Greater Avenues For Independence Program

Los Angeles County Supervisors provoked a showdown Tuesday with the state, insisting that an inexperienced private corporation run a new $7.9-million workfare program, despite opposition from the Deukmejian Administration. Attorneys for both sides are scheduled to meet Thursday. Already delinquent in meeting a Sept. 26 deadline, the county risks losing millions of dollars in federal welfare funds if no program is in place by Nov. 1.

Los Angeles County's decision to revamp its welfare program and push poor mothers to find jobs quickly has paid off, boosting employment and earnings and markedly reducing welfare spending, a new study concludes. The study, released today by New York-based Manpower Demonstration Research Corp., found that recipients enrolled in the county's welfare-to-work program were more likely to get jobs and earn higher wages than those not enrolled in the program.

If the so-called welfare reform revolution works, much of the credit will belong to people like Pamela Collins, Lorrie Denning and Kathy Marx. These county welfare workers have survived the current system at its worst, in grimy offices packed with recipients, many of whom have spent their entire lives on the dole. Contrary to popular belief, most of the recipients aren't happy with the old system. Some are uncontrollably angry.

A coalition of advocates for the poor Friday said a much-publicized study that touts the success in Los Angeles County of a welfare-to-work program was flawed. Representatives of the Los Angeles Coalition to End Hunger and Homelessness said that the study, by the Manpower Research Development Corp., ignored the fact that most of the jobs being filled by welfare recipients pay low wages.

In findings expected to have far-reaching implications for the nation's embattled welfare system, new research released today shows that California's work training program succeeded in reducing government spending by getting significant numbers of welfare recipients into jobs.

Los Angeles County's plan to pay $7.8 million a year for an inexperienced Virginia firm to run the new state-mandated workfare program was called illegal Friday by the Deukmejian Administration and ridiculed by Democratic lawmakers. Los Angeles, like all other counties in the state, was supposed to have begun the Greater Avenues for Independence (GAIN) workfare program by Sept. 26.

Los Angeles County is making dramatic gains in moving welfare recipients into jobs, increasing their earnings and reducing welfare payments, according to a new study that has inspired optimism here and in Washington. The study released today by the Manpower Research Development Corp.

Los Angeles County's decision to revamp its welfare program and push poor mothers to find jobs quickly has paid off, boosting employment and earnings and markedly reducing welfare spending, a new study concludes. The study, released today by New York-based Manpower Demonstration Research Corp., found that recipients enrolled in the county's welfare-to-work program were more likely to get jobs and earn higher wages than those not enrolled in the program.

In her first public speech since she declared victory more than two weeks ago, Los Angeles City Councilwoman-elect Laura Chick on Thursday lauded about 30 welfare mothers for completing a high school-level education program at Pierce College. "You have proven something to yourselves: that you can do something and that you are competent," Chick told the graduates of Greater Avenues for Independence (GAIN), a program designed to help welfare recipients get off public aid and into the job market.

Katrina and Ruben Gonzalez and their two daughters live in a cramped one-bedroom apartment in Mar Vista. Ruben assembles wooden boxes for $9 an hour when he can get the work, and Katrina is unemployed. They have been on welfare for two years and, until recently, appeared to have little prospect of getting off it. Katrina, 24, was a high school dropout and barely literate. Ruben finished high school but had no marketable skills. Things are changing, however.

Los Angeles County is making dramatic gains in moving welfare recipients into jobs, increasing their earnings and reducing welfare payments, according to a new study that has inspired optimism here and in Washington. The study released today by the Manpower Research Development Corp.

President Clinton has urged employers to put welfare recipients to work. Fortune 500 executives have responded with hiring programs that have garnered plenty of free publicity. But the success of America's great welfare-to-work experiment ultimately rests with the likes of Kim DeVane.

If the so-called welfare reform revolution works, much of the credit will belong to people like Pamela Collins, Lorrie Denning and Kathy Marx. These county welfare workers have survived the current system at its worst, in grimy offices packed with recipients, many of whom have spent their entire lives on the dole. Contrary to popular belief, most of the recipients aren't happy with the old system. Some are uncontrollably angry.

Los Angeles County's ability to quickly transform a poorly performing welfare-to-work program into a dynamic effort to push people into jobs could serve as a model for the nation as large urban areas grapple with the demands of welfare reform, an independent study found Tuesday. Over a two-year period, the county shifted the program known as GAIN (Greater Avenues for Independence) from one that focused on basic education to one that put jobs first.

Sarah Salazar didn't need Congress or the president to tell her that she had to get off welfare--or else. The welfare bosses in Los Angeles County told her that in December. And last month--with three small children at home, no high school degree and not having earned a paycheck in her life--she got her first job. Salazar, 28, is now making $8.50 an hour, typing patient information into a computer at an Arcadia medical office. "It's the perfect job for me," she said with a smile.

Noreen Garcia says she never enjoyed getting welfare and has worked on and off for a decade while she raised her daughter alone, resorting to government help only when she lost a job or a baby-sitter. "It's very embarrassing. People stare at you when you cash your check or go in a store with food stamps," Garcia said. "They don't understand not all of us want to be on it."

A federal judge on Friday ordered California to provide child care to thousands of poor parents in educational and training programs. U.S. District Judge Saundra Armstrong ruled that the state was violating federal law by providing child care funds only to parents who take part in the state-sponsored program called Greater Avenues to Independence, or GAIN.

Katrina and Ruben Gonzalez and their two daughters live in a cramped one-bedroom apartment in Mar Vista. Ruben assembles wooden boxes for $9 an hour when he can get the work, and Katrina is unemployed. They have been on welfare for two years and, until recently, appeared to have little prospect of getting off it. Katrina, 24, was a high school dropout and barely literate. Ruben finished high school but had no marketable skills. Things are changing, however.