| Education
is Work! Campaign
The Issue:
In 1996, federal welfare laws were radically changed. Aid to Families
with Dependent Children (AFDC) was changed into Temporary Aid to Needy
Families (TANF). This is what is known as “welfare reform.”
The goal of TANF was to decrease the number of people who used cash assistance
by making the program temporary (people can only receive cash benefits
for 5 years in their life) and by imposing strict work requirements on
recipients. The law was also changed so that each state can design their
own TANF program (within federal guidelines) as opposed to the old system
that was the same throughout the whole country.
Because the goal of
welfare reform was to move people off of the welfare rolls, TANF emphasizes
“Work First”
- “Work First”
means that welfare clients are encouraged (and sometimes coerced) into
taking any job they are offered.
- Welfare mothers
who are trying to get a college degree are often forced to make the
choice to quit school and take a low-paying job.
- Even welfare consumers
who are high school drop-outs are usually encouraged to get a job rather
than get their GED.
A minimum
wage job does not pay enough to support a family!!
Studies have shown, that education and training dramatically improves
job options and the chances for reaching economic self-sufficiency. In
other words, the further a welfare parent is able to go in school, the
less likely they will ever need welfare again:
- 88% of former
welfare recipients who earn an associates’ degree remain economically
independent.
- Nearly 100% of
former welfare recipients who obtain bachelor’s degrees remain
economically independent.
What Can We
Do About it?!
The Welfare Justice Project’s Education is Work! Campaign seeks
to make policy changes at the federal and state levels to make education
more accessible to people on welfare.
Federal: When TANF is reauthorized in Congress this year,
make education count as a work activity.
State: Allow parents who are enrolled in a full-time
education or training program to have “time off” the TANF
clock so they can finish their programs. Currently there is a bill in
the State Senate that will accomplish this. Call your State Representatives and tell them to make education count as a work activity
Get Involved.
Call Just Harvest! 412-431-8960
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