>X-BlackMail: cro.on.ca, workstation-01, [EMAIL PROTECTED], 209.82.39.72 >X-Authenticated-Timestamp: 12:15:44(EDT) on July 10, 1998 >X-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Unverified) >Date: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 12:09:16 -0400 >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: OW-WATCH-L NY news >Mime-Version: 1.0 >Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Precedence: bulk >Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >To: (Name WithHeld) > >Some more news from southern battlefront. Note particularly that NYC >welfare is openly less concerned with finding jobs for people than >preventing people from even getting on to the system. > > > >7/5/98 "A New Broom Needs a New Handle: Welfare as We Know It Goes >Incognito" >Rachel L. Swarns, The New York Times > >With a wave of a wand and a mayoral proclamation, New York City's welfare >system is vanishing. Job centers are replacing welfare offices. Financial >planners are replacing caseworkers. And the entire bureaucracy is morphing >into the Family Independence Administration. In truth, the same workers >still do business in the same buildings, but the city has been infected by >a name-changing frenzy that has been sweeping the country. In an era when >work is prized and welfare disparaged, many state and local officials are >scrubbing their programs and groups clean of words tainted, rightly or >wrongly, by the sour smell of failure. And as the new language of welfare >seeps into public consciousness, it has caused some people to wonder what >is behind the new names. In one sense, the names reflect a nation >transformed by time limits for public charity and work requirements for >those who receive it. They send a powerful message to the poor about the >change in government expectations. But these names are also meant to carry >a politically potent message to voters who will never step into a welfare >office but whose discontent with the status quo helped propel an overhaul >in welfare policy. In this sense, the words underscore the desires of >politicians and officialdom to project a perception of change -- even if >little actually changes -- as they try to curry favor with the electorate. >But while New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani proudly touts the conversion of >welfare offices into job centers, he declines to say how many people >actually leave those with jobs. In fact, a draft memo included in a >training manual for workers describes employment as a "secondary goal" at >the job centers. The "primary goal," the memo says, is discouraging the >poor from applying for public assistance. Advocates for the poor say the >whole naming process sounds suspiciously like sloganeering that will appeal >to voters but help few welfare recipients find work. > >Contacts: *Robert Lieberman, assistant professor of politics and public >policy, Columbia University, 212-854-4725; *Elaine Ryan, American Public >Welfare Association, which will soon be called the American Public Human >Services Association, 202-682-0100; *Gary Weeks, headed the name change >committee for the American Public Welfare Association, and runs Oregon's >welfare program, 503-945-5944 > >Ian Morrison >Clinic Resource Office >100 - 173 Dufferin Street >Toronto, Ontario M6K 1Y9 >Canada > >416-516-1355 p >416-516-1359 f >[EMAIL PROTECTED] >
