WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

During the afternoon session of the Summit, small groups of mixed stakeholders were asked "Where do we go from here?" Each group was assigned a specific area upon which to focus and given the following questions with which to generate the three recommend ed action steps listed below.

Group #1: Goals and Values

1. What do we really want the welfare system to accomplish in our society?
2. How do we ensure a public discussion of these underlying goals and values?

• Develop an overall goal of the welfare system beyond a set of rules through asking, listening, and following up.
• Increase family stability and financial security by raising people out of poverty.
• Work with participants to improve job skills.

Group #2: The Role of Public Policy and Public Policy Makers

1. What must policy makers do to ensure that welfare-to-work efforts improve in the future?
2. What should the specific responsibilities of city, county, and state governments be?

• Ensure that public policy is motivated by continuous improvement supported by ongoing research, input from various stakeholders and local experimentation.
• Educate the public about the variety of situations, skills, issues that challenge participants.
• Improve literacy and education of K-12, adults and immigrants.

Group #3:Welfare-to-Work Strategies

1. What balance is needed between going to work and gaining education and training for jobs that pay enough to sustain a family?
2. How can we ensure that "best practices" are shared throughout the state and even nation?

• Cut case loads and paperwork to a third.
• Do assessments to determine long-range career and education plans.
• Follow through on several recommendations that could ensure sharing "best practices," including: Web sites, traveling DHS staff, forums, talking to participants etc...

Group #4: Strategies for the "Hard to Employ"

1. What resources do we need to commit to assist the "hard to employ?"
2. What must employers do differently to support this segment of the population?

• Use more intermediaries who are culturally sensitive and have networking and mentoring capabilities to work with employers and recipients.
• Leverage the role of the community to minimize isolation and maximize expectations of participants, promote peer pressure, and create hope.
• Develop business-to-business support groups and links to human services.

Group #5: Coordination and Funding of Auxiliary Services

1. How can we coordinate and provide adequate auxiliary services such as child-care, transportation, health benefits, and housing?
2. How much funding do we need and how do we develop the political will to fully fund these efforts?

• Provide holistic employment and transition plans.
• Reorganize mechanics of service delivery system. Place employment counselor at the center of the transition plan with access to support systems and flexibility to customize long-term employment plans.
• Create a working group of businesses, policy makers, government agencies and service organizations to strategize on common interests and develop political will.

Group #6: Role of Employers and Community

1. How should the role of employers change to improve welfare-to-work efforts, especially during the current labor shortage?
2. How can civic and religious groups collaborate more effectively to improve welfare-to-work efforts, especially during this period of devolution?

• Encourage employers to come together in industrial or geographic clusters to solve employment barriers.
• Address disconnections between systems -- county, city, education and training, non-profit, employers and social service.
• Encourage employers to contribute to ongoing training for entry-level employees.

Group #7: Questions of Race and Immigration

1. Why are whites getting of rolls quicker than blacks and Hispanics? How do we respond?
2. What strategies need to be employed to facilitate the transition from welfare to work among communities of color? Immigrant communities? Migrant communities?

• Provide cultural training for policy makers, providers, employers and community.
• Provide basic education, more stable housing and livable wage jobs that accommodate the skills of the various communities.
• Support efforts to organize and coordinate efforts among community groups.

Group #8: Educating the Public

1. How can we create the public understanding and will for long-term success in welfare-to-work?
2. How can we transform the public conversation from "welfare-to-work" to "economic growth and community stability?"

• Articulate a positive and accurate message to the entire community. Highlight the benefits of providing livable wages, education, child care, transportation and family development.
• Create and use mechanisms for feedback through dialogues at all levels.
• Increase civic involvement - especially of those directly affected by welfare policy.

Top | Introduction | Statistical Snapshot | What's Working
Conclusions of Large Group | Where Do We Go From Here?
Conclusion | Contact Information