Welfare to (school) Work

Story by Van Mitchell
Reprinted Courtesy of Stillwater NewsPress

In the mid-1990s, Oklahoma was one state taking the lead in welfare reform.

Those changes require more people who qualify for welfare to go to work and CareerTech is helping them do that.

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families provides up to one year of vocational training, said Lou Ann Hargrave, Oklahoma’s TANF coordinator.

TANF students also have access to support services, basic education, life skills, employability skills, employment services and employment retention services.

Oklahoma was one of the first states to implement the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills program under the Family Support Act of 1988. Oklahoma is continuing to expand the program under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996.

The 1996 law requires that welfare recipients participate in a minimum of 30 hours per week in a work activity. Up to 12 months of vocational training can be counted as work.

“The welfare people knew went away in 1996,” Hargrave said. “They can’t stay at home and have a check anymore.”

Since welfare recipients may receive assistance for only five years, the Department of Human Services recognizes the urgency of helping them find employment.

DHS and the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education have agreed to fund 22 TANF programs at more than 30 technology center campuses across the state.

Meridian Technology Center in Stillwater doesn’t have a TANF program, but Pioneer Tech (Ponca City), Central Tech in Drumright and Chisholm in Omega do.

TANF students can enroll in full-time, short-term, niche market or individualized skills training and receive employment services.

Last year, 1,717 clients were served through the TANF program at CareerTech. Hargrave said the TANF program is designed to help those individuals who have “major barriers to employment opportunities.”

She said most TANF clients have low educational skills, mental health problems, learning disabilities or substance abuse problems.

As part of the eligibility requirements, clients must complete an assessment for substance abuse and education level.

After the evaluation, they meet with technology center and college officials who will help them develop an employability plan.

“If they have the ability to benefit from a vocational program, we will be part of the plan,” Hargrave said.

Hargrave said the majority of TANF clients are females. She said once they complete the program, TANF helps them to find employment and maintain employment for up to six months.

She said the average salary for clients who completed the program was $7.72 an hour.

Cindy Lambert, instructor of the TANF program at Central Technology Center in Drumright, works with clients from Payne, Osage, Pawnee, Creek and Lincoln counties.

She has seven TANF students, but because it is an open-ended program, she says she can receive more students each week.

Lambert said she has been seeing more male students.

“I’m getting more males coming into the program who have custody of their children,” Lambert said. “They are wanting to do a better job of providing for their kids.”

Lambert said in addition to their in-class work, her TANF students also spend each Friday job shadowing with various businesses.

“They get an insight into what they may want to do,” she said.

Lambert said many TANF students have an initial fear of the program, but once they understand what it is, their fears are calmed.

“The hardest thing they have to do is walk in the front door,” Lambert said. “Once they are in, they want to keep coming back.”
Lambert said one of her program goals is to be able to teach her students a variety of skills as well as their vocational training.

Part of that includes bringing in a nutrition expert from the Oklahoma State University Extension office in Creek County to provide nutrition tips for the students. The students also learn budgeting and life skills.

Lambert has worked at Central Tech for 14 years and has been teaching in the TANF program for six years.
She said she looks at her students like they were her own children. She says their success is her success.

“It’s such a rewarding experience to put a smile on their face,” Lambert said. “That smile on their face is the best reward you can get. It’s the best job in the world.”