City of Philadelphia - File #: 000036

• File #: 000036
• Version: 0
• Type: Resolution
• Status: LAPSED
• File created: 2/3/2000
• In control: Committee on Public Health and Human Services
• Title: Authorizing Council's Committee on Health and Human Services to hold hearings on the City of Philadelphia's welfare-to-work efforts, including the Transitional Work Programs, Philadelphia @ Work and Work Opportunities, and to investigate the effectiveness of such programs at placing and retaining former welfare recipients in permanent jobs that promote self-sufficiency, with specific attention focused on length of job programs, the appropriateness of wages paid, the practice of requiring attendance at unpaid training, and the retention rates of former welfare recipients placed into permanent jobs.
• Sponsors: Councilmember Tasco, Councilmember Ortiz, Councilmember Cohen, Councilmember Mariano, Councilmember Miller, Councilmember Nutter, Councilmember Reynolds Brown, Councilmember Goode, Councilmember O'Neill, Councilmember Rizzo
• Indexes: WELFARE

Date	Ver.	Action By	Action	Result	Tally
12/13/2018	0	CITY COUNCIL	Referred
4/26/2000	0	Committee on Public Health and Human Services	HEARING NOTICES SENT
4/26/2000	0	Committee on Public Health and Human Services	RECESSED
2/3/2000	0	CITY COUNCIL	Introduced	Pass

Title
Authorizing Council's Committee on Health and Human Services to hold hearings on the City of Philadelphia's welfare-to-work efforts, including the Transitional Work Programs, Philadelphia @ Work and Work Opportunities, and to investigate the effectiveness of such programs at placing and retaining former welfare recipients in permanent jobs that promote self-sufficiency, with specific attention focused on length of job programs, the appropriateness of wages paid, the practice of requiring attendance at unpaid training, and the retention rates of former welfare recipients placed into permanent jobs.
Body
WHEREAS, The United States Congress and the legislature of the State of Pennsylvania mandated the reform of welfare programs in 1996; and

WHEREAS, In response to the requirement that welfare recipients participate in work activity after receipt of 24 months of Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF), the City of Philadelphia and the State of Pennsylvania designed a series of programs to enable welfare recipients to find work; and

WHEREAS, The City of Philadelphia created the Philadelphia @ Work Program, and the State of Pennsylvania created the Work Opportunities Program, in order to transition former welfare recipients into permanent jobs; and

WHEREAS, The Philadelphia @ Work Program has been actively placing welfare recipients into transitional jobs for over one year, and Work Opportunities has been placing recipients into transitional jobs for over six months; and

WHEREAS, The transitional jobs of 25 hours per week, at minimum wage, only last six months, and have the additional requirement that participants attend 10 hours of unpaid training per week; and

WHEREAS, Placement and retention in private jobs have been a problem for participants in the program; and

WHEREAS, Six months is not sufficient time on the job to develop a credible work history, nor is it enough time to build the skills necessary to become self-sufficient and...