The North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service has teamed up with the Department of Social Services to help disadvantaged North Carolinians help themselves.
The study of welfare reform is the backbone of this partnership.
Sweeping reforms in the welfare system throughout the country have been applauded by public officials and private citizens alike. A large part of this reform involves training and encouraging heads of welfare-supported households to seek and maintain gainful employment in a challenging and fluctuating new workplace environment.
In North Carolina, this program of reform is known as Work First, and its primary goal is to encourage welfare recipients to enter the job market and support themselves and their families through gainful employment.
The goals of this program are clear and encompassing; however few studies have delved into the underlying stressors that would accompany such transitional families in their quest for work, stressors that might sabotage workers' best efforts in taking these vital steps.
Difficult issues such as child care, elder care, transportation, work ethic environment, and finding time to balance work and home duties now confront people who have not had to face these issues before.
Drs. Karen DeBord and Wayne Matthews, a child development and a human development specialist, respectively, at North Carolina State University, have set about uncovering the effect those stressors have on the newly-working. DeBord and Matthews, who are also specialists in the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service, went right to the source of this vital information, to the heads of households who have made this monumental step from welfare to work.
To gather data for their report, titled, "WorkFront-HomeFront," DeBord and Matthews, along with graduate students Rebecca Canu and Pam Parris, interviewed 31 people who were in the process of making the transition from welfare to work. Their findings reveal the difficulties that former welfare workers have in making a transition to a work environment that the rest of the working population can sometimes take for granted.
"Entering the workplace after being on welfare is an enormous transition," says DeBord. "Most welfare recipients are, by the nature of their situation, in a disadvantaged position. Take transportation, for example. The lack of personal transportation or access to reliable bus routes can seriously hamper people from getting to work on time or getting to and from child care facilities to make arrangements for their children in the event of illness or bad weather. Fellow workers who have reliable transportation don't always have to face these problems."
DeBord went on to say that lack of transportation can make access to training, health care and community resources stressful, if not impossible. Also, these new workers must deal effectively with new pressures of balancing jobs and home life, as well as supervisors who might not understand or sympathize with the needs of the recently-employed.
Additionally, many newly-working people undergo the stress of suddenly losing their rent allowance, food stamps and other benefits before they receive their first paycheck; leaving a cash flow emergency that can distract from their confidence and work performance.
And, at the heart of many transition problems is the lack of training and education -- two important tools that cannot be obtained overnight.
"Imagine having to learn all the training needed to do your job in a few weeks or months," says DeBord. "Then, compound that with the lack of proper reading and writing skills. I believe that a successful, long-term transition needs successful, long-term foundations. Addressing these underlying needs allows us to reach long-term goals more successfully."
The "WorkFront-HomeFront" study does uncover a bright side; the more willing employers are to offer support and flexibility, the more likely that transitional workers will succeed, stay, and advance in their jobs.
This study was conducted with the help of the North Carolina Department of Social Services Human Resources Economic Independence unit, who supplied the Extension specialists with the names and telephone numbers of transitional workers willing to be interviewed.
For more information, please contact Karen DeBord, (919) 515-9147, or Wayne Matthews, (919) 515-9139, North Carolina State University.