Welfare Reform that Really Works #6

VIRGINIA: "Yes We Can"

Welfare reformers in Virginia coined the YES WE CAN! slogan from the herculean effort that was made to involve as many agencies and interested organizations as possible in designing and implementing truly compassionate welfare.

Denise Dunbar, Virginia's Director of Policy for Social and Health Services, and coordinator for their welfare reform plan, argues that welfare reform begins with good public policy. And Virginia's reform testifies that good public policy gets good results.

Welfare reform in Virginia is called the Virginia Independence Program (VIP). It became law on July 1, 1995, and in the last eighteen months, Virginia's welfare caseloads are down more than 22% (March 95-November 96). VIP has the following components:

• Diversion Assistance: one-time cash payment to working families who face a sudden, temporary loss of income in exchange for foregoing welfare benefits for 160 days.

• Paternity Establishment: requirement that mothers name the father of their children as a condition of benefits.

• Family Cap: no increase in Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) benefits due to the birth of a child while a family is receiving AFDC.

• Compulsory School Attendance: compliance with Virginia's compulsory school attendance requirements, including minor parents.

• Minor Parent Residency: minor parents must live with a parent or guardian in order to receive AFDC benefits.

Virginia added employment-related changes with its Virginia Initiative for Employment not Welfare (VIEW) program, utilizing Economic Development Districts, natural economic grouping of localities statewide. With some exemptions, VIEW requires all able-bodied AFDC recipients to work in exchange for their benefits and supportive services (child care, transportation and medical assistance). Elements of VIEW:

• Two-year time limit for cash assistance and one year for transitional benefits.

• Personal Responsibility Agreement: mandatory work; sanctions and enforcement for non-compliance.

• Full Employment Program: exchange AFDC and Food Stamp benefits for subsidized work.

• Work Experience: Community work experience for all recipients unable to find unsubsidized or subsidized employment.

• Expanded Income Disregards: up to 100% federal poverty level for up to two years.

• Transitional Medicaid and Day Care Benefits: VIP extends transitional services to individuals who lose AFDC for reasons other than increased earnings from employment.

Through the first year, 69% of all recipients enrolled in the VIEW program are now working, a 300% increase over the number working under the federal JOBS program, which it replaced.

Northern Virginia added the VIEW program in April. Since that time 1,757 welfare recipients or 57% of those eligible, have begun working at an average hourly wage well above the minimum.

"Seed Money" for Success

Total funds for the implementation of VIEW in FY96 were $10.4 million and another $10 million in total funds for child care associated with VIEW. Of that, $6 million was in additional child care funds; however, Dunbar notes that only $500,000 was actually used. The reason was simple: families were making independent private care arrangements, and chose not to utilize the funds available for public child care. Implementation funding of $50,000 was available to encourage inter-group cooperation for each Economic Development District (EDD) implementing VIEW in FY96.

Governor Allen designated $1.5 million grant dollars intended to fund creative and innovative projects that help welfare recipients overcome dependence. As of December 1996, 7 EDDs had implemented VIEW. The success of these programs has allowed Virginia's Governor Allen to advance the statewide online date by 18 months.

Virginians believe that devolution of welfare from the federal to the state level has provided for the return of solutions to a community basis. The Governor's Commission on Citizen Empowerment, "Lift Every Voice...," argues that "...one of the greatest dangers to communities is manifested when government assumes roles better performed by families, friends, church groups, and other local associations that comprise a community..." Virginia's reform serves as a call to action for all business, education, religious and civic communities to turn the idea of strong, stable, and self-reliant families into reality.

Prepared by Karen Woods, Research Analyst, (360)956-3482

Evergreen Freedom Foundation P.O. Box 552, Olympia, WA 98507 Phone: (360) 956-3482, Fax: (360) 352-1874 Email: effwa@effwa.org