Task Force reviews City's workfare program

by Diane Borko and Jerry Shroder, Co-chairs, Task Force on Welfare Reform
(September 1997)

The new federal welfare law requires some one million welfare recipients to participate in some kind of work activity by October, 1997. During the next five years, another million recipients of Temporary Aid To Needy Families (TANF-formerly Aid To Families With Dependent Children, AFDC) will fall into this category. Although the new federal law does not require states to have workfare--the program that forces welfare recipients to work off their benefits--it is expected to expand nationwide.

The Chapter's Task Force on Welfare Reform has been reviewing the controversial workfare program in New York City. It has taken up this issue not only because New York City already has the largest expansion of workfare program in the nation, but also because the planned expansion of workfare will effect many social workers. The strong emphasis on work in the new welfare law and the lack of jobs in many communities means that cities like New York, which already assigned thousands of welfare recipients to workfare in public agencies (37,000 in New York City) will need more and more workfare placements. The expansionary pressures--along with the political fire that workfare attracts--has sent City officials scrambling for workfare slots elsewhere. Of the 65,000 workfare placements planned for 1997-1998, 10,000 are targeted for non-profit institutions, many of which are social work agencies.

The growth of workfare within the non-profit sector has already sparked an intense debate. Some non-profit agencies are eager to take on workfare "workers" believing they can do well by them. Others are ambivalent. Still others--more than 70 churches, synagogues and non-profit institutions--have refused to cooperate with the City's workfare program because they find it morally unjust. To help social workers and social agencies sort out these issues, the Chapter's Welfare Reform Task Force will publish a new fact sheet "Workfare And The Non-Profits" in the October issue of Currents. Early in the fall, with the help of a social work student, we hope to survey social work agencies to learn more about their experiences with the workfare program. In November, the Task Force will conduct a two-part workshop on welfare reform issues for the Chapter's Continuing Education Program (see page 1). As always, we will continue to run our Speakers Bureau and engage in lobbying activities along with others in the welfare advocacy community. The Task Force meets monthly on Wednesday nights at the Chapter office. Look for meeting notices in Currents or call the Chapter office at 212-668-0050, if interested in joining the Task Force.