THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 29, 1996 TAG: 9603290500
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: FAIRFAX LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
More than 4,000 Northern Virginia welfare recipients must start looking for work next week in the largest test yet of Gov. George F. Allen's welfare-to-work reforms.
Stringent work requirements take effect Monday in the state's most populous and ethnically diverse region.
Three-fourths of the affected welfare recipients are young women with little education or work experience. Many do not speak English well.
``This is the largest region to come on line so far, so we are certainly challenged just by the numbers,'' said Sue Rowland, director of human services at the Northern Virginia Planning District Commission.
The Virginia law requires able-bodied people with children older than 18 months to work. Cash welfare payments end after two years. There is a cap on the amount a family receives, no matter how many children a woman has once on welfare. Teenage mothers cannot get a check if they live on their own.
Allen estimates his reform package will save $130 million over four years by forcing thousands of welfare recipients into the work force and cutting benefits for those who remain.
Allen, a Republican, has promised to eventually put 48,000 of the state's 74,000 welfare recipients in jobs.
The work requirement of the law that took effect last July is being phased in over four years. A rural five-county area around Culpeper was the first test site. Northern Virginia represents the first expansion into a major urban area.
There, welfare workers will be competing against similarly skilled workers in a region with a strong economy and unemployment averaging between 3 percent and 4 percent.
An estimated 2,500 jobs are created in Northern Virginia monthly. But about half require a college degree, something few welfare recipients possess.
The major jurisdictions in Northern Virginia began planning for the change about a year ago.
In Fairfax County, social workers surveyed more than 200 companies about hiring welfare recipients and asked what skills they needed.
Fairfax hired a private contractor to run resource and training centers where recipients can compose resumes and pick up telephone messages from interested employers.
The county, with about 1,800 welfare recipients to enroll, will post resumes of eligible welfare recipients on a special World Wide Web page later this year.
Alexandria plans regular support group meetings for the nearly 700 people moving into the workplace. The city also set up a network of churches and community organizations to provide after-hours child care, transportation and other services.
Arlington County plans to pair about 690 eligible workers with employers using telemarketing and direct-mail techniques.
In Loudoun County, about 140 welfare recipients are affected. Officials there applied for a $90,000 state grant to help cover transportation and other costs for new workers in a county with little public transit.
Prince William County is recruiting volunteers from among the private work force to serve as role models for welfare recipients unfamiliar with the working world. by CNB