Hi, I'm Beth Tomlinson. I'm with United Way, and I'm here representing United Way instead of Robert McGinley.
Go ahead. 125 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671
Good afternoon. My name, again, is Beth Tomlinson. I'm representing United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania. And the other PCCY and United Way work on a project called "Watching out for Children in Changing Times," which is funded by the William Penn Foundation. And it's an ongoing initiative to track how changes in public policy impact the lives of kids, families, and service-providers across our metropolitan area. And not to duplicate what everyone's already said before, I'm going to scratch out a lot of it this, so you don't have to give me the sum-up warning. I think the key thing that's a little bit different from what others have said, I want to talk about how the nonprofit community is being impacted by welfare reform. From an annual survey we've done every year for now the third year, with over 70 United Way-funded nonprofit children and family-serving organizations, we've learned over the past few years how agencies are really struggling to survive and succeed under this new welfare reform. 126 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 From our most recent survey. We learned that over half (55 percent) of these agencies are serving many more clients, more kids and families each year, every year. The waiting lists for services are increasing for the third year in a row. While many agencies are receiving more funding in the last year, only one-fifth saw only minimal budget increases, and percent saw less 10 funding over last year. 11 And, most importantly with regard to 12 funding, public sources for funding remain very, very hard to reach for six in ten of these agencies. So while a lot of this increase is as a result of public policy changes, the public sector has not necessarily provided the resources they need to. Yet, while demand for services has increased dramatically, while the funding hasn't necessarily increased for most, a core group of nonprofit agencies are doing more and doing differently to better support families as they attempt to transition from welfare to work. For example, one-third of the agencies are increasing their service hours, adding weekend 127 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 hour, evening hours to accommodate parents in job searches who are not working. Close to half are making their services more community-based to remove access barriers to accessing services. They're finding more services in clients' homes or in their neighborhoods. One-third are adding new services, and about six in ten of those new services focus on meeting welfare clients' job training, counseling, placement and adult education needs. Yet, while so many of these nonprofit agencies are really struggling to reach out to families with new needs, four in ten are doing so with no increase in staff salary, and almost all are doing so with the same staffing levels. So agencies and staff are being stretched even thinner to increased need for services and to meet new needs for clients now subject to welfare (unintelligible) requirements and time limits. And I've provided you with copies of those survey findings if you'd like to look at them. In addition, the United Way and PCCY are also tracking, as Shelly mentioned, 50 128 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 families on welfare over years, meeting with each family on an individual basis every months. So we're really being able to track over time how these families are faring under the new system. And the findings are really true to what everyone's already said. Half have no GED or a high school degree. Most have sick children at home, chronically sick children at home. About percent are non-English speakers.
And all of those families, as Richard mentioned a little bit earlier, all of those families have never been referred by their welfare caseworker to English-as-a-Second-Language courses so while their a primary barrier to getting a job and keeping a job is English, they've received no 18 guidance or recommendations from their welfare caseworker in regard to that. The vast majority of families, as Carol Goertzel mentioned earlier in her report, they don't understand the work requirements, they don't understand their agreement for mutual responsibility, they're not aware of their continuing benefits. They think they lose their 129 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 health-care coverage, their food stamps if they start working. And most are not aware, particularly aware of their child-care benefits. The vast majority of families we interviewed thought that once they got a job, they automatically had to pay for child care on their own, which is already, as we've seen since we re-interviewed these families, we've already seen a lot of families lose their job, lose the part-time job they worked hard to get simply because they were paying out of pocket for child-care expenses, not knowing that they had child-care subsidies available to them. I think that's --
Thank you. All right. Are you going to testify? Why don't you come up to the microphone. We thank this panel very much. Gloria Guard, will you also come to the microphone. Mr. 130 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 Weishaupt, why don't you stay there, there may be some questions. And, Shelly, I'd appreciate it if you could stay there too.
I'm Gloria Guard, from People's Emergency Center. And with me is Nateria Morrison, who will testify immediately after me. And we brought copies of our testimony, which we'll be happy to give you, but I just thought I would run through quickly, try not to repeat what people before me said. I do want to, as a backdrop, remind all of us that we live in a society that's based on the rich getting richer while the poor are getting poorer and that we could never have full employment as long as we particularly have mergers and acquisitions, the rape of Allegheny Hospital Systems --
I know and I know I'm preaching to the converted here. But nevertheless, it's against this backdrop, which I think has gotten much worse over the past five years that the most vulnerable of 131 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 our society will now be thrust. So we end up here today suggesting ways of tinkering with a terrible situation. And no 5 matter what happens, I think that places like PEC are going to be full to the brim, and we're going to turn into the alms houses of the 21st century. And we don't want to get there, but we may end up may doing that. I also just want to warn us not to get into the inevitable fights of the poor pitting themselves the almost-poor, union workers against the, you know, first-time workers, as we fight over relatively few jobs in this terribly difficult situation. And it's that kind of thing that's already raising its head. That's why Marian already asked about the business of people waiting for day care, the TANF people versus the other low-income people. And I just want to warn all of us that these fights will come, and we will end up fighting with each other and forgetting the larger picture. So that being said, I actually had wanted to say that the Jobs Policy Network has done an excellent job of really listing out a 132 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 great agenda for us. I wanted to specifically call out a few problem that we've been having in trying to help homeless women get into the workplace, the first of which is that under the Greater Philadelphia Works plan, women that we work with will have to find a job, take a job for hours a week, and 9 then go to job-training afterwards. 10 This is the classic cart-before-the- 11 horse kind of approach. It will not work. We 12 can't expect people to go to work who've never 13 been to work and then go to job-training later. 14 If there is anything that can be done within the 15 Greater Philadelphia Works within what they're 16 doing to relieve that kind of strange thinking, we 17 would really appreciate it. 18 Otherwise, we have PEC have raised half 19 a million of other money to send people to 20 job-training who are not going to be able to use those private and federal monies because the women that we work with will have to take some community-service job instead of don't going to job-training. We want to also point out that 133 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 regardless of the terrible backup in the child-care system, which Shelly talked about, even if somebody is eligible for and receives a child-care subsidy DPA, the Welfare Department, it frequently takes three or four or five months to get that straightened out in that system. So what happens is, a child-care provider sort of depends on the money coming in, and they're there having to take care of this child with no money coming in 'cause the subsidy isn't triggered yet. It's just a paperwork problem, and there's really no reason for that glitch to be in the system and for people to have to wait that long. I would also like to commend all of the work that's being done on child care. And, unfortunately, there's a tremendous amount that has to be done because the latest plan is so bad. And I'd like to commend the Friday Inquirer, the editorial to all of you which really lays out a lot; in fact, confirms a lot of what Shelly was talking about, and is full of facts. Another item on the child-care end is that we at PEC are trying to develop a large 134 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 child-care facility and build something. And we're willing and able to raise private money to do that. When we asked the State about money so there's a new child building, we're looking at a $2 million building. They showed us this pot of money that they so virtuously set aside from which we can get $7500. Then again, other people can get $300, so that's how they're helping to expand the capacity. Those really are my points.
As quickly as I can, I'd like to introduce Nateria just quickly to talk about what it takes to get from here to there.
Please identify yourself for the record and the proceed with your testimony.
Good morning, President Street and members of City Council. My name is Nateria Morrison. I am a formerly mother of two 135 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 children and a former welfare recipient. I became homeless in the spring of 1995. My apartment had become in many ways unlivable. I had also discovered that the children of my father (sic) was using drugs and wasn't doing whatever he needed to take care of his habit. I stayed at different shelters before coming to PEC. I believe to this day that the Lord worked a miracle in my life by bringing me to PEC. I lived there for months, participated in 12 the PEC programs. PEC's educational programs and 13 transitional housing helped me gain the knowledge 14 and experience I needed to become permanently 15 independent. 16 Just this year, I graduated from PEC's 17 jobs program and am now employed in a full-time 18 secretarial job that offers medical benefits. I consider myself lucky that I have some educational background and was able to get the training necessary to obtain a job. I'm here to express my feelings about the new rules that require families to move quickly from welfare to work. I feel this planned reform has not been carefully thought out. 136 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 Throwing mothers off welfare will hurt more than help because moms do not have the experience or training to prepare for the working world. They have limited access to child care and transportation. Many face serious personal obstacles to employment and PEC's is not big enough to help them all. Also, the new rules say that mothers must get a job first, then go to training. This will be particularly impossible for mothers living in shelters. It is very difficult to balance your life when living in a shelter and to hold job too. I believe that mothers in shelters should be allowed to attend counseling and training before they are forced into a job which may not be the right one for them. I have been fortunate. Not all mothers on welfare are so fortunate. I ask you to carefully consider all aspects of their situations as we face the new implementation of the new welfare rules. Thank you.
Thank you very much. (Applause.) 137 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671
Any questions from any members of the panel? (No questions.)
You know, I'm kind of overwhelmed by all the different needs that there are. And I guess that's the reason I'm agitating for specific programs so that we know what we're going to request from the State Department of Public Welfare, what we have to request from many other departments. The federal government is involved in the Medicaid, what we have to do to bring all the parties together to deal with that special problem. I'm not picking out any one problem; there seems to be just an enormous number of problems, each one of which is very complicated. Shelly?
If City Council would sign a resolution or a letter to go to the Independent Regulatory Commission that is holding hearings on Thursday, and this is actually Richard's idea, saying reject the proposed changes in the child-care rules, do not make it more expensive for families to get child care, that would be one 138 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 thing. Additionally, if you would call on the State to use all of its child-care dollars so we don't have the near-poor and the very poor fighting against each other, it would be a very big advance. We call on the State to say, Make one system and one application for health care for kids, and underscore that health care for kids has no time limit, we would be advancing at least some of it. And next, if we are worried about what's going to happen to kids when their families are thrown off welfare, as if kids and their families can be separated, we've got to have -- you've got to require that the State come down and identify who is going -- who is being ended -- whose cash assistance is being ended and what is happening to their children, 'cause there is no 20 plan in Pennsylvania or Philadelphia to do that.
If you can get drafts of those letters to us, Councilwoman Tasco and I will send out those letters. Our Council session is not until there's. And if we can get additional Councilmembers to sign them, we will 139 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 also do that. If we could get those letters and any, Mr. Weishaupt, that you pay feel, in addition to that specific information, this Council committee will move forward. We've been authorized to do that. And since actions are occurring Thursday, I think it's very important. I'm sure Councilman Ortiz will sign it, and I think there will be a number of other Councilmembers prepared to sign the letter, chairs of different committees.
And I hope that begins to move the process forward. We thank you all very much. (Applause.)
The next panel is going to be the panel of: John Dodds, Executive Director of the Philadelphia Unemployment Project; Reverend Lynn Lampen of the Episcopal Community Services; Rose Evans, the current recipient of Mothers on the Move; 140 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 And Rabbi Lina Zerbarini of the Jewish Community Relations Council. (Above panel comes forward.)
My name is Barry Seymour, I'm Assistant Executive Director at the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission. I was asked to speak specifically to the issue of transportation. It's an issue that Mayor Rendell raised in his opening statement and a number of other speakers have spoken about. In some regards, it's curious that the welfare reform has created a new interest in reverse commute, in bringing City workers out to the suburbs, when there really have been forces under way for a number of years that have created these needs. As recently as 1970, the City of Philadelphia accounted for 45 percent of all the jobs in the 9-county metropolitan area. Today that figure is closer to percent. The net 24 result during this period was a swing of million 25 jobs, a loss of 250,000 jobs in Philadelphia, and 141 1 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 an increase of more than 750,000 jobs in the suburbs. As you said last week, Councilman Cohen, the issue really is one of jobs. During the same period, of course, this concentration of poverty within the City was exacerbated. Now, almost 40 percent of all Philadelphia households do not own a car, and the vast majority of welfare households are carless and transit-dependent. Our public transit system, while one of largest in the country, was designed to bring suburban workers into Center City and does not easily accommodate these City commuters back out to the suburbs. We have found in our analysis, however, that two-thirds of the region's major employers and about two-thirds of all jobs are now located within a quarter mile of existing transit lines. So what we have is an increasing welfare population concentrated in the City, isolated from these regional job opportunities but with much of the infrastructure already in place to begin to address the problem. Clearly, if there is an issue which requires a regional approach and regional solutions, this is it. 142 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 We believe that while local economic development must be the first priority in order to place all possible workers and meet the State and federal deadlines, Philadelphia must take full advantage of the potential to make placements transit-accessible, entry-level, suburban, and New Jersey jobs. One project that we recently undertook in the past year is an examination of commuting issues between the states. Should we live already in a regional labor market, every day over 150,000 people cross the Delaware River to go to work. As a first step, we looked at job centers in the suburbs that could be accessible by transit, and we found, for Philadelphia residents, there are 15 distinct employment centers in southern New Jersey which are accessible by transit from Philadelphia within 60 minutes, utilizing either New Jersey transit or PATCO, containing an estimated 275,000 jobs. And I make this point because while there's been a lot of attention and discussion about looking west towards King of Prussia and beyond as job centers, Cherry Hill and the 143 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 employment centers of southern New Jersey are in many ways closer and more accessible. One primary result of this analysis is that while not every welfare recipient will be able to access every job in every employment center, there is substantial evidence that the existing transit network, with some enhancements, is capable of supporting a significant level of bi-state and reverse commuting. " This is a new program administered by the Federal Transit Administration that will make $75 million available nationwide this year, increasing to $150 million per year in several years from now. This program encourages flexibility and innovation, not only by the transit agencies but by other providers of transportation services and requires a regional job access in a reverse-commute transportation plan. The deadline for this application is fast-approaching. We had 144 PUB.
HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 a coordination meeting with about 60 people in our office this past Friday. Applications are due to the Federal Transit Administration December 31st and require a letter of intent submitted to our office as the coordinator by November 30th. One element to this program, as I mentioned, is the requirement for a regional plan, and I won't get into this in detail, but we'll provide that for Council staff to review at a later date. We have some principles of how to improve transportation services that we believe can increase accessibility to the suburbs. Given the short time, I'd like to just conclude with a few points. While much has been made of the importance of transportation in welfare reform, we believe it is really only one small element to the equation. Problems of lack of job-readiness and social skills, job training, child care, affordable housing, and a more comprehensive regional economic development policy and a national urban policy designed to bring jobs back into the City are really at the core of this issue. 145 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 Having said that, I believe it's also uncertain that if these expanded transit services or even non-traditional will really keep people connected to jobs. While people may tolerate an hour commute for a good job, I must ask, can this be sustained for an entry-level perhaps minimum-wage job, especially for a single mother dealing with child-care logistics. A key challenge in --
Yes, I am. A key challenge here is to create services that will be sustainable over time, and not just available while there's demonstration money. We'll be looking to make connections with employers and other groups early on and to focus on roots with a broader potential ridership. Finally. I'd say that all of these services will cost money and will take time to become established and operational, two elements which none of us have enough of. The federal program I described requires a 50 percent match. I urge Council to look to any means to 146 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 combine funding streams and be creative to provide these services, and to urge the State of Pennsylvania and Congress to extend the timetable for implementation. Thank you.
Just one suggestion to you if it makes any sense, and that is if you would prepare a letter to both SEPTA and to Mayor Rendell but to the attention of Denise Goren, the City's Transportation Director, and send copies to us. And if you indicate what actions are to be taken right away to begin moving the program, this committee would be happy to get the thing underway.
Before she goes, I was sitting here thinking. Earlier we heard all these statistics of about how unready the welfare recipients are for employment and the lack of education and training. And you made the point at the end about the jobs being available in the 147 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 suburban areas. But if the welfare recipient isn't prepared to take the job, I don't know how many passengers you'll have to go to those areas. And it seems to me our efforts should be one of creating jobs here in the City and having the employment pool for those people to work in the City, without sending them out to the suburban areas, which I don't really -- (Applause.)
Because if you create the market and you create the transportation to the suburbs, then you don't create the motivation for companies to come into the City. So we want people to work in Philadelphia, we want to the jobs to come to Philadelphia, but we have to have the pool of employees ready to go work in Philadelphia. So if they're not ready to work in Philadelphia, they're not ready to go to the suburban areas either. (Applause.)
A very apt observation by Councilwoman Tasco. 148 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 Miss Evans? (Rose Evans comes forward.)
My name is Rose Evans. I'm a welfare mother, I'm an active member of MOMS. MOMS is a newly formed project of --
All right, I'll start again. My name is Rose Evans. I'm a welfare mother, I'm an active member of MOMS, "Mothers on the Move." Mothers on the Move is a newly-formed project, a Philadelphia unemployment project. We are welfare mothers, concerned community members who are dedicated to educating and empowering each other with information that will affect our lives. We hope to bring about meaningful changes and a higher quality of living. I'm a proud mother of three daughters ages 23, 20, 16, and a granddaughter 6. Before I ready my testimony, I would 149 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 like to ask two questions: Is there anyone here among the people that make decisions for us and have been on welfare? Have any of the policy-makers ever taken the time to communicate with the different types of welfare recipients to find out how to reform the welfare system? I ask these questions because -- (Applause.)
I ask these questions because when I apply for jobs, I am asked, Do I have a degree or experience to qualify me for the position? We would like to know what qualifies the policy-makers, besides their education, to reform the welfare system. Having been on welfare, I know how the system never worked first us as a whole since it began. This new system is far from being the answer to what we need from our policy-makers. I believe understanding the experiences and knowing us as people is what we need -- what is needed in making good policies. Some of the things I heard on last Tuesday's hearing sounded good on paper, if the 150 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 recipients was numbers. The human elements was left out of the reconstruction of the welfare reform policies. The policy-makers must realize that they are making decisions for real people with real feelings. We are intelligent and we are aware of the limitations within the welfare reform. The policy-makers should take into account that we welfare recipients have managed to survive on an allowance that barely pays the rent. (Applause.)
We know how to balance a very limited monthly budget. We are looking for jobs where we can put this skill to use. We need adequate education to qualify us for jobs. We welfare recipients are entitled, entitled to the same opportunities that every other voting American citizen has. I have been on and off of welfare throughout the years. My reasons for being on welfare are: my job relocated out of state, and transportation became a very major factor; the need for health and medical coverage for my family; the lack of marketable skills; the need 151 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 for reliable and affordable child care. During these years, I never stopped trying to improve myself. My work experience consists of: a supervisor with an advertising agency, an associate with different real estate companies, mortgage companies, loans, loan companies, and as well as insurance companies where I made client referrals to sales representatives. At one time, I sold a variety of home beauty products out of my home. I have attended Temple University for real estate, I have attended Community College of Philadelphia for business management. I wasn't able to finish because of my income. In June of this year, I received a certificate for computer training at JFK Training Center. The skills that I acquired there, they were needed to be upgraded, but the program lost its funding. I have also been on several so-called training programs through the Department of Public Welfare that didn't help. What I found to be the best are the training that I have found on my own, such as the JFK Training Center and Jobs Club at 152 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 (unintelligible -- sounds like "Pulp"). The jobs bill, an adequate education is what we as welfare recipients and Mothers on the Move need. We want to become self-sufficient and confident in the fact that we are a part of the economic system. Unfortunately, most of the feelings among us are that there's not enough jobs available now or when March of 1999 rolls around, that we have no voice in what affects us directly. Besides being an active member with MOMS, I volunteer at (unintelligible); I'm in a jobs club there where I'm able to upgrade skills and do job searches and obtain work experience. I recommend this type of job-readiness which I am receiving from (unintelligible) be available to all welfare recipients. You know, it would be a great idea if we changed the name of "welfare" to "helpfare." I believe it would stimulate a real desire to design programs that would live up to its name, "helpfare." In closing, I cannot stress enough that we need jobs, we need work experience, we need 153 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 adequate training. There are many recipients like me, there are many recipients that have less skills than I, and there are recipients with no 5 skills, no work experience, and very little education. Help us to help ourselves to empower ourselves with adequate education and jobs. I know for a fact how hard it is to find a job. We are very concerned about the March deadline when we will be faced with yet another job. Find a job or be cut off. And on a personal note, if I had a job now, I would be able to save for my daughter's college education and return to college myself to obtain a degree. I thank you for letting my voice be heard, and I pray that my voice did not fall on deaf ears. (Applause.)
Thank you for a very eloquent statement on what's really needed. Just one word. I think we could get all of that if people decided to vote. Because if you wait for those now in power to change, that won't happen. But if everybody eligible to vote 154 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 registered and voted and then voted for candidates that support what you said, we could really bring about change. And I think it's in that direction that we all ought to move. And we thank you very much for your guidance. You set forth an excellent program. Mr. Dodds?
Councilman Cohen, I'd just like to say -- and I will be brief because I know we're going long -- that the basic theory of the welfare reform was not a well thought out social policy. The reason we're here today with all of these problems is it was basically a law that said everybody get a job, and that's it, and walked away from the problem. Now we're left with that as a reality. And in an economy that I've been involved in that's worked for over years -- I 20 know you go back a few years before that, and we've never had enough jobs in the City of Philadelphia. S. economy works. We have right now the best economy supposedly is 50 years, with 40,000 unemployed Philadelphians, over 50,000 welfare mothers have 155 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 to find work. You know, we don't have enough work. And we'd just like to focus on that end, and there are a lot of problems -- the day care, the transportation and so forth. But the basic lack of jobs is something that's going to make this whole program crash around us. And the Secretary of Welfare thinks there's enough work for everybody in Philadelphia. Now, that to me is fantasy land, and it is something that's never happened. There are some jobs, people do get jobs. I would like to point out that they tend to be short-term jobs, with tremendous turnover. We did an analysis of Welfare Department statistics in the first year of welfare reform. They haven't released this, but looking at their numbers, they found that in the first year, 67,000 welfare recipients got jobs; but 9 months, 10 months later, only 27,000 still employed and on the welfare rolls, and only 6600 left the welfare rolls due to employment. 2 156 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 percent of the people who became employed were no 3 longer employed. And these are the kind of jobs that people are going to be getting way too often, short-term jobs. Wisconsin has said that 75 percent of their recipients that have found jobs have lost them. Yes, people get jobs, welfare recipients have been getting jobs every day for years. The problem is, they're not lifetime jobs. And let me point out that welfare reform requires that people can keep their jobs. Once you've ever had months of assistance, if 14 you lose your job, you are not eligible for 15 welfare unless you're working 20 hours a week. So 16 formerly, welfare was a form of unemployment 17 compensation for the working poor. That program 18 has been eliminated. 19 So even if Rose gets a job, or any 20 welfare recipients get a job, they cannot lose 21 that job, or they will have no assistance for 22 their families. So I think that's something that 23 we have to keep in mind, that it's not just 24 getting the job, it's sort of the elimination of the safety net where people lose those jobs -- 157 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 very often through no fault of their own, by the way. There's problems with children and transportation and various issues. And I would like to point out that entry-level positions are easy to replace, and they're going to be easier to replace as we have more desperate mothers out here looking for work. With that in mind, I'd just like to say that there's a growing movement in this country to say that we ought to be providing public employment for people who are being forced off of welfare, that the State wants everybody to work, the State should make sure that work is available. In the City of Philadelphia, we've made a first step in the Philadelphia Works Program where 3,000 public jobs are being created. We think there should be more, we think there's been a disproportionate amount a money being put into social services, the jobs are too short-term, but it's a start. We're starting to own up to the fact that if we want everybody to work, we have to make sure work's available. In the State, there's over $300 million that have been saved in this fiscal year and in 158 PUB. HEALTH/HUM.
SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 the fiscal year before on welfare reform, $300 million. Not one penny of that has been used to create jobs for people who have to find work. We believe that that money should be used. Senator Hughes has put forward an excellent bill that would create public jobs for months, a minimum of $6 and up people with 9 training, with child care, with health benefits. 10 That's the kind of program that we need. 11 And that program has to be planned, by 12 the way, for it to be effective. I mean, one of 13 the things that Deputy Secretary Heller talked 14 about is work net. All the recipients go out and 15 find themselves slots where they can volunteer. 16 That is going to be a chaotic unplanned program 17 and will not help not people. We think that 18 program will do nothing but take people's time, and it will not help them to become self-sufficient. So need a program that's well planned, that people get a good work experience from, where they get training, and they can move along. That is critical. One last thing. If that program is set 159 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 up, it should be set up so that people can get earned income tax credit. The State is using an ideological approach that says that if people are working for their check, it's not work, it's welfare. The difference for that, if you turn it into money for employment, people will bring home $2300 a year in earned income tax credit; versus if they don't, they'll get $190 a year. We believe that that money should go to welfare recipients who are working, and that's over $43 million of federal dollars that come to the State. We believe that's critically important. So I'll stop with that. We have plans that are available, that we think the State should be using. It's hard to get the State to listen to those plans, but we do believe that work has to be available in light of this crazy welfare reform. Thank you.
Great, good 160 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 afternoon.
I am Rabbi Lina Zerbarini from the Jewish Community Relations Council. First of all, I have the testimony of Reverend Lampen, who was unable to return today; she was here last Tuesday. So I have her testimony to submit for the record.
Thank you. The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Philadelphia is the collective public policy voice of the organized Jewish community, representing 33 agencies across the Delaware Valley. The JCRC is a founding member of the Jobs Coalition, which is a coalition of community, religious, and labor groups that came together years ago to create legislation that would create public-service jobs across the State for people moving from welfare to work. The faith-based organizations in the 161 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 Coalition include the Methodists, the Society of Friends, the Roman-Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia, the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania, among others that I have listed for the record. In the 12th century, the great medieval philosopher Maimonides spoke to our contemporary situation when he taught that there are eight levels of "tzedakah," a word that's often translated to mean "charity," but really indicates justice. I quote, the lowest level is to give, but with reluctance and regret. This is the gift of the hand, but not of the heart. The eighth level, and the most meritorious of all is to anticipate charity by preventing poverty, to assist the one in need a help through a grant or a loan or by teaching a trade, or by helping them create a business so that they may earn an honest livelihood and not be forced in the dreadful alternative of holding out a hand for charity. To this the Bible alludes when it says, "And if your brother or sister becomes poor and has a need, then you shall relieve them, even if 162 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 they are strangers or sojourners, that they may live with you." This is the highest step and the summit of the golden ladder of justice. We, the religious community of Philadelphia, ask you to help us implement the wisdom and sacred teaching of centuries, and create real work for the families of our state, for our sisters and our brothers. Thank you. (Applause.)
I thank all the members of the panel. And if you would leave that statement with us, for incorporation into the record. The next panel will be Rhonda Louis Jones and Paul Greenwald. (Leona Smith comes forward, addresses committee members off-mike.)
I testified before. I'm not here to testify for myself. What I am here to say IS that we are outraged for, number one, we've heard nothing but white people in corporations all 163 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 just speaking on behalf of us, and that's a fact. And what we're just saying is that not enough of us are a part of this policy, nor has enough of us been able to express ourselves, and we are the victims. And -- (Maddie Humphrey comes forward.)
Well, we want you all -- we want everybody to express themselves. We did everything we could to --
But everything's gone wrong. The difference is the corporates who are making money while they sit here. And we have to jeopardize what else we could be doing to just keep a harmonious household or a peaceful neighborhood to sit here. And that's because we don't have any public access cable television, we have to use bull horns or we have to scream in City Council because we are absolutely --
(Unintellligible). . . For the communication that the corporate America 164 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 is putting in the newspapers and on the TVs. We have no opportunity to talk to one another except in one of these circuses, and we are not circus performers, and we don't need to watch the experts in technology and mathematics who. . . (Applause.)
(Unintelligible). . . until we speak to the issue of our general revenues, which are spent for our general welfare. It has nothing to do with poverty, disease and statistics. It has to do with equities in the body of politics, and our sovereignty is being ignored. And we are not allowed to vote. We do go to vote, but if we are registered independents, we can't vote. If we want to do a write-in candidate, we can't do it, because I live in the 9th Division of the 12th Ward, and I am sick and tired of my councilman, my state representatives, my at-large representatives, and everybody who represents me in this city ignoring my letters to the Ethics Committee of this Council. And the fact is, David Cohen, I should ask you to recuse yourself from this issue because 165 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 you're the only one who, in 1968, heard me making this same appeal for us to regard the quality of life of people more than we regard the statistics of corporate research. And I am tired of all the federal money from the general revenues of this commonwealth coming to this county to be redistributed to Montgomery County and all the other wealthy places around Philadelphia. (Applause.)
I'm tired of living in a hole in the middle of a donut, when it is I and mothers who are building families and rearing decent children to be decent human beings that are being dragged into the prisons of Pennsylvania while the people in the other 66 counties can have jobs. There are no penitentiaries in Philadelphia, but two-thirds of all the felons in Pennsylvania come from this one county, and I'm not talking race and I'm not talking poverty; I'm talking simple justice. This is the standard of justice that we just heard. And we are on Level 1, trying to be just and peaceful under very 166 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 trying circumstances of a brute civil war that has lasted far too long. This Council, this Commonwealth and this city, they have conspired too long not knowingly, but deliberately, to take the general welfare revenues and give them to the general private corporate sector, be whatever their name, nonprofit, and they have seen fit to withhold their deliberations from those of us who are in true charity. So we have been brought here. I have been reduced to poverty because I have a master's in business, I have a law degree, I have 50 years of working in this city, and I'm unemployable here. (Applause.)
And the City wants to take my (unintelligible), and the State wants my Social Security because I am 72, and I haven't changed. But they want my Social Security to pay (intelligible). Why? Because Pennsylvania would reimburse public school teachers who make a public salary for their student loans but because I'm a nurse, I've been downsized four times because we were converting the health system into an 167 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 insurance industry. There is too much public policy that is well known all over the world that is being betrayed right here in the Cradle of Liberty. And we are mothers held in ransom for our children. And I appreciate that last mother who spoke 'cause I have no children or grandchildren as she is fortunate to have. And if I weren't doing all of this, as people say, If you weren't such a loud mouth, maybe your son would still be alive. Well, he is alive right here. They may have buried his body but (unintelligible) is my witness, that he is still alive. (Applause.)
And I am sick and tired of this charade, and I'm not performing for free anymore. I will perform for truth. And that's why I would suggest that you recuse yourself, Mr. Cohen, because you're the only one who's been here that whole 30 years that I'm talking about. But whether you do or not, the point is I respect you as a human being because you were my District Councilman at that time, and I will say what you said when I asked you to help me 168 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 investigate what they were doing with the federal money, using it for research and technology. And you came back after six months, and you said to me, you don't question federal money, you just take it. This is the results of 30 years of spending federal money without questioning how. And we need to thank God for the blessing of peace today. But we need to put another definition of democracy out there in the global rhetoric of the court of public opinion which free corporate America is calling all of the shots. Employed public servants are articulating what that press is all about. But we are here to speak (unintelligible) of having been there, still being there, and unwilling to continue as silent lambs, okay? We are no longer silent lambs, we are mothers in ransom for our children, whether you call them dead or not.
They are alive, and they will live as long as God is in charge of this planet.
Thank you. 169 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671
And Councilman Cohen, I have to go but I'd like to make a formal --
Well, do you want to come forward and speak into the mike?
Speak right into the microphone so we can make sure we have it.
Yes, thank you. The one thing that we -- and we are representing everyone that's in our organization that we think that one person should not have the power in order to sit around the table and control the resources in the City of Philadelphia, who has the opportunity and the power to set up satellites throughout are community. And we are continually left out of the process. Today we came here to say that not another thing is going to be implemented in the City of Philadelphia pertaining to us, pertaining to our communities without us putting a 170 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 representative to sit down to that board to give direction, to give guidance, and to have some level of input. I don't know where these people have came from. We've been in existence, I've been working for 40 years with the late Senator Roxanne Jones and Dave Richardson. I've been a trainer for ten years and don't have a dime. I'm in a rat-infested building, brought in $11 million into the City of Philadelphia from taking over houses to make a point and make a decision. And yet, we don't have any money, and it's a designed plan that we're saying as of this date forward is going to change. We train homeless people, we train that clientele that they're talking about that's below the 5th-grade level. And, yes, because of my political beliefs, and I believe that that's to be a true factor, they don't give us a damn dime in the City of Philadelphia. So where I am today, I've been begging for a building because I think homeless people deserve more than what I'm giving 'em, a rat-infested building. And if they mean for me to 171 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 take over the Convention Center to have one, then that's what I'm going to do. (Applause.)
We're saying we want our fair share so we can work with the people that's in our communities. Corporate America don't know them, we do. They not even going to come into our communities, let alone make decisions about us.
Leona, could you just answer a question in terms of --
Are you saying that the programs that are being designed by the City --
-- do not include representation from the broader community?
You're saying that -- were you a part of the planning of --
This welfare to work, every -- the satellite programs that's being 172 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 implemented to work, to deal with the welfare recipients.
Have you applied to be part of -- have you applied for funding from the programming? (Ms. Humphrey addresses committee off-mike.)
Would you please let me ask her the question, please. (Ms. Humphrey continues addressing committee off-mike.)
I need to ask her a question. (Ms. Humphrey continues addressing committee off-mike.)
How are we to know what her concern is if we don't know what the problems is? (Ms. Humphrey continues addressing committee off-mike.)
The problem is, I made numerous of telephone calls around this as an 173 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 issue, and the telephone calls are never, ever returned. We're totally disregarded, disrespected, even in this hearing today. And I think you're seeing a sense of outragednous (sic) from me. There's no respect from a state level, there no respect that the head of the Department of Public Welfare should have been here today, she should have been here today. And I think someone from Donna Cooper's office should have been here today to listen to what we, the people, have to say. Yes, I have called. I have called on numerous of occasions, and I have not received a telephone call back. And if you notice, the only time that there was ever any interaction was last Thursday when I approached, and that's what that conversation was about when I was here last Thursday. Why didn't you return my telephone call? I was called a liar. And when you saw me put my finger in Donna Cooper's face, that's why I was saying to her, I don't have to lie about a telephone call to nobody or nothing. It's just not me. It's a whole lot of 174 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 us minorities that's feeling the same way that I'm just representing and saying it for them today. I hear this every single day from work as well as home. People calling my agency, calling me, saying, We are left out of the process, don't have any money for our program. Why? I look at other agencies, and I'm not about color 'cause I got friends of all colors, but I'm looking at a racist movement blatantly taking place from a state level of governmental level down in D.C. and now in the City of Philadelphia. And we're saying enough is enough 'cause we're tired, we're tired.
Thank you very much. The members on this Council will further investigate that. This committee will be called back, and Councilman Cohen will set the date, and we will ask those individuals to come back and respond to the process and why groups were not included in the process. But prior to that, we will have a conversation with the powers that be about your concern.
Thank you so much. And, 175 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 you know, it's just so saddening that I'm only known as being a radical, you know. And that's the label that everybody want to give me. However, what they don't realize and understand, what they don't realized and understand is that the way the conditions are today, that makes us be what we have to be.
I would love to be -- somebody needs to come down there and look at the homeless people that want to learn. Every year, Councilwoman, I've invited you all to come to our ceremony and look at what we do. I hear programs bragging about what they do and this and that and the other, but what they don't tell you is that if a person don't have that 8th-grade education, they can't -- they're not eligible for PIC, they're not eligible for anything, nothing. So they looking at the cream of the crop. They don't deal with the hard-core homeless people that we deal with on a daily basis in order for them to be the best to success, in order to become self-sufficiency. 176 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 I shouldn't have to want for nothing, for not a dime in this city. I should be well comfortable for what we've made and the difference that we've made in the City of Philadelphia, I shouldn't want for nothing. There are a whole lot of us.
We'd like to finish with this panel so that we have a hearing that's scheduled at 1 o'clock. The hearing will begin in ten minutes. Thank you.
We're going to recess to another date. The hearing was scheduled for 1 o'clock, so we have to move with the hearing that was scheduled. You can call Councilman Cohen's office or see the gentleman over here.
This hearing, when it recesses, will be recessed until Wednesday, December 9, at 11 o'clock in the morning, here in the same chambers. When this hearing recesses today that, will be the recess day. 177 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671
Good afternoon. My name is Julio Paz y Mino. I direct one of the five agencies in the City that provide child care and referral services and child-care subsidy funds for working parents. These services are fully funded by the State, and two of the offices are operated on behalf of the State by the Crime Prevention Association. The five agencies serve different geographic areas of the City. Although we are separate agencies dispersed throughout the City, we operate under the name "Philadelphia Child Care Resources" to make the same citywide services easily accessible to all parents through a single initial point of contact, our toll-free number is 888-461-KIDS. Pens with the number are being distributed provide. We provide locally-based basic resource and referral services to any Philadelphia resident free of charge through our toll-free number, 888-461-KIDS. Counselors are on hand to speak 178 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 other languages, specifically Spanish, several Southeastern-Asian languages, and Eastern- European languages. We also provide child-care subsidy funding to working parents, particularly those formerly on welfare. We handle approximately 1500 calls monthly through the citywide R&R service and administer over $40 million in subsidy funds, which supports approximately 6,000 families with 9,000 children. Philadelphia Child Care Resources has been working closely with the County Board of Assistance of Offices over the past few years, and has increased the intensity of support given to their clients. Through the R&R telephone line, we advise CAO clients regarding their options for child care and next steps to take, depending upon where they are in the system at the time. We also have child-care R&R workers placed at each CAO office to counsel parents and help them with their child-care choices. We anticipate new regulations from DPW which will simplify the procedures for CAO clients 179 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 to access child care so that the transitional funding period between CAO offices and the subsidy office is eliminated. We have made R&R counselors available to PIC training sites and to other welfare-to-work programs. I am also the Program Director for the Child Care Resource Developers for Southeastern Pennsylvania, a new program within the State child care subsidy system. The State has provided funding to assure that locally-identified child-care needs of our community are addressed. Over the past eight months, our needs-assessment process involved representatives from many areas of the community. Over 116 community representatives participated in the identification of child-care needs. Child care providers and consumers were surveyed. This unique planning forum for child-care providers and the others working on behalf of child care resulted in additional funds to increase child-care capacity, particularly for former welfare clients, and several additional grant application to increase child-care quality.
Well, thank you. 180 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 Why don't we include the rest of the statement in the record.
Okay. May I just say that the City has receive 1.55 million, and that we are making applications available now.
Thank you, Councilman Cohen. I would just like to identify myself as Paul Greenwald, the Director of Philadelphia Child Care Resource for West and Southwest Philadelphia, and the Fiscal Director for Child Care Resource Developers of Southeastern Pennsylvania. I have nothing to add to what Mr. Paz y Mino has read for the record or will be put into the record as of the rest of our statement.
We are employed by the Crime Prevention Association of Philadelphia.
May I also say that 181 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 the regional plan is being given to you for the record as well for child care.
Yes, please. We would like to have that. Now, is Commissioner Richman here and everyone else representing the City who wishes to be heard?
Commissioner, we're delighted you're here. COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: Good afternoon, Councilman Cohen. I'm Estelle Richman, the Commissioner of Health for the Department of Public. I'm here today to give you my perspective on the federal welfare law and its implications for Philadelphia. Philadelphia, like the rest of nation, is in the midst of a rapidly-changing health and welfare system. Many of these changes are necessary to fuel our economic and social well-being. Some of these changes, however, may, in fact, deter from a goal of healthy and 182 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 productive citizenry. I've sat before you on several occasions to testify to the growing numbers of uninsured in Philadelphia and the impact that that has had on our health-care system. More and more of our health-center population presenting for care are uninsured, and the ratio of insured to uninsured clients is shifting. In 1994, only 45 percent of health-care center patients were uninsured. That number rose to 58 percent in fiscal year '97 and to 59 percent in December of 1997. The percentage of uninsured is expected to reach 62 percent in fiscal year '99, an escalation in uninsured visits of more than 30 percent between fiscal year '96 and fiscal year '99. In addition, those who come for care are often sicker and require more visits and more intensive care. 7 projected for fiscal year '99. 183 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 Moreover, it is taking longer to get an appointment. One measure used by the Department to asses its effectiveness is appointment availability based on its standard of an appointment within three weeks of a request, which meets the three-week standard used by local health maintenance organizations. While appointment availability within 3 weeks had reached 89 percent by fiscal year '96, increased service demand, primarily by adults whose medical-assistance benefits had been cut, lowered that to 6 percent in fiscal year '97, to 74 percent in fiscal year '98. And while the situation has stabilized somewhat in fiscal year '99, the Department of Public Health does not believe that is has seen the end of the ever-growing line for service. The health-care centers have responded well during the early stages of TANF. Despite a decrease in the number of MA recipients citywide, the health-care centers have actually increased market shares since our MA enrollment is the same as it was in October of 1997 when Health Choices was fully implemented. 184 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 However, to the extent TANF produces a decrease in the number of MA recipients, we will be faced with continuing expenses since we continue to provide care to the uninsured while we lose the corresponding revenue. The anticipated termination of cash benefits to approximately 26,000 in March 1999, with as many as 35,000 families losing cash benefits by September, is expected to further exacerbate our revenue loses. Although cash benefits have been delinked from Medicaid, it is the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania of Pennsylvania's position to require each of these individuals to re-enroll in Medicaid. Based on previous experience, nowhere near 100 percent of the affected individuals will re-enroll. For every 1,000 health-center patients who lose Medicaid coverage, the health centers will see an approximately $200,000 annual decrease in revenue. Philadelphia hospitals face the same set of circumstances. Hospitals throughout Philadelphia are feeling the same effects as our health centers -- more uninsured, lower 185 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 reimbursement rates, and increasing inability to finance care. The Allegheny situation is just one indication of the stress on our hospital system. The elimination of cash benefits to sanction the parents will greatly increase the stress on families that are already struggling to get by.
In addition, the elimination of cash to parents who are unwilling -- unable or unwilling to comply with federal welfare law will have several impacts on households, and most notably on their children. As I've stated earlier, those families who do not realize that they need to re-enroll for medical assistance will likely see a decline in health status as they refrain from assessing care. The health centers will continue to be the safety net for these families. But our struggles will increase as more of our population loses its health insurance. Since January of 1996, 19,000 children have come off medical assistance in the City. The retention rate for the rest of the State is far better. Procedures in place for medical- assistance transition are not working. Many do 186 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 not understand that medical assistance eligibility can continue even after cash benefits have stopped. This confusion persists for recipients as well as for many providers. This is a landmark year for children's health insurance with the dramatic increase in CHIP funding, but this has not offset the decline in MA enrollment for children here. We're still seeing a net loss of children with health insurance. Some other states instituted automatic medical-assistance enrollment for children when a parent leaves TANF. Others are doing aggressive outreach, using videotapes and ensuring that caseworkers prioritize the issue. What might work for the rest of the state is not working here in Philadelphia. With March 1999 looming, we are concerned that without some aggressive action by the State targeted to the needs of families in Philadelphia, the situation will worsen and even put more children at risk. Substance-abuse and mental-health issues can pose major barriers to successful 187 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 employment for many Philadelphians. In order to address these issues, the behavioral health system has been working closely with the Greater Philadelphia Works, Philadelphia's welfare-to-work program, to integrate behavioral health services with welfare-to-work efforts in several ways. First, a full-time director of welfare-to-work initiatives for the behavioral health system has been hired to serve as liaison Greater Philadelphia Works in the behavioral health system. This employee has been involved in the planning and implementation of Greater Philadelphia Works since January 1998. Second, each regional service center in the Greater Philadelphia Works system will employ two behavioral health staff. One will be a paraprofessional peer counselor, who will be a person in recovery. An employment advisor assessor, who will be a substance abuse professional, will do a combined mental-health and substance-abuse assessment on site and make a referral to CBH for treatment authorization and placement. Both of these employees will be 188 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 available to other staff for training and consultation on behavioral issues. Third, the State is instituting an alcohol and other drugs demonstration project in several County Assistance Office districts in Philadelphia. The regional center serving these districts will receive additional funding to hire employment and training-service coordinators, who will be substance-abuse professionals assigned to provide case-management services specifically to drug and alcohol clients. In conclusion, I thank you for the opportunity to address you today. March 1999 will bring great change to the City of Philadelphia, some of which we can anticipate, and some of which will be hard to predict. Our only hope is to be ready to act quickly to address the needs of people we serve and to help those affected by the welfare law make a successful transitions from welfare to work while guaranteeing them the health and social supports they're entitled to. Thank you.
Thank you very 189 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 much. Who wants to speak next? (Commissioner Mike Nardone comes forward.)
Hello Councilman Cohen, Councilwoman Tasco. My name is Mike Nardone. And I'm Deputy Managing Director for Special Needs Housing. I appreciate greatly the opportunity to testify before you today. I commend the committee for holding these hearings and for having the wherewithal to go not one, but two days. And I'm glad to have the opportunity to talk to you today.
The third day will be on Wednesday, December 9th, 11 o'clock a.m.
You're heard a lot of the facts and figures over the two days of hearings. I'm not going to try to repeat them, although, as indicated by the letter that Councilman Ortiz will be sending to the State, there still is not total clarity on what those numbers will be. As the individual charged with oversight and coordination of the City's homeless service system, however, I recognize that the 190 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 numbers that have been presented represent an extremely daunting fiscal policy and human challenge to the City of Philadelphia. It is extremely difficult for me sitting here today, if not impossible, to project how many of the 61,000 TANF families who will hit the legislative time limits and unable to find work and without any means of support will find themselves destitute and in need of emergency shelter. Much, of course, will depend on how the State chooses to implement this legislation. And, again, there are some questions which have yet to be answered. But just to give you a sense of the possible magnitude, if just 5 percent of those families who -- we've heard the number 25,000, who will hit the March 3rd deadline, if just 5 percent of those families wind up in need of emergency shelter, that would represent approximately 1250 families. Presently, we have a little over 500 families residing in shelter. So you're talking about potentially, if that were to come to pass, a doubling of the number of people who would seek emergency 191 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 shelter. In terms of dollars and cents, that represents more than $10 million in terms of emergency shelter costs.
My arithmetic tells me it's more than tripling what now exists.
How much of that money comes from the State? COMMISSIONER NARDONE: We receive approximately $7 million in State half-dollars, but this is not funding that we presently have in the budget for these additional families.
So if they came to you from welfare, then the State picks up the cost of them being in shelter, so they don't really save any money. COMMISSIONER NARDONE: Well, we would have to figure out a way to come up with those dollars. You heard earlier today about the TANF surplus. Obviously, we would need to ensure that a portion of that TANF surplus, in addition to some the others services, would have to go to homeless services. But there is no entitlement that the State would pick up those costs. 192 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671
Could you please summarize? I have a 1 o'clock hearing.
Could you leave your testimony here for the record. Because this is not over, we're going to revisit this again.
Certainly I'd be pleased to. I guess the thing is that would just close by saying that we are already struggling to meet the demands for services for families in the homeless system, and this potentially has some very serious impacts on the City of Philadelphia in terms of homeless services and really will be a struggle for us to continue to provide the services and to maintain the continuum of services for homeless families that we've been able to develop. And I think with that, I'd be happy to come back at a later date and not take up any more of the committee's time today.
Thank you very much. That concludes the list of witnesses we had known about in advance. Unless there's 193 PUB. HEALTH/HUM. SVCS. AND LAW & GOV'T. - RES. 960671 somebody who feels they have an immensely important statement to make, the committee will stand in recess until Wednesday, December 9th, at times a.m., here in the same hearing room. 6 The committee stands in recess. That's 7 the Joint Committee of Law & Government and Health 8 & Human Services. 9 Thank you very much. 10 Commissioner Richman, we especially 11 thank you. We knew you were sitting here, but we thought you ought to be educated while we're being educated at the same time. And we appreciate everybody's attendance. (Applause.) (Adjourned at 1:30 p.m.) - - - 194 C E R T I F I C A T E I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing proceedings of the Council of the City of Philadelphia of Monday, November 16, 1998. Were reported and accurately by me, and that this is a correct transcript of same. RE: JOINT COUNCIL COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES AND LAW & GOVERNMENT RESOLUTION NO. 960671 __________________________________, JOSEPHINE CARDILLO, Registered Professional Reporter