TANF reauthorization should prompt reform
By Keith Bird
Chancellor
Kentucky Community and Technical College System
Guest column in the Community College Times
At the start of the 21st century, the economic vitality
of our businesses, our communities, our states and our nation are more
urgently dependent on the knowledge and skills of our workers than ever
before in our nation's history.
The Department of Labor estimates that by 2006 there
will be 151 million jobs available and only 141 million people in the
workforce pool. Over the next several decades, new immigrants and various
nontraditional labor force entrants will fill many jobs.
Anthony Carnevale, a former chair of the National Commission
for Employment Policy, pointed out that it is estimated that "by
2020, there will be a deficit of at least 12 million workers with some
postsecondary education and training" who will be required to fill
the jobs of the knowledge-based economy.
These unprecedented changes in our nation's demographics
will, by necessity, thrust the community and technical colleges into educating
traditionally underserved populations in increasing numbers. Two of these
student groups will be individuals transitioning from welfare to work
and the working poor.
The passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity
Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) resulted in the establishment of the Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant which replaced Aid to
Families with Dependent Children (AFDC). With impending TANF reauthorization,
the recent events of Sept. 11 and the recession, there is an increased
need to review the progress of welfare reform and build upon the best
practices that have emerged from the implementation of a work first system.
Although large numbers of welfare recipients have entered
employment, many of their jobs are low-skilled and low-paying. This creates
the working poor who are unable to reach the goal of long-term self-sufficiency.
Education and increased skills are the keys to promoting independence
and to enabling individuals to progress on-the-job and to compete successfully
in the knowledge-based economy.
Even though previous legislation restricted the ability
of parents on welfare to pursue education, a number of successful and
innovative strategies were developed. Some community colleges and state
and local agencies created partnerships to take advantage of existing
flexibility in the legislation to help low-wage workers receive additional
education and training.
Despite those efforts, a limited number of TANF participants
are acquiring skills and educational credentials in postsecondary education.
Between 1996-1997 and 1998-1999, the number of students receiving assistance
who applied for federal financial aid dropped by 38 percent nationally.
In 1999 a monthly average of only 5.9 percent of TANF adults nationwide
were enrolled in job training or education as a work activity.
The next phase of welfare reform should focus on moving
the working poor up a career ladder that leads to a living wage. This
can only be accomplished through greater access to education and training.
Community colleges can better respond to this challenge,
but legislative changes need to occur. Often, the complexity of federal,
state and local funding creates individual funding silos that make it
difficult to effectively serve our customers.
Unfortunately, colleges are not immune to these bureaucratic
limitations, and often create such silos within their own institutions
or systems. Colleges must develop new partnerships, coordinate funding
streams and leverage resources that service a broader population of low-income
workers.
Opportunities for collaboration must be used and initiatives
developed that are more broad-based in execution. For example, using Perkins
funding in one stop centers in conjunction with other funding sources
would provide education and training for shared clients, expanding services
for all.
Colleges must be prepared to respond with more flexible
student support services and instruction to allow these students to combine
work and school.
Programs with "modularized" curricula, multiple
entry and exit points, and portable credentials are essential for the
success of these students and must be expanded. New partnerships between
colleges and business and industry must be explored and developed, especially
in creating innovative ways to combine work with learning.
Training should meet local labor needs and should provide
incentives for both employers and employees. ducation and training must
emphasize expanding opportunities for all involved. Employees should earn
transferable skills that advance along career pathways, including lifelong
learning and skills building.
Training incentive dollars or tax credits available through
colleges and economic development agencies should be used to encourage
employers to focus on their lower-skilled workforce. At the same time
they seek to create new jobs or upgrade their existing workforce, employers
would be building the ladder to a living wage for the working poor.
Recent studies show that federal and state policies need
to be changed or, at least adjusted, to provide for more flexibility to
meet the needs of working adults. Even with the flexibility in TANF, not
all states have allowed work requirements to include college attendance
and work-study placements. Further, not all have used TANF funds in innovative
ways such as providing tuition assistance, supplementing other funding
sources or developing new curricula.
A forthcoming study of federal financial aid programs
by The Future Works Company reveals another major need for change. Initial
findings indicate that a significant group of students has been left behind
by the existing regulations. Working adults who are enrolled less than
halftime in credentialed programs often receive no federal financial aid.
More often than not, these students are parents who need
childcare assistance in order to attend training. This added cost becomes
a barrier to building the skill sets needed to fill newly created jobs
or expand existing workforces.
Consideration should be given to the higher costs experienced
by these part-time, working students along with lifting the minimum enrollment
criteria on non-need based student loans. Incentives for lifelong learning
such as making the Lifetime Learning Tax Credit refundable as well as
encouraging state governments to develop funding policies that encourage
institutions to be more accessible to working and low-skilled adults also
need to be explored.
The issue of low-income working families will not be
solved by any one entity. Only through collaboration among a variety of
agencies and institutions from the public, private and nonprofit sectors
can we work together to successfully accomplish the next phase of welfare
reform.
Although the major federal funding sources are still
too compartmentalized, colleges can effect changes by working together
on a state and national basis through system-to-system collaboration and
with the American Association of Community Colleges.
Examples of successful models can be found in community
colleges in Washington, Kentucky, Colorado and Portland, Ore., to name
a few that have developed collaborative case management and innovative
program and service delivery systems focusing on helping low-income individuals
access and complete postsecondary programs.
Community college leaders must educate themselves about
the issues to effectively serve this population. Both policy and programmatic
options must be explored to meet the growing needs of a global workforce
that is increasingly skills-driven. A useful guide of how best practices
could become best systems is a new publication of the NGA Center for Best
Practices and MDRC authored by Susan Golonka and Lisa Matus-Grossman,
Opening Doors: Expanding Educational Opportunities for Low-Income
Workers (May 2001).
We must not only reinvent ourselves as institutions but
also find new ways to assist those in the workplace to receive the new
skills that will enable them to reach their personal goals, as well as
serve the greater community. No one can be left behind.
Nancy Laprade, executive director of Kentucky Workforce Investment
Board, contributed to this article.
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