By Daryll Griffin
July 1, 2002

New Chair of the U.S. Conference of Mayors' Jobs, Education and the Workforce Committee, Mayor Patsy Jo Hilliard of East Point, GA, got right down to business by asking host Mayor Susan Bauman to introduce Conny Ferris Bailey, Executive Director of Operation Fresh Start, about what the organization is doing to rescue and rehabilitate at-risk youth.

Operation Fresh Start is a 32-year-old Madison based job-training program in which at-risk youths participate in the building of affordable housing for low-income families. "In the course of our 32 years, young people have built or rebuilt 160 homes that have been sold to families in our community whose average income is approximately 68 percent of the median," said Ms. Bailey.

In 1998, then Governor Tommy Thompson formed a partnership with Operation Fresh Start to duplicate this program across the state of Wisconsin. In 2002, it is now being copied in 10 communities and 13 neighborhoods around the state.

"The program's long term goal is for every rural, urban and metropolitan area in Wisconsin that makes a decision of wanting to provide a different opportunity for its young people and to provide affordable housing has a chance to replicate this program" said Ms. Ferris Bailey.

During the program year, each participant spends 50 percent of his/her time working on housing construction sites. Crews of eight to ten members are supervised by journeyman-level construction trainers at a trainer/trainee ratio of 1/5. The crews undertake all non-licensed phases of constructing single-family homes. All units are sold to low-income first-time homebuyers. Trainees learn job-specific skills required for residential construction, and they learn basic work maturity skills, such as thoroughness and task-related initiative, needed for employability throughout the workplace.

"This is where they learn to take pride in themselves, pride in the quality of their work, and where they learn problem solving and team building skills," said Ms. Ferris Bailey.

The participant spends the remaining 50 percent of his/her time in educational programming to improve basic skills, preparing for the high school equivalency test, upgrading independent living capabilities, learning construction techniques and tool and material use, studying a pre-employment career development curriculum, acquiring and practicing leadership skills, undertaking job market and vocational program exploration, learning computer basics, and beginning the job search.

To emphasize the success of Operation Fresh Start, Mayors heard from two current participants of the program. Both young men told of their lives before entering the program and how their lives have been significantly impacted for the good since starting the program. One young man said that people considered him a failure before entering the program while the other young man told his story of low self-esteem and drug use before entering the program. Now both young men say their lives are headed in the right direction because of the training they received. Both young men have plans to start college in the fall.

Mayor William Johnson from the City of Rochester, NY, asked about Operation Fresh Start's funding stream. The program's support comes from a combination of 44 sources of public and private funds that include funding from the Youth Build Program at U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Department of Labor as well as funding from the United Way of Dane County.

Margy Waller a Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution Urban Center also presented information on the state of the Congressional debate on welfare reauthorization (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families "TANF" Block Grant). House-passed legislation would increase significantly the work standards states must meet. For example, individual participants would have to work additional hours in a more limited set of activities than current law permits, and states would have to significantly increase the percentage of welfare recipients participating in these activities. Waller noted that there is no research evidence that these requirements would improve welfare outcomes. In addition, the changes would severely restrict local flexibility to design pMeanwhile, according to Ms. Waller, Senators will soon take up consideration of their own proposal that is likely to provide more flexibility in welfare to work program design. She stated that there is general agreement that the TANF block grant will stay at its same funding level of $16.5 billion. There have been proposals for an increase, but those proposals are highly unlikely to pass. "Most people see this as a win because this block grant is no longer a program for people who are not working. It is a funding stream that helps people move from welfare-to-work and supports those working families who are staying off the welfare rolls but still have very low incomes, according to Ms. Waller.

Meanwhile, according to Ms. Waller, Senators will soon take up consideration of their own proposal that is likely to provide more flexibility in welfare to work program design. She stated that there is general agreement that the TANF block grant will stay at its same funding level of $16.5 billion. There have been proposals for an increase, but those proposals are highly unlikely to pass. "Most people see this as a win because this block grant is no longer a program for people who are not working. It is a funding stream that helps people move from welfare-to-work and supports those working families who are staying off the welfare rolls but still have very low incomes, according to Ms. Waller.

Ms. Waller added that there are a number of issues that are still up for debate in Senate. They are:

Ms. Waller urged mayors to contact members of Congress about the bill right away since welfare legislation must be reauthorized or extended by September 30 of this year. She said, "this is the moment to call your Senator and to say "I like this set of proposals" or "I like that set of proposals" and this is how it going to effect my community." Once Senators make decisions on those basic issues there will very little room for change, according to Ms. Waller.

The mayors ended the Standing Committee Meeting by passing all Resolutions put before them. They are Resolution numbers 3, 13, 14 and 36 - 42. Note: Resolutions 14, 36 and 40 were passed with minor changes. Mayors also recommended that, for Resolution 38, Endorsement of the Reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act, a subcommittee be set up to explore whether WIA is serving the population that it is supposed to serve.

Jobs, Education and the Workforce Committee

Patsy Jo Hilliard, Mayor of East Point, Chair

In Support of Increased Funding for the Local Workforce Investment Act Funds calls for the Administration and Congress to make a commitment to the locally driven workforce investment system and calls upon Congress to fund the U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration's budget at no less than FY 2001 levels, specifically formula funds for adults, youth and dislocated workers and the Youth Opportunity Grant program and to restore the dislocated worker rescission of $110 million.

Making Opportunity for America's Youth a Commitment to our Future and Investing in Youth Opportunity Grants calls upon Congress to restore full funding of the Youth Opportunity Grants and to incorporate the Youth Opportunity philosophy of long-term, comprehensive support into all youth workforce policies and programs.

Reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act calls on Congress as they prepare to reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act next year to recognize that strong local authority and flexibility must remain at the core of the Act, that they recognize the findings of the Mayors' Skills Summits and provide adequate resources for training necessary to meet employers' needs, to remove federal and state barriers to local implementation of WIA and to facilitate the sharing of local urban best practices by funding the U.S. Conference of mayors to collect the most promising practices of local programs.

Calling for a National Investment in America's Young Adults calls for significant funding for a jobs stimulus program for young people ages 16 to 24, especially those living in high poverty neighborhoods and high school dropouts.

Maintain the H-1B Technical Skills Training Grant Program opposes the Bush Administration's proposal to eliminate the H-1B Technical Skills Training Grant program and opposes rescinding fund from the program to offset the cost of increasing other programs and looks forward to the opportunity to work with the Administration and Congress to make the necessary changes to strengthen the H-1B program.

Second Phase of Welfare Reform - Moving Families up the Career Ladder to Self- Sufficiency call for governors to recognize the impact of welfare reform in cities and urges them to reinvest any TANF surplus back into the TANF system, calls for Congress in their reauthorization of TANF to fund at least $1 billion to replace the current Welfare-to-work program to be directed to cities and areas with high concentrations of poverty, calls for Congress to count education and training activities as work, to maintain the current 50 percent participation rate, to fund a transitional jobs program, to include youth development activities, and opposes the super waiver provision in the President's proposal.