LWVCT FALL CONFERENCE 1999
The Aftermath of Welfare Reform:  Successes and Challenges
Summary by Sarah Morehouse from the Fairfield Voter*

Twenty-eight Leagues were represented at the Fall Conference on 11/13.  For over four hours we were given an array of facts and figures, some most disheartening, about Connecticut's working poor families.  Since 1996 when Congress passed the welfare reform law which ended needy families' entitlement to assistance and promoted work over welfare, what has happened to Connecticut's poor families?  Here are a few facts:
  1. The welfare case load has been reduced by 43%.  Of those still on welfare (35,000 families), 40% cannot work and 48% are working but need welfare assistance.
  2. The percentage breakdown of Connecticut's working poor families are:  Hispanic 32%, Black non-Hispanic 22%, and White non-Hispanic 46%.
  3. Even though most parents are working, the child poverty rate has increased from 7% in 1989 to 19% in 1995.   Connecticut's national rank in child poverty fell from 2nd to 29th.
  4. According to a Department of Social Services report from December 1998, the average hourly wage for a Jobs First participant is $6.37/hr. or $676/month.
  5. The average monthly rent for a 2-bedroom apartment in CT is $781/month or 78% of a minimum wage earner's monthly income.
  6. The lowest cost for infant care in CT is $102/week or 45% of the annual earnings of a parent making minimum wage.  (Statistics from the CT Alliance for Basic Human Needs.)
With these statistics confronting us, we considered why the wealthiest state in the wealthiest country in the world has this record and what we can do about it. Pat Wilson-Coker, recently appointed Commissioner of the CT Department of Social Services, reported that the emphasis of CT's Jobs First Program was that everyone should work and that welfare was a temporary help to those whose pay checks did not come up to a certain level ($13,000 for a family of 3).  The requirements are that a single parent must work 25 hours a week and 2 parents must work a total of 35 hours. The Commissioner said that 21% are working 25'hours/week and 21% are working more than 35 hours/week (full time).  The rest are in between.  The Jobs First Program emphasized the fact that it was a family responsibility to provide for children aand that children should see their parents work. She thinks that the program has had an important impact and that people have risen to the challenge.

The Honorable Marie Lopez Kirkley-Bey, a four-term Democratic representative from the 5th District in Hartford was not as positive about the results of the Jobs First Program.  She described her experience as a former welfare mother living in public housing.  She now represents the poorest district in the state in which 70% receive state aid:  50% are Black, 40% are Hispanic, and 10% are Anglo.  She said that Hartford is number one in teenage pregnancy and that girls never finish school. The 19-page document for welfare assistance is daunting for them. Case workers cannot do their jobs, transportation is a major
barrier, and there is not enough financial provision for day care.  She sees education as the only way out of poverty, a theme which was emphasized by the next two speakers as well.  Kirkley-Bey urged us to be active advocates in Hartford, pointing out that of the 151 members of the General Assembly, only 45 are urban legislators.  She suggested a 'Seniors for Children' movement.  Women are now more impoverished and less educated than ever.  Children are at the bottom of the food chain.

Shelly Geballe of CT Voices for Children presented her case with a publication:  Financial Impact of Welfare Reform on CT Families.  This impressive publication documented the condition of poor working families in Connecticut and offered solutions for making better investments in our poorest families.   Geballe said that day care for children is vital, but the state subsidy is only $325/month which is not enough for many families.  Hartford parents cannot get into the school system.  The poor today are disenchanted and helpless.  Since her solutions to the problem of poor working families are similar to those of the next speaker, I will summarize them together.

The luncheon speaker, Leslie Brett, Executive Director of the Permanent Commission on the Status of Women, traced the history of the American family from the farm to the industrial city where mothers had to leave home to work.  She said that the Jobs First Program is a good idea, but not funded properly.  Full time minimum wage gives a family of four $12,000/year to live on.  This is 74% of the federal  poverty level and is not enough to live on in CT.  There is not health insurance or child care.

The Solutions made by Wilson-Coker, Kirley-Bey and Brett are: