Today the DC Fiscal Policy Institute and SOME (So Others May Eat) released Voices for Change: Perspectives on Strengthening Welfare to Work From DC TANF Recipients. The authors took a unique approach by conducting focus groups of TANF recipients and interviewing workers at social service agencies who help them. Kathryn Baer writes in her Poverty and Policy blog that the report is pioneering because it describes how the program can be improved but also because the authors conducted the focus groups to hear from the people who are affected the most by this program.
The Washington Post also came out with an article today that focused on the report’s findings that although TANF recipients might be given specific job readiness skills such as interviewing tips, these skills are offered according to a “one size fits all approach,” and the training may not address other fundamental issues such as mental health treatment that would help them.
I had a chance to read the report and attended a forum hosted by both organizations, and what intrigued me the most was learning that the vendors who contract with the district to provide services for those on TANF actually face disincentives to refer them to education services.
While these vendors are paid the same amount whether a client is attending an education or work activity, vendors can receive as much as $1200 per recipient “only when the client finds and retains a job – any job for up to six months. Neither vendors nor TANF recipients receive a bonus for meeting an education goal.” Because of this, the authors note, there is no incentive to place clients in jobs that last for more than six months or provide them with services such as education or further training which would help them keep their jobs for a longer period.
This is what some of the recipients had to say about how they are treated regarding their educational needs:
They don’t offer you school. It’s like well, yeah, you can go to school but we really want you working so that you’re off TANF.
They just want you off TANF . . . As soon as you say something about school, they’re like “Oh no, you don’t really want to work.”
The authors also note that the education and training referrals that are made are done in an inconsistent and unclear manner. According to the report, one service that helps clients, the Income Maintenance Administration, refers some recipients to a program called PATHS to receive adult basic education instruction and job training, but “It is unclear from the IMA Policy Manual, however, how IMA chooses individuals for this program. One participant who referred to PATHS suggested that it was simply the ‘luck of the draw.’”
I had a chance to talk with Joni Podchun, one of the authors of the report who works at SOME, and she told me that it is also unclear to recipients whether taking adult education classes counts towards the requirements they need to receive benefits. In some cases, taking classes might count, but the recipients are not told when they count or when they don’t. She also told me about a recipient who decided that she was going to take classes regardless of the consequences because she desired to improve her education for herself and for her family.
The report’s landing page also contains a good summary of the findings and recommendations. Some of the specific recommendations for adult education include the creation of grants for adult basic education, English as a Second Language and GED classes for TANF recipients.
What do you think?
Ben Merrion is the Literacy Outreach Specialist at the Adult Literacy Resource Center located within the DC Public Library. He has over 14 years of experience teaching GED preparation and teaching adults how to read, primarily working for nonprofit programs in Washington, DC. He provides information and referral services to adult learners and adult education programs, develops reading and critical thinking workshops for the ALRC, recruits volunteers for adult literacy programs, and coordinates outreach events in various DC communities. He is currently using social media including Facebook and Twitter to help heighten the need to support adult education programs in DC.
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Thank you for the overview, Ben. Much appreciated.
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