Welfare's changing face: Off the dole, off to find work

Sara Garcia filled out online job applications at an employment office recently, jotting down her "job search hours" in the yellow logbook next to her computer.

When she returned home to White Bear Lake that afternoon, she continued scouring the Internet for work. She is required to do so 35 hours a week in order to get public assistance.

Garcia, 23, is too young to remember that the word "welfare" used to conjure up images of a lifetime dependency on the dole. Ten years after Minnesota -- and the nation -- launched the most dramatic overhaul of its welfare system, about two-thirds of the parents getting aid are working or searching for work, according to a new state report. On the average, they now stay on the system about two years.

However, more racial minorities and fewer whites now are on the system, according to Minnesota Department of Human Services reports. And even when families leave, their "stability" often remains precarious.

"For me this is a steppingstone to help me find another job," said Garcia, reflecting the sentiments of the new generation. "I wasn't finding something [a job] right away, so I thought I should apply. I'm certainly not here for a lifetime."

Garcia is among the 99,000 parents and children now enrolled in the Minnesota Family Investment Program (MFIP), which replaced the old welfare system in 1998. Like most MFIP parents today, she has no idea that overhauling welfare was one of the hottest political issues of the 1990s.

"We've changed from a system of issuing checks to a system that rewards work," said Chuck Johnson, assistant commissioner at the Minnesota Department of Human Services, who believes the system is accomplishing its goals. "The message is different. The services are different."

The services now include job search assistance, child care, health care and some training. And a goal is moving parents out of poverty -- working parents get gradually reduced benefits until their income reaches 115 percent of the federal poverty line, which for a family of three is $17,600 a year.

Documenting mixed progress

Recent reports by the department show mixed progress for MFIP:

• Numbers down: The number of women and children on assistance fell steadily from 152,000 in 1998 to 99,000 today. State officials, however, are watching to see how the economic downturn affects those numbers.

• Few reaching time limits: Only about 12,600 of the 218,000 parents who enrolled in MFIP from 1998 through last December hit the new five-year lifetime limit on assistance. The total number of parents who qualified for an extension of benefits during that period is not available. But in December 2007, about one in four qualified because of an illness, disability or family violence.

• Wages down: Working families getting MFIP earned an average of $866 a month in December 1999, which adjusted for inflation would be $1,125 today. Similar families earned $795 a month in December 2007, or about $830 adjusted for inflation today.

And the racial makeup of recipients is shifting. In 1998, 49 percent were white, 27 percent black and 9 percent American Indian. In December 2007, the figure was 38 percent black, 38 percent white and 10 percent Indian.

Dependent on job market

When Garcia signed up for MFIP early this year, she had two years of college under her belt and a steady work history, mainly in restaurants and clerical settings. Like most new applicants with solid work experience, she was first enrolled in a new four-month program designed to divert people from the MFIP program.

When she couldn't land a job during that period, the mother of three enrolled in MFIP. When job prospects continued to be weak, MFIP paid for her to attend nursing assistant training. She completed it a few weeks ago and almost immediately began getting calls back from prospective employers.

Garcia's experience reflects one of the challenges for MFIP, say critics, which is that a parent's ability to find a job is very dependent on the job market and their particular skills. And MFIP does not do enough to train recipients so that they can earn adequate wages in the long run, they say.

"The labor market matters as much as all the policies in the program," said Deborah Schlick, executive director of Affirmative Options Coalition, a Minnesota coalition of 50 agencies working to reduce poverty.

Likewise, simply landing a job is not the key to a family's well-being, Schlick said.

"You can get a job for $6 an hour and think, 'Well, at least it's a job,'" said Erin Naastad, an MFIP parent recently scouting for jobs at Lifetrack Resources in St. Paul. "But then you start thinking, 'What the heck am I going to do on $6 an hour?'"

Garcia has mixed reviews of MFIP. She appreciates the job training and job leads she's received. But she thinks some rules are excessive, such as those requiring parents to job hunt at their Workforce Centers twice a week.

"The time I spend driving back and forth to the workforce center [in North St. Paul] I could be online at home," Garcia said.

For state officials, one of the surprises of the past decade was uncovering the health, mental health, domestic violence and other serious problems facing many families on assistance, Johnson said. Some of those parents are now receiving specialized services and training.

"Ten years ago, I wouldn't have known the depth of the challenges people faced," Johnson said. "And we didn't foresee the shift in [racial] composition of the caseload. ... We're still learning ... and responding."

Jean Hopfensperger • 651-298-1553