Table of Contents

This descriptive report of the study’s findings was written for the reader interested in gaining some depth of understanding and insight into the cumulative statistics that tell us overall what is happening to the welfare population of Miami-Dade County, but not necessarily how or even why it is happening. The report first offers a summary of the hardships experienced by the women in this sample. The rest of the data reported concentrates on individual variation in circumstances and behaviors of the respondents. Not reported as a hardship, but clearly demonstrated as an obstacle to nearly all respondents is their relationship with the WAGES program. Lack of information about transitional benefits and low levels of provision of these benefits have confounded the attempts of most of this sample to move from welfare to work.

Welfare reform has been hailed as a momentous, even revolutionary change in how the U.S. government addresses the needs of the poor. Preliminary reports on welfare reform are generally positive, although with qualifications. This report, based upon a qualitative analysis of 35 women who have left welfare in Miami Dade County, adds to those qualifications.

Following in the footsteps of the report of national studies by the Children’s Defense Fund and the National Coalition for the Homeless entitled "Welfare to What?" this pilot study focuses on a small sample of 35 from among the thousands of Floridians who have left welfare between October 1996 and April 1999. Specifically, it asks precisely the question: welfare to what? At present very little is known about the well-being of those who have left welfare. Until the spring of 1999 when the first survey of actual welfare leavers in Florida was reported, findings were restricted to official state data on employment and case load reduction, which along with the survey data have been impressive C with qualifications. The human stories of adaptation, coping, actual well-being and survival remain untold. Service agencies fear the worst, while the former director of Department of Children and Families for Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties suggested in the Miami Herald that many former welfare clients may be "making it" in the county’s thriving underground economy. In fact, no one knows how most former welfare clients are "making it."

This study begins to document what is happening to those families which have contributed to the caseload decline in Miami-Dade County. It also offers insights into the most distressing statistic to date because some of the respondents in this study are among the more than three-fourths of welfare leavers who have returned to welfare in the county.

Most importantly, the report finds that nearly all the women have little idea of the transitional benefits that are supposed to be available to them. As a result, while many woman have found work, they are worried about and frequently have suffered problems with finding adequate health coverage and child care. Indeed, most women who participated in this study have encountered some form of hardship since welfare reform was introduced. Most frequently, women lose their phone service, while others suffer more severe deprivations such as losing housing or having their utilities cut-off.

In spite of these difficulties, these women support welfare reform. They believe in the value of work. Nevertheless, the work they find is almost always insufficient to support them and their families. The State of Florida anticipated these difficulties when it authorized transitional benefits, including medicare coverage and child care and public transportation subsidies for former welfare recipients. Unfortunately, to too many former welfare women, these benefits are unknown or only promises. They are not yet supporting the transition from welfare to work as the state had originally designed.

Contrary to the common stereotype of young women having babies solely to collect benefits, we found women who profoundly care for their children. In spite of the numerous hardships these women have encountered, they continue to hold their children as close as possible. Moreover, the most important source of support for these women in the welfare reform era comes not from food banks or emergency shelters, but from extended family (including some absent fathers) who stretch their already meager resources.

This report also finds considerable and important diversity among the welfare population. While all the women want to work, they have differential success in finding it. For some, the fear of losing benefits was sufficient to push them into finding work, much as many who supported welfare reform had hoped. Others had received education and training under previous welfare programs and were ready to move into the job market. Others, however, were in the middle of training and welfare reform aborted their efforts at self-improvement through education. Welfare reform threw them into the job market before they had a chance to finish their training and thus before they were ready to really take a step forward. Still others resist what they perceive as the demeaning attitudes and demands of the welfare bureaucrats and not surprisingly these are the ones most likely to be sanctioned and lose their benefits first.

The Pilot Project: A Description

This study is an initiative of the Dade County Human Services Coalition whose members are optimally situated to both find and communicate with current and former WAGES recipients experiencing unmet needs. Within each of the participating agencies one or two professionals volunteered to administer a survey protocol to former or current clients. Some of the respondents have returned to welfare, the others have not. Some are taking advantage of the services of the member agencies, while the others are not.

Composed of five pages of questions, the survey protocol includes questions culled from other surveys administered in other parts of Florida, as well as questions suggested by members of the coalition. The questions were selected to focus on identifying the range of hardships and coping strategies. Stemming from concern for the impact of welfare reform on children, one set of questions emphasizes issues related to childcare and parenting. Another set of questions elicits income and expenditures, a focus designed to determine if former public assistance recipients are able to earn a living wage after leaving welfare. Numerous questions selectively borrowed from surveys already administered in other parts of the state allow comparison of responses from this study. Notably questions about hardships were borrowed from the "Survey on the Impact of Welfare Reform on Families in Florida" part of the Florida Inter-University Welfare Reform Collaborative Project and from the "Welfare Reform Monitoring Project National Survey" of the Children’s Defense Fund. The actual protocol used for this study is included as Appendix B.

This study used a qualitative approach to the interview, which lasted from twenty-five to forty-five minutes. Interviewers were instructed to treat the questions in a conversational, open-ended manner, but to follow the protocol in its prescribed order. The entire interview was tape recorded with the interviewee’s permission . The recordings were transcribed for analysis. All respondents were recruited on a completely voluntary basis and promised total anonymity. At the end of the interview each respondent was offered the opportunity to join the Human Services Coalition (HSC) in its public efforts to explain welfare reform from the client’s perspective. Those who agreed were asked to sign a form granting permission to be contacted by HSC in the future. About one-third of the respondents accepted the invitation to be contacted in the future while the others preferred to retain their anonymity. For the reports emanating from this study, however, no respondent’s identity is revealed. Only first name pseudonyms are used. The ethnic labels used in the following report are those used by the respondents when asked their ethnic identity. Interviews started in mid-December 1998 and were completed in late April 1999.

The sample of 35 was not selected in a manner that can claim scientific representativeness of the larger Florida welfare or former welfare population. Nevertheless, the small sample offers a starting point to understand the range and complexity of hardships being experienced by those who have left the WAGES program. Accordingly, this study carefully limits its goals and its subject population to effectively allow it to authoritatively begin to answer the specific question: What is the range of hardships being experienced by individuals and families who have left welfare for some period of time since October 1996. In fact, in addition, these respondents offer some insights into why there is such a high recidivism rate among former TANF clients in Miami-Dade County. We emphasize strongly that these results demonstrate that there is no single, typical welfare reform experience. Different kinds of people have responded differently. Our goal is to document the range of those different responses to welfare reform.

Who are the Respondents?

A description of the age distribution, household composition, educational background, employment status and residential circumstances of this sample is offered as Appendix A. Overall, the sample appears to be generally representative of Miami-Dade County’s welfare population with the important exception that it has a slightly higher proportion of African American women than the general welfare population for Miami-Dade County.

What are the Hardships Being Experienced?

Table I reflects the frequency of specific hardships experienced by the 35 women participating in this pilot study explicitly after leaving welfare in the case of the women who were employed or after losing TANF and/or other benefits because of work or sanctions. Of those who were unemployed at the time of the survey the incidence of hardships is higher in all but two categories, inability to receive necessary medical care and the need to put children in the care of others. We suggest that the women who were employed and reported doing without medical care were not covered by any health insurance in a higher proportion than the unemployed women most of whom retained Medicare coverage. Because of the relatively small numbers the need to put children in the care of others is close to the same for the two groups. On the whole this sample of women adamantly maintain both custody and maintenance of their own children.

The unemployed women experienced higher frequencies of the other listed hardships than the employed women, although the loss of telephone service is significantly high for both groups. We hypothesize that when financial resources are tight the first bill to not be paid is the telephone bill. It is also typically the last service to be restored when funds become available. Four of the women in the unemployed category simply never had a telephone because of lack of sufficient funds to get service connected in the first place. Not having access to a home telephone immediately puts an individual applying for jobs in a non-competitive position. For those who are working, but without a phone it means not being able to check on children at home after school and on weekends. Several women who lost utilities services reported turning to church benevolent societies and non-profit social service agencies for emergency help. More typically women report turning to family members in these circumstances.

Of those evicted because they could not pay the rent, all moved in with relatives or friends until they could find another place they could afford. We suggest part of the reason the employed women reported being evicted at a lower frequency than the unemployed women is that a higher number of those with jobs also live in subsidized housing or with a relative. None of the women in this study have ever gone to a shelter for housing, although several report being a "hair’s breadth away" from doing so. About a quarter of the employed women and about a third of the unemployed reported periods of time when they were unable to adequately feed themselves or their children. Several women who experienced food shortages resorted to churches and food banks to help them feed their families.

Fewer respondents reported not being able to adequately clothe themselves or their children. However, among those who did not list this hardship among their experiences, several women indicated that they were paying off debts for clothes they had to purchase to work in or that their children needed for school. Others indicated that they only shopped in thrift shops to keep clothes on their children’s backs. A few women have received clothing (and toys) from churches or non-profit social service agencies. Many women depend on their mothers and the children’s fathers for children’s clothing.

Repeatedly the women in this study indicated that they either received no transitional benefits, including childcare subsidization, or that they were having difficulty obtaining benefits for which they were eligible. They insisted on mentioning these difficulties in spite of the fact that the interview protocol did not address this issue. Both the state plan and the district plan provide a series of support services for WAGES participants in Miami Dade County. These services include subsidized child care through a combination of voucher and direct provider payment systems, provision of Medicaid coverage for both the participant and her children, transportation assistance in the form of a gas voucher or Metropass, and funds for uniforms, books, and other work-related expenses. Education and training are also supposed to be supported providing an individual is also meeting the 20 hour a week work requirement. As the following descriptions of individual women reveal the non-receipt of these benefits for which they are eligible are significant obstacles not only to economic self-sufficiency but also to simply avoiding crises of hardship.

From Welfare to What?

Women with Jobs

Full-Time, Permanent Employment

Of the 19 women working at the time of the interview, eight of the women were working full-time permanent jobs. Four were receiving full fringe benefits including health insurance, three were receiving partial benefits and one was receiving no benefits. In this group hourly wages ranged from $16.82 to $8.00. Another six women had full-time temporary jobs. None of these six jobs offered any benefits, although four of these workers received some combination of Food Stamps and or Medicaid. The hourly wages for these full-time, temporary workers ranged from $12.50 to $8.42 (avg. = $9.95). The last group of five employed women held part-time jobs with only one being permanent. They worked from 20 to 30 hours weekly at hourly wages between $16.25 and $5.50. Except for the one woman earning $16.25 per hour, the others all earned $6.50 per hour or less. One woman received a full benefits package, while none of the others received any benefits. One of these women working 30 hours weekly at $5.50 per hour received no government subsidies while the other four received both Food Stamps and Medicaid. Of all the women who held jobs at the time of the interview two women working part time jobs also worked seasonal part-time jobs. For the total group of working women hourly wages ranged from $16.82 to $5.50 with an average hourly wage for this group of working women of $9.75 and a mode of $9.00.

On the surface the women with full-time permanent jobs are the ideal successes of welfare reform, especially those who are also earning a full benefits package from their employers. By looking at the individual circumstances of the women in this sample we can glean a picture of the measures being taken by these success stories and their less successful counterparts to make ends meet.

We asked each woman to tell us their wages and where they garnered other financial or "in-kind" support. If a father was paying child support we asked for the specific monthly amount and if a payment had been made in the past month. We did not ask for the actual dollar amounts of other financial supports primarily because it was highly variable from one month to the next. Then we asked them to tell us their basic "survival" expenses including housing, utilities and food expenses in actual dollar outlay. In addition we asked them about other expenses, debts or "in-kind" obligations they might have, although we did not ask for dollar figures for these. Sometimes women volunteered amounts anyway. Because we wanted to have a sense of the threshold for an hourly "living wage," we converted all reports of wages into hourly wages, although most women reported their incomes in terms of hourly wage anyway. Then we converted the hourly wages into monthly salaries according to the number of hours per week worked by each woman. All expenses were similarly calculated by the month. Water and sewer bills are collected every three months in Miami-Dade County so we adjusted the amounts for this utility to one-month amounts. We include telephone expenses in the basic survival expenses only when a respondent was very clear about her monthly expenditure. For those women who were less than clear we indicate phone expenses as "other" because we found too much variation in the arrangements women were using to gain access to telephone service. For women living with others we distinguished between what they contributed to the household expenses from what the full expenses were and considered only their contribution as their monthly expenses. From this exercise we were attempting to determine only amounts of basic expenses and income to determine what general amount of discretionary cash was left at the end of each month for all other expenses.

We offer profiles of five women who are working full-time at permanent jobs receiving full benefits as examples of the hardships they were experiencing and the ways they were coping financially.

Marta is 34 years old with an 11^th grade education and is the sole support of a six year old daughter, her only child. She migrated from Cuba in 1980. She entered AFDC in 1992 at the end of a high risk pregnancy, which forced her to leave her job. At the same time her husband left for New York or Puerto Rico and she says, "I haven’t heard from him since." In January of 1998 she left the WAGES program for a full-time job as an eligibility interviewer at a social service agency where she continues to work. At first she was hired as a temporary worker, and after six months was hired permanently. She earns $8.66 per hour and has never received any transitional government benefits. She was only told she would be eligible for a bus pass. On her own initiative she applied for Medicaid for her daughter who is not covered by her employer provided health insurance, but was told she earned too much to qualify and could instead apply for the Florida Healthy Kids program. After being rejected for that program she reapplied and has been waiting "a few" months to be enrolled. The main help she needed after leaving welfare continues to be medical insurance for her child.

From the list of hardships in the interview protocol Marta indicated that because her mother took her in when her child was born she has no complaints except that every visit to the doctor for her child throws her into debt. Marta claims to be happy that she is supporting herself. She maintains, "Really, I didn’t have any problems at all, because this is what I wanted, to get started, to get back on my feet, and I’m doing good. The only problem I had was with medical insurance for myself and my daughter; and child care....when there is no school ‘cause I don’t have any other place to put her. You know, being at work and worrying about your child being in a park or just at home."

Marta’s Section VIII housing costs $350 per month, her utilities run between $60 and $70 and her phone about $30. She spends about $200 per month on groceries and another $100 for childcare (after school care) for total basic monthly expenses of approximately $1025. Her income is $1,384 per month and she has free transportation to work provided by fellow employees. She must cover all of her other expenses with the difference of $359 per month including any medical expenses for her daughter.

Bernadette is 34 and was born in Haiti, first coming to the US in 1983. She completed three years of college and is married with four children. Her aging mother also lives with her. She says of her husband, "....he’s not working. He used to work as a mechanic and he got into an accident and his back got hurt and he cannot do that type of work anymore. He’s not working anymore." He is also not eligible for disability. When we asked her what happened in her life that made her first apply for welfare she responded, "Right, I used to live in New York and I had moved to Haiti for awhile because of a domestic problem. When I got there it wasn’t possible to live there anymore, so I moved back to Florida. But when I moved back I really had nothing. It was like starting over and it was much harder starting over with new children. I had like almost four children, so it was very hard for me to get started, so that’s why I had to apply for benefits. Even for the medical bills, I wouldn’t have been able to pay these bills."

She started on welfare in early 1995 and in late 1996 she found her current job as a customer service representative on a temporary basis. Of the job she says, "The reason why I was able to get the job is because at the time they were looking for bilingual people and I guess they hired me on a permanent basis because of the ability to speak more than one language. And, that’s also a skill that has served me well. Also, I’ve had some computer experience and I’m familiar with some major software programs. That has helped me also on the job."

Bernadette works 37 and a half hours at an hourly rate of $16.82 or $2,524 per month. Her company also provides her with reduced rates for her telephone service and health benefits, although her mother is not covered by these benefits. Additionally, her three school-age children participate in reduced lunch programs and her pre-schooler is in Head Start. Her rent, which is not subsidized, is $815 per month, her electric bill averages $100 to $120 and of groceries she says,"Well, the ideal thing would be around a hundred per week, but usually it runs more." We calculated an average monthly grocery bill of $440 based on what she spent on groceries in the previous week. In sum her basic expenses come to $1,365 per month. From the difference of $1,159 she must pay for her phone and water and sewer bills, and she must support her car which gets her to work and her child to Headstart. She pays for private transportation to take her other children to and from school. After all other expenses Bernadette claims she is able to save a few dollars ($100 to $150) every month toward the time she may not have a job.

We asked Bernadette if she was informed about any help she might be eligible to receive after going off of welfare and she replied, "I did not. No one volunteered anything, any additional help to me." We also asked her what kind of help she wished she had been offered. "Ah, well, I wish I had help when I was setting up utilities and rent and everything. If I had help getting like maybe a reduced deposit on my electricity that would have been really helpful. Unless you’re already on benefits the utility companies don’t offer any help." About her life after leaving WAGES she says, "Definitely it feels much better to be able to provide for myself, but then at the time this stuff (benefits) was a lifesaver, let me tell you. When you have no source of income, you have major medical bills coming up, if you don’t have it, it’s like you’re putting yourself in a hole you’re never going to be able to dig out of. It was really great that I got this support while I was really needing it. Now it feels good not to need it. I don’t plan to ever need it again. I’m trying to save in the eventuality that if ever I get into a situation where I don’t have a job I never want to go back to where I’m starting from ground zero. It’s a terrible feeling, it’s like despair. The thing that really helped me the most was for HeadStart to pick up the children for me. That was like the turning point for me, because there was no way I could leave my Mom with four children. She’s elderly, there was just no way. If I hadn’t found (Headstart) I would have had to wait until the kids went to elementary school."

Elizabeth is 38. Born in New York she self-identifies as Hispanic and says she took a few credits in college. She has an 11 year old daughter and her 14 year old son is eligible for SSI, but their father does not live with them nor contribute financially. She started on AFDC when her son was born in 1985, and has gone off welfare about three times in the intervening years staying at each job for about two years before reapplying. Under the WING program she acquired training as a nurse’s aid and worked at two different jobs in that field until as she explained, "....one problem when you work in the hospital and the census is low (i.e., hospital occupancy is low), you get your hours cut. And my hours were being cut to where my checks were coming out to the minus. I was owing them a balance on my medical insurance.. So, I put up with it for about a year and then she (supervisor) started changing my shifts, where I had to pay somebody to stay with the kids. And I just wasn’t paying the bills with that job. So, I quit the job and I went to try to get unemployment and they said I didn’t qualify because it wasn’t a good enough reason to quit. I was getting minus paychecks and that wasn’t a good reason!" Instead Elizabeth and her two children subsisted on her son’s SSI check for a year, which also sustained her while she was working for negative wages. Finally she went back on welfare and at the same time took some computer courses. In the meantime she had found housing through the Miami Beach Housing Authority’s program, Family Self Sufficiency. Through that program she was placed in a job training internship, which turned into her present full-time permanent job as an administrative assistant/secretary earning $10.00 an hour and health insurance for her and her children, vacation pay and life insurance.

Elizabeth’s income is $1,600 per month. She pays $474 in subsidized rent (the unsubsidized rent is $910), about $65 for utilities and about $40 for phone and $20 for a lawn service. Her monthly grocery tab is around $800 making her monthly basic expenses about $1,399. She must budget her transportation and all other costs to come from the $201 difference between her income and her basic expenses. The SSI checks for her son stopped in 1998.

Elizabeth has had numerous encounters with the welfare system. However, she claims the only help she received after leaving WAGES was not from a government representative, but from a social worker employed by the Miami Beach Housing Authority’s Family Self-Sufficiency Program who informed her of her eligibility for child care support and child support from the father of her children. So far she has been unsuccessful in her attempts to make him pay child support. Both of her children have been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder and attend special school programs as a result. While on welfare she and her children received free counseling services through Jewish Family Services, which she claims uses a sliding payment scale. Now that she is earning a salary she feels she must forego counseling, which she believes would cost her $25 per session.

Full-Time, Temporary Employment

Dee (22) and Debra (43) are African American women working full-time, temporary jobs with no benefits, but they are receiving some government benefits. Both have had one or two years of college. After those basic facts their individual circumstances diverge.

The younger, Dee, is adamantly proud of being on her own for the first time in her life. She was living with her mother when she became pregnant and applied for welfare. On welfare from May of 1996 until August of 1998 Dee asserts that WAGES helped her with job placement. Since August 1998 she has been working for a county agency doing data entry for $8.42 per hour. She hopes the job will become permanent and that she may be offered benefits, but for now she is filled with self-esteem from her job and highly optimistic about her own and her daughter’s future. From her mother Dee receives significant help with transportation to childcare for her daughter. Her employed boyfriend, the child’s father who still lives with his own mother, contributes substantially to the child’s clothing, food and toys and sometimes helps Dee with transportation to work. Dee’s daughter’s childcare is a Title 20 facility and she pays $128 a month for childcare. Her other basic expenses are $450 rent on a non-subsidized apartment, $23 in electricity, which she keeps low by not using air conditioning. Her groceries average about $230 per month. She is also maintaining a car, but does not pay for water and garbage. Dee receives Medicaid for her daughter, but has no health coverage for herself. She does not receive Food Stamps. Her basic monthly expenses are $831 and her income is $1,348. From the difference of $517 she must pay for her phone, her car repairs and gas, laundry, her own clothing and all other expenses. She claims to be saving between $100 and $200 per month in an account she thinks of as being designated to her daughter’s future education. With some computer training and about a year at a steady job, Dee is very hopeful that she will not ever need to return to welfare. Nevertheless, she is dependent on the continuation of Medicare for her daughter and could suffer a serious setback if she becomes ill while not covered with any kind of health insurance. Still, Dee is buffered for the time being by the support of her boyfriend and her mother.

Debra has one teenage son still living with her, but receives no support from family or the child’s father about whom she says, "I guess he doesn’t have any money. We just don’t see him." She claims to have "not heard a word" when asked about any help offered when she went off of welfare after one year in the WAGES program spanning 1998 to 1999. She originally applied for welfare because her son came down with a life threatening illness, but was uninsured. She believed the only way she could cover his medical expenses was through government benefits.

When asked how she supports herself now she explains her present situation, "I got a job. But, it’s very hard to catch up. Because as soon as you get a job all your benefits are cut off...It’s either lose the job and run to the AFDC, or keep the benefits and don’t go to the job." Debra has lost Medicaid, but is receiving $154 per month in Food Stamps. She also lives in Section VIII housing paying $439 a month for an apartment that would cost roughly double that on the open market. Since leaving WAGES Debra has had her electricity cut off "once," her phone disconnected "once," has had difficulty buying clothes for her son and on several occasions reports not being able to receive necessary health care. Debra works as a clerk earning $10.00 per hour with no benefits. She has been in her current position only four months. It is her second job since last leaving welfare.

She has had difficulty with her son and been unable to obtain help or counseling for him. She describes one drastic but futile action she took to get help for him, "One time I sat down at the juvenile detention center, on a Thursday, for 4 hours crying, ‘I need some help! Please get my son a counselor. I see him getting in trouble.’ They told me, ‘Oh no, your son is not a criminal.’ Sunday he was arrested for looking out while his older brother stole a car. They called the police on me because I stayed there for four hours and refused to leave until I got help. But, they said that I could leave in handcuffs or I could walk. They had the police escort me off the property. Now he’s a statistic is what he is."

Wondering why she must take time off from her job and even jeopardize her employment to be re-certified, there is a bitter note to Debra’s comments about her treatment by WAGES, "I feel like they don’t utilize all the services that they make available. When it’s time to re-certify, why do I have to go in there if I’m working?" Debra also feels that the WAGES program missed the boat in helping her get off of welfare because of her past. She says, "Also, I’m a WAGES individual who has a criminal past. The things I used to do, I don’t do anymore. They could not help me because they could not clear my name. I had to go and tell WAGES how to do it. You go to the tenth floor and you have them pull out the misdemeanors and you can conceal up to 10 only. I had to do that myself. I stole something when I was 18 and now I’m 40-something. Regardless it does come out in your record, and it will stop you from getting jobs."

Elaine, who describes herself as Hispanic, lives with her husband and three children, ages 11, 6 and 3. They moved to Miami from Denver in 1998 and received full welfare benefits for four months until he found a job. For herself, Elaine aspires to finish her Bachelor’s degree, but says more importantly, "....I want to get my own business started. And, my husband is working, so I kind of have to work around him. I have to find hours when he’s not working so I can be home to watch my three year old, so we don’t have to deal with day care, ‘cause that would be kind of expensive." Also, in Denver her older child was in subsidized childcare facilities that Elaine believed were overcrowded with poor supervision of the children, which has made her cautious about submitting her children to childcare facilities.

With her husband working a full-time temporary job earning $9.00 per hour with no other benefits, she shares Medicare with her husband and her children are fully covered by it. They also receive $220 in Food Stamps and are living in Section VIII housing. While on welfare and again since losing TANF, they have had to borrow from Elaine’s aunt to pay the rent. Elaine adds, "Groceries are always hard. Sometimes we have to get help from family or from churches." She also indicated that she has sometimes relies on food banks.

She has two debts looming. She explains one is for clothes, "I still owe money for clothes I bought with a card, ‘cause I was (working) in an office and needed clothes for work." The other debt is owed to the State of Colorado for not reporting earnings while receiving benefits. She explains her predicament, "They had helped me through school and pretty much I was done with the program that I was on. It was like a transition program. It would help me get through school and then afterwards I would have to look for a job. During that transition time I was working and going to school, plus I was doing another job with the day care.......We were almost afraid to say anything about any kind of changes because they would take away from you before you were even stable...they take away your food stamps or they take away whatever money they give you and the job isn’t stable yet. When I was going through the transition program I got a temporary job. The temporary job was only gonna be like maybe four months. Then it lasted a little bit longer, but I wasn’t sure it was gonna last longer. But then I was afraid to say on my status report how much I was getting or how long I was planning on being there because I didn’t know. If I said, ‘yes’ then they would take away all my food stamps and all my money....I was still in school and had my temporary job, but didn’t know how long that job was going to last."

Elaine and her husband pay $643 per month for subsidized housing, about $100 for utilities and their grocery expenses average $300. Their monthly income counting Food Stamps is $1,440 and their basic expenses are $1,043. With the difference of $397 they must pay for their telephone service, transportation to work for her husband, payment on their debts, and all other expenses, except health care.

Another set of women are working full-time, temporary jobs with no benefits and receiving no transitional government benefits.

Page is a 57 year old grandmother caring for her teenage grandson. She says the child’s father does not help support him "because he is in prison," and the mother is unable to support herself. Page explained her need to go to work as, "My husband was the supporter of his family, so when he died I had to go back to work. I needed insurance for my grandson, and because of him I had to (apply for welfare)." During 1997 and 1998 Page received government benefits, including Medicare, for her grandson. But then she says, "They wanted me to come in and be re-certified, but I didn’t. ...I was working. But, then they discontinued the Medicare. And, I just hope my grandson doesn’t get sick, because that means he do not have any health coverage." Additionally, since losing Medicare for her grandson Page has had her electricity cut off "once," lost her phone service "about three times," had problems buying clothes for herself and her grandson and she has gone without treatment for gastrointestinal problems. She has never fallen behind in her mortgage payments.

She believes that through WAGES she is eligible to upgrade her data entry and telecommunications skills with additional computer training, but has been unable to get access to such training through her caseworker. Page describes herself as a Black woman, born in Atlanta and having completed one year of community college. In her current job she has been working as a clerk for the county government earning $10.31 per hour with no benefits. She has no other sources of financial support or in-kind help.

Jennifer (38), who was born in Jamaica and came to the US in 1990, receives no transitional government benefits. However, she has found support from other sources. The father of one of her children contributes $200 per month in child support. The father of the other child lives in Jamaica and contributes nothing. She has also found a three bedroom, two bath home through Section VIII housing. In addition her youngest child is enrolled in Headstart, which is free.

After losing her job she began receiving full welfare benefits in late 1995 and left welfare in November 1996, just after time limits went into effect in October 1996. Jennifer was offered absolutely no help or information when she left welfare. She wishes she could have received Food Stamps at least for a while because she says, "Food is expensive." Since leaving welfare she was unable to pay her phone bill and lost service, and she accumulated debts for uninsured medical bills. She did find a public health clinic that offered a sliding scale and through the clinic’s pharmacy was able to buy necessary medicines at discounted cost. When she has run short of money for food or clothing her sister has helped her out with small gifts and loans.

Since leaving welfare Jennifer has worked at the same job for two and a half years as an eligibility worker for a volunteer program earning $9.47 per hour with no benefits. She also works at sales jobs during the Christmas holidays. She pays $223 in subsidized rent, about $100 per month in utilities, her phone remains disconnected, and she spends about $280 per month on groceries. Her childcare costs are $48 per month. Jennifer’s basic monthly expenses are $651 and her income is $1,716. With the difference of $1,065 she supports a car, pays off her medical debts and recurring expenses and covers all of her families other needs.

Kathleen, who is in her mid-forties, explains why she applied for welfare, "I’ve been on only one time, and that was from March of ‘98 until November of ‘98, when I started working. (Before that) I wasn’t working. I used up all my savings. I still hadn’t found a job. I was on zero. The lights had been disconnected, the water, the telephone. It was a desperate situation, so that was the only reason." Additionally, her daughter had to move in with an older daughter to relieve expenses and Kathleen relied on food banks to feed herself. She purchased all clothing from thrift shops.

Kathleen has a Master’s degree and describes her job, "I tutor middle school students in reading, and provide a Life Skills Management Training Program.....But, this job is only a temporary job. It’s not a permanent job. So, at the end of June this job will be over. Hopefully they’ll be funded and they’ll start again in September." She explained that benefits are available through her job, but she would have to pay for them and does not believe she can afford them. Her hourly wage is $12.50. In spite of her relatively high level of education she explains another problem that prevents her from either getting her social work license or being hired at other jobs, "...part of the problem with that was when I had financial problems there was an incident with Home Depot. They pressed charges, so I’m on probation for a worker’s check charge; and that’s a third degree felony. That knocks you out of a lot jobs." Kathleen only has one daughter still at home. Her daughter just turned 18, graduated with honors from high school and is the recipient of a four year university scholarship.

About help from family she explains, "My kids and I have not seen their father in 17 years. My husband is an immigrant. He’s Nigerian - West African. And the marriage ended in West Africa and I came back to the States with my children. Before I came back to Miami I had very close friends who helped me a lot. But, since I came back to Miami, it’s been primarily me and the kids, because my relationship with my immediate nuclear family is not a good one. My parents are divorced. My father was my primary support, and one of the reasons I came back to Miami was because he was getting older. He subsequently passed, so I don’t have any support."

When asked how much her housing cost Kathleen told us, "Luckily nothing, because the house is paid for. But, there is a financial setback. I’m behind two years in taxes and insurance." Her utilities cost $200 per month and she has debts from plumbing repairs. She does not use air conditioning to keep her electricity bill lower. Her phone is disconnected pending payment of back bills. Since leaving welfare for employment she has received emergency help from the benevolent society of her church to meet utility bills and used food banks and for what should have been a doctor’s office visit she had no other option but the emergency room at Jackson Memorial Hospital. When we asked her what her income is she referred to her take home as, "About $2,000. But, I have a lot of bad bills that most of the money goes to."

When Kathleen became employed and left welfare she received no information about possible eligibility for transitional government benefits. Even so she attempted to apply for Medicaid but found her applications were misplaced. She says, "...after I started working, they set an appointment, and I called them, told them I couldn’t come in at the time that they had set me in. They kept telling me to call back and call back and I never got anybody. So, they cut off the benefits, and I wasn’t sure whether I would qualify for anything.. So, I applied and I took in all the documentation, but the worker didn’t follow through and the case was closed again. So, now I’m in the process with the supervisor to get the worker to follow through and she’s supposed to do that. I still have to call them back (repeatedly). I found out after I went to that conference that you could qualify for benefits." Kathleen is referring to a public education conference held by a coalition of non-governmental service agencies. She has applied for, and is receiving Food Stamps and a bus pass and is attempting to obtain a meeting with a WAGES worker to receive help to learn Spanish and upgrade her computer skills.

About her probationary status she has basically not told her employer, although her probation officer insists that she do so. She says, "Well my understanding is that I’m still a part of WAGES. There’s supposed to be the effort to supply support for me so that I don’t have to go back and apply for public assistance. But, my probation officer tells me that I have to notify my employer about my probationary state and I’m afraid that if I do I will lose my job. That’s my concern. It would be helpful to learn a second language and upgrade my computer skills so I can start a business......It’s like they work against you keeping your job. There are other jobs that I could’ve had but because of this (probationary) situation I couldn’t. I was accepted at a job at Southern Bell. I was interviewed and everything until they came to that....I don’t know how long this (probation) process lasts. They’re supposed to have this program connected with WAGES, and I filled out all the paper work, but now I have to call them again."

Part-Time, Temporary Employment

The last set of employed women are working at part-time, temporary jobs. At the time of the interview in December of 1998, Shaniqua, who describes herself as a 28 year old, Black native of Miami, was just finishing a probationary period in her first job as a licensed practical nurse and anticipated working 24 hours per week at an hourly wage of $11.63. In another month she will be eligible for a full employment benefits package. Her three children include twins of three and a fifteen year old. She and her children were on welfare for a year and a half until October 1998, because she had decided to go back to school full-time.

After two months of employment she still doesn’t know about Medicaid, "Well, they haven’t told me, I think I’m gonna get it for a transitional year." The prior month she received Food Stamps for the first time, but is uncertain for how long that will continue. She thinks they may continue "probably about a year." Through the WAGES program she received money for books while in school. Shaniqua feels she is well-informed about transitional benefits and when asked what additional help she wishes she had been offered, replied, "No, no I think it was sufficient - what they were offering was more than generous." She also receives help from Child Development Services who pay for the daycare for her twins. The daycare is within walking distance of her mother’s home where she and her children are living.

Shaniqua is also well-supported by family. She says, "My mom helps me out, she gives me a place to live for free and helps me babysit." Shaniqua gives her mother $100 a month, does not pay anything toward utilities or phone and spends about $400 per month on groceries. In addition, the father of her toddlers gives her $450 per month toward their support. With Food Stamps her monthly income is $1,541 while her basic expenses are $500. With the difference she must pay for transportation to work, her uniforms and all other expenses.

Felicia is a 56 year old Black woman born in North Carolina, who is a high school graduate. Except for help from her mother and sisters she is the sole support of her four children. She explains their father’s relationship to the family, "I have a restraining order. He can’t come near me or the kids. I have the papers coming for child support, but right now he can’t come near me or the children."

Felicia first started receiving public assistance in 1995 when her husband went to jail and his support for the family ceased. In February 1998 she found one part-time job delivering newspapers and in September 1998 she found another part-time clerical job. The two jobs combined give her 20 hours work per week and a combined hourly wage of $16.25, but no employment related fringe benefits. When asked what transitional benefits she was receiving she indicated, "Yes, they still give me Medicaid. Now, they got me covered because now I’m doing more volunteer work. It’s through the WAGES program. They give you this book, you pick out what you want to do, four hours a day. So, I did five months (starting back) in November. I got frustrated because I did these five months and they forgot about me. Nobody contacted me nor told me what to do. And, I just stopped. I just recently went back again. We also receive $280 in Food Stamps." Felicia learned from other sources that she was eligible to receive a bus pass or a gas voucher for a car. She explains that according to the WAGES program the government never officially designated her as having left WAGES, "My job that I have now, they don’t consider it a full-time job. I’m in the program now to get a full-time job. The part time job they don’t count for WAGES.

Since she started working and no longer receives TANF checks Felicia had her phone service disconnected, "...more than once, about three times." She also has some difficulty buying the clothes she feels necessary for her children. Her combined sources of income, including Food Stamps reach $1,580 per month. Her basic expenses reach $796 and include rent of $486 plus utilities of just over $100 and groceries of approximately $200 above her Food Stamps. Her mother cares for her only pre-school aged child free of charge and her older children do not attend any after school programs. From a difference of $784 between income and basic expenses she supports a car, buys clothing, pays for laundry, hopes to re-install her phone service and pays all of her family’s other expenses.

Joan who is 40 came to Miami from the Bahamas when she was eight years old. With an eighth grade education, she is now the mother of three children ages 14, 12 and 2. The fathers of her children do not help her financially. She says of one, "he gives me nothing, he’s incarcerated." When her last child was born in March of 1996 was the last time Joan started receiving full public assistance and that continued until she found her 20 hour a week job earning $6.50 per hour with no job related fringe benefits in September of 1997. She describes her job as an outreach counselor , "I talk to addicts and try to get people into programs and financial situations or anything I can to help them. Counseling, if they need counseling. I tell them where they can go to get counseling and what type of agency can help them for it." She lists filing as her special job skill and then adds, "I can talk to people, and, of course, I’m a good listener." She also admits she cannot read.

She is able to walk with her children to their school and to walk her two year old to childcare which costs $32 per month. She lives with her mother and contributes $250 toward rent and utilities. She also pays about $320 per month for groceries which feed the entire household including her mother. Although she receives Medicare and Food Stamps of $108, Joan says she sometimes does not have enough money for all the food her household needs. Including a monthly SSI check for her son, her income is $853 while her basic expenses reach $602. The difference of $251 covers all her other expenses.

When she got her job and lost her TANF check Joan says, "Yeah, they told me about the medicaid and the food stamps....I’m satisfied because I’m working. It’s not enough, but I’m learning how to earn my own money and I don’t have to depend on welfare." Nevertheless, Joan has had problems with the bureaucracy. When she became employed she claims that Lockheed Martin sent her a letter indicating that her benefits and childcare would be cut and that she would generally be sanctioned after her caseworker had told her he had re-certified her. She went to the Coconut Grove Family Services Center to get help interpreting the letter and that’s when she learned she was being threatened with sanctioning. She says she was confused and explains her time in the Lockheed offices, "First of all I went to Lockheed Martin and they put this thing in front of me. I have problems - I can’t read - so when they put this thing in front of me I couldn’t understand it. They just put me out there and I had told them before this that I couldn’t read, but they still sent me in a room with a bunch of people and I couldn’t read what it said in the letter, but they didn’t read it out loud. I thought they might read it out loud. But, also, when I got there they told me they can’t find my file so therefore they kept calling for someone else and every time I go up they tell me ‘I don’t have a file, I don’t have a file’." She never did get help to obtain tutoring to learn to read and start on the path toward a GED, which is one of her goals, nor did she ever receive a bus pass that she thought she might be entitled to.

Donna is a 34 year old Floridian with a high school diploma who describes herself as Black. Her five children are "16, 12, twins that are 10 and a four year old." She has been on and off welfare for several years, going off when she found a job and returning when she lost her job. Since March of 1997 (15 months) Donna has been working 25 to 30 hours per week in a large discount store as a cashier and in the office earning $6.55 per hour. Although this job is a permanent, part-time position it offers no benefits. During tax season she works 20 hours per week at a temporary job earning $6.40 per hour for a major tax preparation firm. During tax season she is able to get about two months of work at this job.

Childcare for her daughter is provided through a Metro-Dade subsidized program that costs $32 a month. She is pleased with the quality of care her daughter is receiving. The whole family is receiving Medicare and $425 in Food Stamps. She pays $126 per month for her Section VIII housing. The only serious hardship she reports is, "Of course, the five kids and the little jobs that I have, I had to let bills come undone to get their school clothes." When she lost her TANF check she received no information about other benefits or help she might receive from the WAGES program. Donna does not allow her grocery expenditures to exceed her Food Stamp allotment. Her total basic expenditures are $783 per month and her income is $808. She must also support a relatively unreliable car, which gets her to work. Her mother helps her meet her other expenses. The fathers of her children do not help financially. She says of one of them, "Well, he’s on drugs, so I don’t know." Her hope is to get a full-time job and keep working her seasonal job, but at present she is receiving no help to realize that goal, except her own initiative.

Unemployed Women

We also interviewed 16 women who were not-working at the time of the interview. On average, these women are only slightly younger than the women who were working. Many more of the non-working women have one or more pre-school age child. As a group they also have spent more overall time on welfare and more of them report having no job skills nor post-secondary education. One-half of them have had some vocational training compared to two-thirds of the working women who reported either some college credits or vocational training. Most of the women in this part of the sample had returned to welfare after losing a job or quitting a job to care for their children. Others have returned to full welfare benefits after a period of sanctioning left them with only partial benefits.

Velda describes herself as a Black American of 42 years with three children, ages 9, 8 and 6. She previously received government assistance for "seven or eight years." An abusive marriage, depression, pregnancy and the loss of her employment were the main events in her life that led her to re-apply for welfare. However, she is not without marketable skills. Her background includes: clerical training, nurse’s aide training, an OSHA-HIV class and an associate of arts degree.

Velda claims the reasons she is currently unemployed are that she cannot find a job and take care of her family at the same time; she cannot afford an after school program for the children; she has no transportation to get to work; and, she would lose Medicaid even though two of her children have asthma. Potential employers to whom she recently applied, she claims, did not hire her because she doesn’t have enough education.

The father of Velda’s children is out of the household now and not contributing to its support because he is in a rehabilitation program and on probation. With basic expenses of $456 per month, she survives on a $360 TANF check and $370 in Food Stamps. In the past year she was unable to pay her phone bill and her service was cut, She had to put her children in the care of an aunt for a month due to investigations of an "abusive household," was unable to adequately clothe herself and her children until she got clothes from a church, and her family was not able to receive necessary health care. Specifically, she was not able to buy blood pressure medication nor get medical treatment for her daughter or mental health care for her daughter’s "psychological problems." She refutes the investigation of an abusive household by stating that the charges were found to be unsubstantiated and she has her children with her again.

Velda wishes she would be offered some kind of help to be placed in a clerical job. and she would like help getting more training as a follow-up to the OSHA-HIV class she has taken. In the meantime she feels trapped, but says of her current household, " It could be better, but the love is there. I need to upgrade my house, make it look nice, get a good vacuum and upgrade our standard of living."

Pamela is the 30 year old African American mother of five children ages 15, 10, 8, 4 and 2. She has been on welfare twice, the first time was because she became pregnant and could not continue working. The last time was when she returned to welfare after losing her job in December 1997. During this time she continued vocational training started before she lost her job. She has training as a physical therapy technician and is attempting to take her state board examinations to be certified in respiratory care.

When we interviewed Pamela, she indicated most of her time was consumed with complying with the WAGES job application program. She says, "The reason why I’m not working is because the state is not paying attention to the fact that I’ve just completed 15 months training as a respiratory technician. I don’t have the time that is required to study for my state boards, and take those state boards. I’ve talked to many supervisors. My instructor offered me a position once I get my state board license. But, when you go down to WAGES, you know the state requires you to take this WAGES program, they don’t want to hear about you. They want you to get a job. They don’t care what job, what your qualifications are. Like I say they’re not listening to the person’s needs. What’s good for some is not good for others, because I feel that with my knowledge and my skills and ability that I fall into a category that they don’t place me in. Like they send you to (apply for jobs) at different hotels. I don’t want to work in a hotel." When we asked her what would be better she responded, "....I’m not asking them to pay for anything. I’m asking them to stop making me go down to apply for something (not appropriate to me). If they would say, ‘Pamela, since you have these skills and all you need is to study for this exam, instead of coming down here for the three hours a day to look for jobs that are not right for you, we make sure you get the studying in that you need so that there’s no reason why you can’t get a job.’ I would prefer that."

With a total monthly income of $615 (including $250 child support from the children’s father) and monthly basic expenses of $562, Pamela makes ends meet by living with her mother and relying on the WAGES program for childcare for her youngest son. She says, "That’s the main reason why I even am part of it (viz. WAGES). Not for the job experience because I have that. I’m a part of it because they help me financially keep my son in school." She has had to move in with her mother to avoid severe hardships. She states, "My mom. She’s the reason we don’t go without eating or the reason I’ve never been in a shelter. She’s the primary reason for us maintaining ourselves while I’m unemployed." When asked if she or her children were sick and did not receive necessary health care, she answered, "I’m not sure how to answer that. I would say no, but I have had problems with Medicaid paying when I was in the process of being re-certified. But, I’ve never been denied treatment, no." She explained, "They (Medicaid) were stating that I had another insurance and they’re not listening when clients call. They’re not listening when I explained to them that I was unemployed. I mean when I was working we changed insurance. The insurance they were claiming I had, I hadn’t had in over four years and I couldn’t have had because I’m not working. I couldn’t afford to have it. But, they’re not listening, they don’t care."

Both Pamela and Velda have job skills, but each needs different considerations to place them in stable jobs. Neither received information about transitional benefits when they left welfare for work and neither has received useful help toward finding another job. Pamela relates the attitude of her caseworker through two examples, "The first time that I applied for welfare I had just had my son, and I left there (the welfare office) crying because I couldn’t believe how rude and how nasty and how low somebody would make you feel just because you’re sitting on the other side asking for help to get back on your feet.....And then another experience, I was standing right by my social worker and she was talking to someone else. She didn’t know that I knew it was her and she told the young lady, ‘This is my last day of work and I ain’t trying to hear what no client have to say. It’s my last day and I’m not doin’ no work today.’ She was just nasty from the start." For both of these women dealing with welfare and the WAGES program has been one of their biggest obstacles to finding appropriate, stable employment and help with childcare.

Yoandra, a 26 year old mother of two boys ages 8 and 9, migrated to the US from Cuba in 1980. She was on welfare from 1991 when she was in tenth grade and became pregnant with her second child until January 1997 when she went to work for Sears. Of her 15 to 20 hour a week job she says, "I did customer service. I sold and did exchanges for Craftsman tools and I did demos." Yoandra has never completely been without some benefits since she became enrolled in 1991. Her employer required at least 1,000 hours of work by the end of the year to qualify for the company health plan. Yoandra did not quite get in 1,000 hours in her first year and was fired near the end of her second year. She kept her Medicaid coverage even though her TANF check and Food Stamps were reduced while she was working.

We asked her what differences she had noticed between the AFDC system and the WAGES program. She indicated that in 1996 she had returned to school in a full time program to get her GED high school diploma and hoped to continue on a full time basis to obtain post high school vocational training in nursing. However, she says, "Yeah, I was going to school....But then they said that for you to get the check I had to have some hours at work. So, I couldn’t go to school full time.....when it (WAGES) first came out the laws changed. So, I had to drop school, I got sick, I was depressed. This was in ‘96."

Yoandra continued to work toward her GED after getting her job at Sears by going part-time to night school. She continues the night school after losing her sales job, but explains that if she could have continued full time she would be finished by now and in the middle of the nursing classes she aspires to.

She also told us that in the past three months since she lost her job the childcare offered for free at the night school has changed, "...And then all of a sudden these people quit the childcare for a while and now they say they’re going to put it back. And I have to pay $2 a night per child, so that’s $8 a week only for two nights. And I’m in AFDC and I only get $109. That’s the high school for night programs. I’m almost done, but I’m really upset with the whole system! WAGES really strains people."

We asked her if she has been informed about any transitional services that she might be eligible for if she were to leave welfare by becoming fully employed. Her answer was, "No. I think once the time period is up you don’t qualify no more. I think I have another year." Yoandra keeps her expenses to a bare minimum of $548 per month by living in subsidized housing and using almost no electricity. Since her benefits were cut because of her part-time job Yoandra has had times when she was unable to adequately feed and clothe herself and her children. Instead of doing without necessary medical treatment, especially for her asthmatic son she explains, "Yeah, actually when he gets asthma I usually take him to the Palmetto Hospital. It’s usually when I run out of medicine. And (when he needs it ) I do the treatment constantly, like two or three times every four hours, and it doesn’t work when it’s really bad, and I’m usually running out (of the medicine) so I have to go to the hospital in the emergency room."

She has been divorced from her husband for eight years and in spite of a court order he has never given her any financial support. Her family has bailed her out with one $200 loan and gifts of milk and groceries, but always at the cost of them accusing her of being an unfit mother.

Yoandra’s situation offers an example of how a person on an education and vocational training trajectory became derailed with the advent of welfare reform. Although she persists, it is with reduced funding and something as seemingly insignificant as charging $2 a session for babysitting during the night school classes threaten to derail her. She is also poorly informed about what might happen to her if she finds a job before her time limits expire.

Valerie is a 20 year old Hispanic woman with a 2 year old and an infant of 4 months. Maria is a 32 year old Black woman with a 6 year old and a 2 year old. Valerie completed the eleventh grade and for job skills she reports she has "nothing." Maria finished the ninth grade and claims no job or vocational experience. Valerie’s last and only job was at Burger King, part-time while she was pregnant. Maria had a forty hour a week job at McDonald’s. Both women are living with men and both left their jobs because of childcare concerns. In Valerie’s case she gave birth.

In Maria’s case she could not afford childcare because her Food Stamps were cut from $303 to $12 per month and because of her shift hours. She explains, "OK, I had a job. You know with WAGES they prefer you find a job. So, I found a job workin’ at McDonalds from six in the mornin’ ‘til two in the afternoon. My son get out at two. The daycare I had my daughter in open at seven and I had to be at work at six, so I had no one to take her and I had no one to pick him up. So, what caused me to lose the job? Me not being able to get her there in time with the hours I had. I couldn’t change the hours I worked. Either way it didn’t work out, so I applied for childcare and they told me they couldn’t give me childcare because I was full-time. So, I had to quit my job to stay home with my children. See, they prefer you get a job, and I got a job, but they couldn’t provide the things that I need to keep the job. You see what I’m saying?"

Both Maria and Valerie have experienced serious material hardships both while working and since returning to welfare. They have been unable to adequately feed themselves and their children. Maria has also been unable to buy clothes for her children, has been unable to afford telephone service and most critically was forced to forge a live-in liaison with her male landlord to keep a roof over her head. Valerie was simply evicted after losing her electricity and water services. This happened while she was participating in the WAGES program, i.e., she was working part-time.

Referring to the WAGES program Valerie exclaims, "They’re putting you in debt. I’ve been through all this. I’ve had electricity cut off. I’ve had water turned off. I’ve had ‘Can’t pay my bills. Can’t buy food.’ And that’s when I went on welfare. I was pregnant with my second child. I tried and struggled. I went through the WAGES, but it felt like, ‘Just give me the bus pass and I’ll do my own thing.’ WAGES was not actually helping me. ......I had a Burger King job and they wanted to cut my benefits. I was only working weekends and pregnant. They told me if I didn’t do something they were going to cut it anyway. How can they make a pregnant woman get on the bus, take her daughter to daycare, then go look for a job when nobody wants to hire a pregnant woman? Welfare does help, but there’s a lot of things that need to be changed about the WAGES program."

Both Valerie and Maria are financially making ends meet now that they have returned full-time to welfare and they are personally caring for their children. Valerie was abandoned by her husband during her pregnancy, but he has now returned to the household. When we asked if he contributes financially she replied, "No. Actually he’s on the welfare program. He’s going through WAGES himself.....Me and him both get $362 a month and then we get $119 in Food Stamps. He also has Medicare as long as we have children." Valerie and her husband have applied for Section VIII housing hoping to bring down their rent expenses. In the meantime she reports that her mother helps, "We pay $450 for rent, and we only get $362, so my Mom sends us the rest of the money to pay the rent."

For Maria with no childcare costs or telephone and basic monthly expenses of $475 (including $175 paid as rent to the landlord she is living with) and a basic monthly income of $606, she is able to have about $130 discretionary money every month for car fare, laundry, clothing and all other expenses. Maria received no information about transitional benefits when she went back to work and was unable to obtain help with childcare. In talking to the interviewer about what happened to her she says, "The part about they trying to help Black women get off welfare. Here I am a Black woman trying to get off welfare. I got a job and that’s the reason they trying to stop me from getting welfare. It’s confusing if you ask me. (Why couldn’t they help me) until I get on my feet. (Instead) they cut me down to $12 (Food Stamps) when I got that job."

Maria says she would like help either getting a job or more education. She doesn’t believe if she gets a job on her own that pays what she was making at McDonalds that she will receive any transitional help to get her "on her feet," or financially stabilized

Valerie is not anxious to get back on the job market. Right now she says, "I’m letting my boyfriend look for work. I have a four month old baby. I’m recuperating from being pregnant." She is also leery of childcare for her two year old explaining, " I started taking her but every time she would see the daycare building she’d cry. Maybe it was somebody doing something to her, or maybe she was too attached to me. Every time I’d leave her there she’s hitting the teachers, screaming, panicking...The last time I tried to take her there she tried to jump out of her stroller. I can’t force her to be in a place. It was even hard for me ‘cause I still owe them money and I was working part time. I had to lie to Burger King, because they wouldn’t hire me if they knew I was pregnant. I had to walk to daycare, to the buses...."

Sherry, Betty and Jessica are all women who lost some of their benefits due to being sanctioned. Betty is a 40 year old Black American with a 12^th grade education. She is currently living with her boyfriend who contributes to the household expenses. She has five children, ages 17, 11, 5, 2 and 1 and was a welfare recipient for six years from 1992 to 1998. Originally she applied for welfare because she couldn’t find a full time job and have children. Since leaving welfare she supports herself with the SSI check for her son who has serious neurological problems and with help from her current boyfriend. She and her children are receiving Medicaid at the moment and her children also receive $360 a month in Food Stamps. She was not offered any help when she went off welfare except from her boyfriend. She was told she would get help in getting a job, but it hasn’t happened. She wishes she would have been given a chance to find something to fall back on, but believes there are no jobs that pay enough.

Jessica is a 26 year old Black mother of three children, ages 8, 5 and 2. The father of one of her children gives her $50 per month in child support. Her mother first applied for public assistance on her behalf eight years ago with the birth of her first child. When she was sanctioned, she and her children continued to receive Medicaid and they also receive $365 worth of Food Stamps every six months. Since being sanctioned Jessica supports her family by working at a restaurant and she is now "barely making it." She wishes she would have been offered some help with childcare, transportation to and from jobs (Metropass), and uniforms for work. She was not informed about any help she could have been eligible for after losing her TANF check and part of her Food Stamps.

Sherry who is 30 years old, identifies herself as "Black," and with an 11^th grade education is the mother of eight children, ages 15, 12, 11, 9, 7, 6, 4 and 3. Only one of the four fathers of her children provides support and that is $140 per month under court order. Her mother also helps her as she says, "Like a lot of times I run out of things, I need things, I can always call on her." Sherry also receives a SSI check for one of her daughters who is partially deaf. On welfare for nine years Sherry was sanctioned for three months for not bringing in paperwork to the child support officers handling her case. We asked her how she supported herself and her children for that time. "The only thing I could do is I receive SSI for one of my kids. We just lived on $496." She was not offered any help when she went off welfare nor has she received any information about help she might receive. She did enroll in a six month keyboard training course but dropped out after three months distracted by her need to try to provide gifts for Christmas. She gets some babysitting help from her mother and her 15 year old daughter is often in charge of her younger siblings.

Betty lost her phone service because she could not keep up with the bills and both Sherry and Jessica have not been able to afford to have phone service installed. Betty got behind in her water bill and lost water service. Both Jessica and Sherry lost their electricity because they could not pay their bills. Sherry says of the time she was living under sanctions, "I thought I was gonna be put out ‘cause they hadn’t given me an eviction notice and I wasn’t payin’ the rent. Somehow or ‘nother the people who was renovatin’ the apartment they had messed up and some more people came over and took over the property. And, that’s why I guess God was with me and I didn’t have to worry about them three months back rent that I didn’t pay."

None of these women sought help from shelters, churches, medical or legal services or food banks. They only received help from family and friends and they and their children all continued to be covered by Medicare. With little or no job experience, the women have much greater experience with welfare than with employment. Jessica who found a restaurant job says, "It made me realize that you can work for a living instead of waiting on a check once a month. You can get money every two weeks instead of monthly. Working is O.K." Still with a preschool age child she continues to have problems getting help with child care arrangements and waits and waits on the mail for an appointment to set up arrangements.

With an 11 year old subject to seizures and two pre-school age children, Betty who has some bookkeeping and accounting training knows she needs more education to upgrade her skills. However, she is dejected by the belief that she will never receive the help she needs with childcare in order to get that extra education and get a job. With eight children and no job skills, Sherry is not very interested in working. About childcare Sherry asserts, "Let me tell you something. My kids always be in the custody of me or my daughter or my mother, familywise....Really, I don’t trust nobody with my kids." Both Sherry and Jessica have been investigated by the Department of Children and Families for child abuse or neglect. Jessica claims, "...that some person called to tell lies about me not feeding my children and not paying rent." However, DCF did not remove the children from her care. Although her children are not having problems in school, one of them was caught shoplifting. Sherry says of her experience, "I was at HRS about five or six months ago. Somebody told them that I smoked crank and all this and that. I had to go to a drug program. I said I wasn’t on no crank or whatever. I just stopped goin’. I said there’s a God, he know I’m here every day with my kids, taking care of my kids. I ain’t doin’ no crack." None of her children have had problems in school nor had any run-ins with the law. Because of these experiences with DCF both Sherry and Jessica have become very defensive about the custody and care of their children.

In Conclusion

The three main reasons reported for unemployed status were 1. being fired from a job, 2. needing to quit to care for children, typically because of insufficient wages to pay for childcare or shift changes that made getting children to childcare impossible and 3.five women were subsisting without benefits which were lost when they were sanctioned for various forms of non-compliance. These unemployed women had very little or no knowledge of what kind of transitional benefits they are eligible for. We don’t know if those who went to work lost their benefits because they did not follow prescribed procedures for setting up an appointment with a caseworker. We only know that only one of them tried double-dipping (continuing to receive full benefits while also working). That was Valerie while she still lived in Colorado. The others appear to simply not know what procedures to follow and there appears to have been virtually no follow up done on their cases once they did not report in for re-certification.

For the women who were employed at the time we interviewed them we also do not know what procedures they followed for re-certification or application for transitional benefits once they found their jobs. We do know in the only two cases in this sample where job placement happened through a part of the WAGES program that transitional benefits were not immediately put into effect. Shaniqua was without Food Stamps for her first month of employment and after waiting two months still was not covered by Medicare. Dee was able to obtain Medicare for her daughter, but remains without health insurance for herself. Although both women have found low cost childcare, neither are subsidized through WAGES to cover their childcare expenses even though both are working at temporary jobs. For the women who experienced probationary periods on their jobs before being hired permanently, none received transition benefits. They also were ineligible for employer provided health programs, where available, during those probationary months.

The fundamental lack of both help and information about transitional benefits is consistent with the findings of a random sample telephone survey of people who had received cash benefits from the WAGES program during the period 1996 through 1998, but had subsequently left the program. Conducted by the Survey Research Laboratory at Florida State University and commissioned by the Florida State WAGES Board, that study, released in Spring 1999, reports on four WAGES Coalition Regions throughout the state. It says, "Many leavers are unaware of the benefits available to ease the transition from welfare to work, and respondents from Region 23 (Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties) are less aware than are respondents from either the statewide or the other regional samples." Indeed, in that study’s sample of 1,022 respondents in the Miami-Dade and Monroe County area, less than half (43.6%) knew they could get Food Stamps as a transitional benefit, just about half (51.9%) were aware they could get Medicaid for their children and only about one-third of the respondents knew that as adults they could be eligible for Medicaid or that they could get childcare assistance (34% and 33.3% respectively). These levels of awareness on these four measures were dramatically lower than for the other three regions investigated by this study [Crew, 1999].

Our qualitative pilot study of 35 individuals indicates the consequences to individual households of the low levels of communication about transitional benefits to clients and the lack of provision of those services. To cope with the resultant crises and hardships women have turned, as they always have, to family members, to churches and other non-profit social service agencies to scrape by, they have done without basic needs or they have returned to welfare. However, we are unable to provide many insights into why there has been such a widespread breakdown in both communication and provision of those services recognized both as necessary and amply funded at the state level.

A report also released in Spring of 1999 by the Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation (MDRC) about the implementation of welfare reform in four cities, including Miami (or Miami-Dade County), offers some insights into this gap in service provision which is more pronounced in this urban area than in other parts of the state [Quint, 1999]. Looking at the provision of services from the implementation perspective, MDRC also found that information was often not being conveyed or being conveyed in an incomprehensible manner. The report suggests one reason having to do with staff client interaction, "Both DCF (Dept. of Children and Families) and DLES (Dept. of Labor and Employment Security) staff made a clear distinction between telling clients about changes and talking to clients about how to deal with the changes. They emphasized that their role as a provider of information is to educate clients to make decisions for themselves. They reasoned that one objective of welfare reform is to get clients to take personal responsibility, which included dealing with policy changes. One DLES worker recounted a typical conversation with a client: ‘You are responsible for your life. The federal government is not responsible for you. If you can’t care for yourself or your children, it is not the government’s responsibility. It’s your responsibility.’ People always say, ‘Well, what am I supposed to do?’ I tell them I can’t tell you what to do with your life." (p. 120). The report goes on to conclude, "With the numerous policy and procedural changes implemented over time, staff have been overwhelmed with information. The basic messages that ‘work is necessary’ and ‘benefits are temporary’ are being conveyed by staff and understood by clients. However, the intricacies of policies, particularly those that benefit clients as they move from welfare to work, have not been explained well by staff or understood by clients."

The experience of the 35 women in this pilot study corroborates these findings from this longitudinal study of the implementation of WAGES in Miami-Dade. From the women in the pilot study we heard over and over again how they had received no information about eligibility for transitional help nor did they receive much help when they found out about eligibility from outside sources and attempted to make applications.

The chapter of the MDRC report that focuses on Miami documents many of the impediments faced by the implementers of the WAGES program. Until 1999 when other agencies became players the report points out, "At the heart of these welfare reform efforts are hundreds of staff from the two primary agencies, DCF and DLES. Both agencies have distinct cultures, missions, and standards. ...The key to the implementation of WAGES is the collaboration between the agencies. Yet, thus far, confusion, tension and a lack of communication between the agencies threaten the further implementation of WAGES." (p. 132) The report also notes that "the number of policy changes and continuing reinterpretations from Tallahassee have made staff feel overworked........Furthermore, there appears to be substantial movement of workers between offices, as well as internal reassignment, such as workers trading caseloads. These shifts added to the confusion about the new policies." (p. 133).

Most of the women in the pilot study appear to be some of the individuals who "have fallen through the cracks" caused by the many issues and problems involved in providing necessary services to women earnestly attempting to comply with the fundamental goal of moving welfare recipients into self-sufficient employment. Not a single woman we interviewed has been the recipient of TANF windfall money that the state has committed to spend on child care for WAGES participants as well as subsidized care for those making the transition from welfare to work. (Block grants under TANF are tied to past spending levels. As national caseloads have declined, most states have experienced a substantial windfall in terms of the amount of federal funding received relative to the size of the state’s caseload).

If the pilot study sample is any indication then as late as April of 1999 people who were leaving welfare were still not being adequately served.
 
 
 
 
 
 

References

Crew, Robert E., and Joe Eyerman

Demographic Summary of the Sample

Employment Status: Over half (19 out of 35) of the women interviewed were working. One woman counted in this group is not working, but her husband is. Sixteen of the women are not working. In the group of non-working women, one woman moved from WAGES to disability support and two women are scraping by as they attempt to be reinstated onto the welfare rolls. All others (13 out of the total 35 in the sample) have returned to welfare.

Age: The 35 women interviewed are between the ages of 20 and 57 with a median age of 32. One woman of 57 is caring for her grandchild. All the other women are caring for their own children.

Ethnicity: As noted, this sample heavily represents individuals who self-identified as either Black or African American with twenty-nine individuals in this ethnic category. Six respondents self-identified as Hispanic, four in the group of working women of whom one is an immigrant, and two in the group of non-working women of whom both are immigrants. Another Hispanic who is not working is originally from Puerto Rico. Of the 15 women who identified themselves as Black among the working group, four were born in another country and eight were born in Miami-Dade or Broward Counties. The other three were born in other U.S. cities. Among the 14 Black women not working, one is an immigrant and 11 were born in Miami-Dade County.

Educational Levels: The one characteristic common to all the women in this sample is that in one way or another their education was derailed. In nearly all cases this occurred because of childbearing. In both groups there is one woman with only an eighth or ninth grade education. Some form of vocational training or on-the-job training has been received by the majority of both groups of women, although the women who are working were involved in a wider range of vocational classes. The vocational training experience of the non-working women was limited to clerical training sometimes involving computers, housekeeping, nurse’s aid or medical technology.

On average the working group of women had attained 12.5 years of formal education whereas the average of the non-working group was 11.5 years. A higher percentage of the working women had graduated from high school and attended some college. Three women were in school at the time of the interviews, two from the working group and one from the non-working group. Half of the non-working women aspired to return to school or enroll in a skills training program. A smaller proportion of the working women had similar aspirations (about one-third). The reasons given for not being in school included childcare, specifically for the women with very young children or very many children, jobs in the case of the working women and job search or job training requirements for the non-working women attempting to comply with the requirements of the WAGES program. Only one woman reported the job preparation classes of the WAGES program as anything but obstructionist in her attempts to self-improve or to find a job or care adequately for her children. That one woman is an important example, however, as she was young and had no prior work experience and believed she benefitted from the classes.

Marital Status: Five of the women in the sample are living with a spouse or partner. In one case the spouse is disabled and the woman is the sole support of the household, which includes her elderly mother. In one case the husband is the sole support of the household earning $9.00 per hour without any fringe benefits, while in another household the husband and wife are both enrolled as welfare clients. Several women have boyfriends who do not permanently live with them, but do contribute financially to their households and in most cases help to support the children of other men. One woman survives by occasional informal prostitution and another woman, who with some reluctance, has entered into a relationship with her male landlord in order to obtain reduced rent.

Children: All of the women interviewed have at least one child under 18 years old living with them. The average number of children per household was 2.36 for the women who were working and 3.5 for the women who were not working. A larger proportion of the women who were working were caring for only one or two children compared to the non-working women who generally had three or more children. Eight of the non-working women had one or two children who were two years old or younger, whereas only four of the working women had a child under the age of three. Although teenagers were present in several of the households, only one of the mothers indicated that her teenager was asked to care for younger siblings. Instead, grandmothers were a major source of childcare support.

Housing and Residence: The 35 women in this sample have found a full range of housing accommodation including renting with government support, renting on the open market, living with family, and either buying a home or owning a house outright. Equal proportions of the working and non-working groups of women are renting on the open market. The 35 women reside in different parts of Miami-Dade county from close to the Broward line to Perrine and Cutler Ridge in the south, and from Miami Beach on the East to Opa-locka and Hialeah on the West. Although mode of transportation, difficulty obtaining bus passes and scheduling were problematic for many of the women, none of them considered distance from their home to either jobs, job interviews or childcare to be an overwhelming difficulty.

Appendix B

Human Service Coalition of Dade County, Inc. October 1998
 
 

This interview protocol is designed for respondents who have left welfare within the past twelve months (since October 1, 1997). They may be employed, unemployed or returned to welfare.

Attempt to incorporate as wide a range of experiences as possible --- from the most critical needs cases to those individuals who are full-time employed.

The goal of this study is to focus on the hardships that people who have gone off welfare might be experiencing and to a somewhat lesser extent on the measures people are taking to cope with these hardships.

This study cannot aspire to be statistically significant because we cannot purport to have either a random or representative sample. Instead it can legitimately reveal a range of hardships being experienced by those no longer collecting TANF. Our final product will be a profile of these needs/hardships in the respondents’ own words. No one is in as authoritative a position as you are to document the hardships experienced specifically by your clients. And, if your documentation is reported in the clients’ own words the final report of this project gains the authority of "first-hand" information.

In methodological terms the questions should be treated in an open-ended, conversational fashion. The questions in the interview protocol were selected to elicit hardships actually experienced as opposed to opinions or perceptions. To that end the interviewer should probe for causes and motivations as well as the coping strategies people are using in the face of crises or hardships they are experiencing.

One of the trickiest things about this kind of interview is recording responses. If at all possible tape record the interview. In that way you capture your respondent’s actual words and you are free to make eye contact, maintain control of the conversation/interview, look at the interview protocol so you don’t miss any questions, jot observations of non-verbal communication and appearances, and most importantly listen so you can ask appropriate follow-up probes rather than laboring to write responses. People frequently worry that tape recorders will put respondents off, make them self-conscious and less likely to talk honestly. Our experience proves this fear unfounded. Be honest with the respondents about why you are going to ask them some questions, why their answers are important, and why you want to tape record them, ie, to make sure that you get their answers correct. Also, promise them that you/we will not use their names. Everything will remain completely confidential and anonymous.

You should use 60 minute cassette tapes, but aim for a 30 minute interview. All tapes should be marked with your name and agency, the date of the interview and first name pseudonym or other identifier so you will know who you were speaking with on the tape.

A simple small tape recorder is quite adequate if close to the respondent and using well-charged batteries. Strive to find a quiet place, both for the quality of the recording as well as confidentiality.

The aim is for each participating agency to recruit ten clients. At each agency one individual should assume the task of interviewer. That person should carefully read the questions before attempting an interview.

Reassure the respondent that there are no right or wrong responses and that no one’s identity will ever be revealed. Explain that people like you in agencies all across the county are talking to people who have left welfare and this is an opportunity for them to tell their story, a story no one truly knows.

1.1. Interviewer Name:

I.2. Title:

1.3. Agency:

1.4. Agency address & phone number:
 
 

1.5. Date of Interview:

1.6. Location of Interview:

1.7. Pseudonym or first name of Interviewee:

1.8. Description of interviewee’s relationship to your agency:
 
 

1.9. List the specific services the interviewee is receiving from your agency:
 
 

2.1. Gender: Male ____ Female ____

2.2 What is your age?

2.3. Please indicate you ethnicity/race?

2.4. Where were you born (city, state, country)?

2.5. If you are an immigrant, what year did you come to live in the U.S.?

2.6. What is the last year of school you finished?

2.7. How many people (adults and children) live with you know?

2.8. How many children under 18 are living with you now?

2.9. What are their ages?

2.10. How many of these children are yours or are you legally responsible for?

2.11. How many children under your care attend child care now?

2.12. How many children under your care attend after-school programs now?

2.13. Do you have a spouse or partner living with you? Yes ____ No ____

2.14. Does the father of your children help you financially? Yes ____ No ____

2.15. If yes, about how much money does he contribute each month? _________

2.16. Did he give you anything last month? _______ How much? ________

2.17. If does not give you anything, would you please tell me why he doesn’t help?

2.18. Do you have anyone else who helps you out?

2.19. What is your relationship to them and how do they help you out?

2.24 What is your current income? Hourly wage _______ Monthly _______

2.25. What benefits (if any) do you receive from your job?

3.1. Have you ever received Welfare/AFDC/TANF benefits? Yes ____ No ____

3.2. How long were you on welfare the last time? Number of years (or months):______________

Dates: from ______________________ to ______________________

3.3. What happened in your life that first made you apply for welfare?

3.4. Why did you leave welfare this last time?

3.5. How did you support yourself/your family when you first left welfare?

3.6. How are you supporting yourself/your family right now?

3.7. Are you receiving Medicaid?

3.8. Are your children receiving Medicaid?

For the following questions please explain in detail what happened to you, why it happened and what you have done to deal/cope with it. Please consider each item individually, including the last one:

4.1. In the last year has any of these things happened to you or others in your household?

_____ Electricity was cut off?

_____ Phone was cut off?

_____ Had to move because you could not pay the rent?

_____ Were evicted?

_____ Had to move in with another family or let people move in with us to help pay expenses?

_____ Had to spend time in a shelter?

_____ Were homeless?

_____ Had to put your children under the care of relatives or in a foster home?

_____ Unable to adequately feed yourself or your family? Are you missing meals?

_____ Unable to adequately clothe yourself or your family?

_____ You or your family did not receive necessary health care (including medicine)?

_____ You had another serious problem. Please tell me about it?

4.2. In addition to what you’ve told me about how you coped with any of the problems you have had since leaving welfare, have you asked for help from anyplace else?

___ Family/friends ___ Religious groups/Church ___ Shelter

___ Food bank/pantry ___Health Clinic ___ Landlord

___ Mental Health Services ___Other, please tell me about this.

Ask all of the following questions (except 5.15) if the respondent is currently working. If she is not currently working but worked in the past year ask the questions about her last job; if she is now unemployed you need only ask questions 5.1, 5.2, 5.12, and 5.15

5.1. Are you in school now? ____ Yes, in a basic education, GED, or high school program.

____ Yes, in a job training program

____ Yes, in a college program

____, Yes, other (explain)

____No.

5.2. Are you currently employed? ____Yes, and I get a regular paycheck

____ Yes, but just to get my welfare check

____ Yes, other (explain).

____ No.

5.3. If yes, what is your job? (What do you actually do?)

5.4. How long have you been at this job?

5.5. How many jobs have you had since leaving welfare this last time?

5.6. What are your current earnings from the job you have now? Hourly wage _________

5.7. How many hours per week do you work?

5.8. What hours/shift(s) do you work?

5.9. Is this a temporary job or permanent?

5.10. Do you get health insurance at your job?

5.11. What other benefits (if any) do you receive from your job?

5.12. Do you have a special job skill? What is that?

5.13. Have you had any vocational or job training? What was/is it?

5.14. How do you get to work? How reliable is this transportation?

5.15. Why aren’t you working? (Mark and explain all that are true for you.)

___ Can’t find a job ___ Not enough work experience ___ Alcohol or drugs

___ I need to care for my family ___ Mental health problem ___ Child care problem

___ Would lose Medicaid ___ No way to get to work ___ No telephone

___ I need to care for my family ___ In school or training ___ No address

___ No enough education ___ My English isn’t good enough ___ Don’t want to

___ Few job skills ___Someone won’t let me work ___ Does not apply

___ Disabled ___ Domestic Violence ___ Another reason ______

___ Health Problem ___ Criminal record

The following questions can be asked for each child or can be answered as totals for all children. Whichever is easier for the respondent.

6.3. Who cares for each one? How much does it cost?

6.4. What, if any, financial help or subsidy do you receive for each child?

6.5. How did you choose or pick the child care you are using?

6.8. Please tell me about any problems you are having with you child care arrangements?

6.9. In the past year has DCF contacted you about child abuse or neglect? If yes, what happened?

6.10. In the past year has DCF removed any of your children from your care? If yes, what happened?

6.11. Have any of your children had problems in school in the past year? What were they?

7.1. Is there anything else you would like to say about what life is for you and your family? Is there anything you would like to say about the difference in your life after you left AFDC or TANF?

As I told you at the beginning of this conversation everything you have told me is confidential in the sense that no one will ever know your name or anything about you. We will be using your actual words to help explain what life is like after welfare. We will be making presentations to the Mayor of Dade County to the legislators up in Tallahassee and even in Washington D.C. We will also be using the information you have given today to make presentations to social service agencies who are trying to figure out the best way to change their services to meet the needs of people once there is no more welfare as we have known it.

If you are willing to be contacted and possibly to help us with these kinds of presentations we need your signed permission. If you are not willing and prefer to remain anonymous and let your words today speak for you, then please do not sign below. We still thank you for your really valuable help.

I ____________________________________ (please print) give my permission to be contacted either by the staff or Board of Directors of Dade County Human Services Coalition about the possibility of assisting them with public presentations about the impact of welfare reform that they may make in the future to different persons and organizations.

__________________________________ (signature)

______________________ (date of signature)

Appendix C

The Human Services Coalition of Dade County, Inc. is an alliance of numerous service agencies in Miami-Dade County. In addition to monitoring and advocacy activities the HSC operates several service programs as well. The programs being implemented by the HSC at the time of release of this report are described below:

Families in Touch (FIT). The goal of this project is to enhance job retention and career advancement for women who are making the transition from welfare to work. The project accomplishes these goals through a unique combination of intensive skills training programs delivered in the context of a supportive, peer group environment. FIT participants meet with their support groups, once a week, to dialogue with others sharing their experience and to receive practical training on a range of issues, including (but not limited to) financial management, personal development and communication skills, workplace relations, and time management skills. All FIT groups are led by trained facilitators. The support groups are being hosted by Miami-Dade community organizations located in the Coconut Grove, Overtown, Model City, Liberty City, and Opa Locka/Carol City areas. . If this pilot project succeeds, it will be replicated throughout the state of Florida and extended to other states.

The Welfare Reform Speakers Bureau. The Welfare Reform Speakers Bureau was formed in January, 1999 as a result of a summit B organized by HSC B titled "Beyond Welfare Reform". The group is composed of former and current welfare recipients who are interested in educating their communities and social service administrators and policy makers, about the pressing issues facing families that are making the transition from welfare to work. All Speakers Bureau events and outreach activities are organized with HSC staff support. Since the group’s formation, Bureau members have spoken at over 20 public engagements. The bureau also organized a public forum as a follow up to the original January summit, which featured testimony from welfare recipients and a listening panel composed of the chief administrators of the Department of Children and Families, and Florida’s WAGES program (for Dade County), the Chair of the Dade County Delegation to the State Legislature, and other public officials. The group has received a commitment from the Chair of the Dade Delegation to continue holding these public hearings. Representatives from ACORN, the AFL-CIO, and the recently formed Jobs With Justice coalition (composed of UNITE, the Miami-Dade NAACP, and the Miami-Dade Community Action Agency) have also expressed an interest in working with the group to organize welfare recipients.

KidCare and Covering Kids. HSC is responsible for coordinating outreach for Florida’s Child Health Insurance Program (KidCare) in the Dade County area. KidCare outreach is being coordinated in conjunction with 13 community based organizations. Approximately 12,000 low income families have enrolled in KidCare health plans since the program’s inception. The Covering Kids project, (funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation) will be providing intensive KidCare outreach in the South Dade area by combining public education with community organizing techniques.

New Leaders Project. HSC is currently training a group of 12 low income people from immigrant communities in the South Dade area to carry out civic education projects within their own communities. All 12 of these trainees will be able to work as volunteer trainers. This group will be expanded in the Fall of this year to include approximately 40

The Communications Health Action and Information Network (CHAIN). HSC will be helping to organize a statewide coalition of grassroots groups dealing with health care advocacy issues. CHAIN will address the health care concerns of uninsured children, the elderly, SSI recipients, working poor families, Medicaid recipients, and immigrant communities among others. HSC staff are currently developing a database that will be able to meet the information dissemination needs of the project.

The Peacock Forum Series on Children and Families. With funding support from the Peacock Foundation, HSC will be organizing a series of public forums focusing on health and human service issues impacting children and families in the South Florida area. Our first forum, scheduled for early September, will focus on the future of Medicare and will include a beginning training session for a group of volunteer speakers who will form a Medicare Speakers Bureau. This project is being coordinated in conjunction with the Miami-Dade Chapter of Alliance for Aging and the Office of Congresswoman Carrie Meeks.

The Miami-Dade Living Wage Ordinance. The Human Services Coalition (HSC) played an instrumental role in organizing the community coalition which successfully introduced a Living Wage Ordinance to the offices of the Dade County Commissioners. The ordinance has been hailed, by activists around the nation, as one of the strongest ordinances passed to date. It includes all county workers, all employees or county contractors and sub contractors (with contracts over $100,000) and airport ground service providers. Coalition members estimate that the ordinance will impact at least 3,300 workers over the next 3 years, with a pronounced impact on African American and Hispanic workers.

Appendix D

About the Study

The interview protocol for this study was designed and responses were analyzed by Carol Dutton Stepick, Field Research Director of the Immigration and Ethnicity Institute of the Center for Labor Research and Studies at Florida International University. She also wrote this report. Data collection was coordinated by Phil Kretsedemas, Project Coordinator, of the Human Services Coalition of Dade County. He also conducted several of the interviews. Other project interviewers include Brian Mackey of the Miami Dade Community Action Agency, Africa Andrews and Cherry Adams of the Coconut Grove Youth and Family Intervention Center, David Clinkscales of the Greater Miami Service Corps, Donna Moss of the Miami Dade Community Action Agency in Goulds, Judith Wingerd, Research Associate of FIU’s Immigration and Ethnicity Institute, and Edgar Garrido of Headstart.

The Health Foundation of South Florida supported the coordination of data collection and some of the transcription work of this project. All other time and labor was voluntary. The Daily Bread Food Bank supplied boxes of donated food to the respondents. About 85% of the respondents accepted the food boxes. Other agencies that participated in data collection were Community Action Agency, Haitian Support, Inc, Miami-Beach Housing Authority, and Greater Miami Service Corps. Contributors to the interview protocol also include representatives from Children’s Services Council, Florida Legal Services, Daily Bread Food Bank, Legal Services of Greater Miami, the School of Social Work at Florida International University and Children First. Daniella Levine, Executive Director of the Human Services Coalition of Dade County, Inc. envisioned the value of independent monitoring of the WAGES program and progress from the client’s perspective.

This qualitative pilot study specifically identifies the range of experiences of 35 former TANF recipients in Miami-Dade County who have left welfare since October 1996. As one component of the Miami-Dade Human Services Coalition’s WAGES Monitoring Project this study aims to document and profile the hardships experienced by women who have left welfare. In addition the respondents shared with the interviewers the varied supports and coping strategies they employ to raise their children and make ends meet as well as the obstacles they confront on their path to economic self-sufficiency.