reform legislation is pieced together in Olympia.

For years, welfare workers have been trained primarily to determine whether people are eligible for benefits and make sure they get the check.

That’s about all society asked. And in Washington, it worked well.

So well, some people enjoy a better standard of living on public assistance than in many entry-level jobs.

That’s about to change.

No matter which of three major welfare proposals on the table is ultimately adopted, a fundamental culture change in welfare and at the department will be demanded.

Now, as in Oregon, Idaho and other states that have already adopted welfare reform, the primary charge for Washington welfare workers will be to put people to work.

“We are currently primarily an eligibility and benefit issuance organization,” said Mike Masten, a newly named division director at the department charged with implementing welfare reform.

“We are in the process of becoming an organization that sustains people for a temporary time while they transition back into mainstream employment.”

Work First is the new name for welfare coined in Democratic Gov. Gary Locke’s proposed welfare reform plan.

Welfare reform is sweeping the country as states work to craft their own policies in the wake of a welfare reform law adopted by Congress last year. The law ends the entitlement to public assistance.

In its place, states were given broad guidelines and a block grant of cash with which to craft their own welfare systems.

While states are taking different approaches to the details of reform, the basic change in emphasis is the same. Welfare is now intended to be a revolving door to a job. Any job, even minimum wage.

“The purpose of welfare should not be idleness, or to protect people from the consequences of their own irresponsible behavior,” Locke said when he unveiled his welfare plan last week.

“This is a new plan and a new way of thinking to get people into jobs, reward hard work and penalize irresponsibility.

“This plan puts work first. And second. And third and fourth … If you are able to work, you will be required to. The goal is to get people on a career ladder, even if it’s on the bottom rung.”

The task ahead is translating that philosophy into practice at 66 welfare offices across the state, where more than 3,100 DSHS workers implement the state’s welfare law.

Masten flew to Spokane last week to bring the new religion to the field, and ask welfare staff to help implement whatever lawmakers decide this session.

Each office around the state faces unique challenges in putting people to work. In Okanogan, the largest county in the continental U.S., there’s no public transportation. Working means having a reliable car.

Pend Oreille County is burdened with a 19.1 percent unemployment rate, the highest in Washington. Finding any job is a challenge.

Spokane’s 3rd Legislative District, which covers the city’s core, has more people per capita living in poverty than anywhere else in the state.

Masten and Bernie Nelson, director of welfare offices in the Eastern Region, heard both enthusiasm and concern when the two met with welfare workers to discuss the coming changes.

“As you hear this are you sensing a shift in expectation?” Nelson asked employees at a Spokane welfare office. “Is it punitive? Do we sound callous to the needs of others? What is your comfort level with this?”

Callous? Yes, some said with gusto. Others wondered about implementing the details.

Under all three state proposals, teen mothers would be required to live with a parent or responsible adult to receive benefits. They can’t live with a boyfriend.

But how, one welfare worker asked, are they to know what is a safe living situation for the teens they work with? And who will be liable if it doesn’t work out?

A welfare administrator from Colville assured Nelson she and her staff will try their hardest to move welfare recipients into jobs.

“But as far as finding places to work, it’s discouraging. There are not too many jobs,” said Janet Thomas. “What are we to do, take all these people in Metaline Falls and Inchelium and say ‘Okay, folks, huddle up. We are going to Seattle’? And do you think Seattle wants them?”

Advocates for the poor fear people will get hurt if lawmakers focus narrowly on reducing welfare caseloads instead of improving people’s lives.

“As long as the bottom line focus is spending less, that’s a concern,” said Linda Stone of the Spokane office of the Children’s Alliance.

States like Oregon that have reduced welfare caseloads and moved people into jobs are spending more, not less, on administering their welfare programs.

Job training, child care and medical benefits that make reform work cost money.

Jim Neely, deputy administrator of the welfare program in Oregon, said it has taken years for Oregon’s welfare reform law to pay dividends. The reform also required a culture change in what welfare is all about.

“Our original focus was, ‘Tell me all the problems that you have and how little money you have and I’ll tell you all things you are eligible for to maintain you on public assistance.’

“Now the focus is very different. It’s, ‘Tell me about the things you do, what employment interests you have, and what we can do to get you there.’ There’s very little about what’s wrong. It’s, ‘We know you have some strengths. Let’s build on those.”’

In Idaho, the goal is similar.

“The kind of culture change that must take place is that we are trying to build a whole new relationship to say that welfare reform is about personal, family and community responsibility,” said Bill Walker, spokesman for the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.

“We are going to build a new relationship with the private sector to find jobs and job training.”

Welfare workers are recruiting employers to take a role in welfare reform. Billboards are going up in Idaho towns that say “Make Welfare Reform Work. Hire Someone.”

Case workers wear buttons in some Idaho welfare offices that read “WOW Works,” referring to the state’s reform motto, Work over Welfare.

“There’s some uncertainty because the changes are so big,” Walker said. “But there’s a lot of enthusiasm, too. People feel it’s the right direction, to get people working. Because through work, people can be self-reliant.”

In Washington, welfare reform is a chance to build a new system that offers a better deal both for recipients and the community at large, said Jerry Friedman, who oversees the state’s public assistance programs.

“It’s a window of opportunity it would be a shame to lose. The enthusiasm is high, the tools are there, and people are willing to invest in making this change.”

After Locke announced his plan last week, Friedman dialed up regional welfare directors around the state on a conference call to tell them about it.

“People were cheering,” he said.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo