Welfare to Work
Most welfare recipients are gaining full-time employment through Virginia's welfare reform efforts, but many are not holding onto their jobs for long. A report by the Virginia Department of Social Services showed that one-fourth of the welfare recipients failed to keep a job for three months, and about half are out-of-work within six months. Some of the common reasons given for losing a job are: instability of the family, low wage jobs with no benefits, health problems within the family, inability to meet work standards, and low educational attainment.
The Newport News Department of Social Services administers the state’s Welfare to Work program known as VIEW (Virginia’s Initiative for Employment not Welfare). The Federal government made sweeping changes to its cash assistance program in 1996 with the implementation of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act. This included repealing Title IV of the Social Security Act, ending the former entitlement program (Aid to Families with Dependant Children). The cash assistance program was renamed TANF, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, instituting a five year lifetime limit. In Virginia, a family may receive cash assistance benefits for a period of 24 months, followed by a 24 month period of ineligibility. Eligibility can be reestablished for a second 24 month period, and so on.
In Newport News, the VIEW unit provides a comprehensive approach to stabilizing families and assists parents to prepare for and obtain employment. A multitude of supportive services are provided to overcome work impediments, including transportation, child day care, job readiness activities, assistance with job leads and job search, access to continuing education services, on site substance abuse and mental health assessments, and volunteer work opportunities with community non profits. Since implementation in October of 1997, the Newport News Department of Social Services has served 5,799 TANF recipients. Of these, 4,446 individuals (77 percent) have found employment.
Congress recently reauthorized the TANF program through the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. More TANF eligible recipients are required to engage in work activities with the elimination of some exemptions and states must prove a 50 percent participation rate by October 2007 or face significant financial penalties.