6
University Daily Kansan
Tuesday, April 22, 1986
Social Welfare in transi Professors adapt to fight cuts in federal programs
By Grant W. Butler
Staff writer
KU social welfare professors are angry about threatened budget cuts in federal programs for the poor. They say Gramm-Rudman may make them change the way they teach their subject.
"Gramm-Rudman has some very cruel aspects because it's aimed at people on the edge, and it doesn't take much to nudge them over," Rick Spano, associate professor of social welfare, said recently.
Some federal proposals call for cuts as high as 25 percent, he said.
"When you take 25 percent of somebody's income of $100,000, that one thing," Spano said. "In this day and age you are talking about trying to house, feed and close two children with a budget of $25 cut down from $25."
in 1980, the school has increased its emphasis on the effects of cutbacks and how these cutbacks can be eased onto the poor. Ewalt said. This emphasis will increase because of the Gramm-Rudman budget cuts.
"You can't even rent a place for that, let alone feed the kids."
"We need to have a continued presence on Capitol Hill, informing Congress and the congressional staff on the impact of people by favorable and unfavorable social policy action." Ewalt said.
The reductions in federal welfare spending have not affected the employment of social workers yet, she said. But the school is preparing its 680 students to make adjustments in the event of changes in the field.
Faced with the threat of this type of cut in government support and growing public disapproval of welfare spending, social workers are having to take on the role of advocate for the child of Sad Pat Ewalt, dean of social welfare.
Low Income Energy Assistance Administration, have been eased by $1.35 million in carry-over block funds from 1983 and oil overcharge money
Social programs, such as Aid to Families with Dependent Children, are used in courses as educational examples. Spaно said the real problem is that there are no administrators is some of these programs not exist when students graduate.
Without the easing of these cuts, state welfare programs would have been in serious trouble, said Chuck Browne, chief administrative services for SRS.
Because of this, classroom examples will have to be carefully studied to measure their effectiveness in teaching social welfare, be said.
Since President Reagan's election
Gramm-Rudman cuts on Kansas programs
In Kansas, Social and Rehabilitation Services reported that $1.9 million had been cut from state welfare programs as a result of budget cuts in services such as $800,000 in Social Service Block Grants and $200,000 for the
But looking at ways to manage the budget cuts is only part of a social worker's responsibilities in the age of Gramm-Rudman, Ewalt said.
The Reagan administration's attitude toward the poor and the effect of the Gramm-Rudman deficit reduction law make this a time for social workers to make themselves heard, Ewald said.
The Gramm-Rudman law proposes automatic cuts in government programs if the federal deficit is not more than 44 billion in 1887 and to zero by 1991.
How the cuts will affect state programs in the future is uncertain, but said, because estimates for reductions of 7.9% range from 0 percent to 20 percent.
Ewalt is running for the presidency of the National Association of Social Workers, an organization that labor organizes for reforms in welfare policy.
Source: The Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services
A federal panel of three judges declared Gramm-Rudman unconstitutional in February, saying that the triggering mechanism of the law didn't separate the executive and the branches of the government.
The alternatives available to people dependent on welfare programs are few, according to Jim Hanson, teaching assistant in social welfare.
"These are cuts in the care of the people who are the most disadvantaged who will then, because of lack of food, lack of housing or lack of medical care, be sicker and more unable to care for themselves."
Because of the drastic increases in the national poverty rate, Ewalt said, the Gramm-Rudman cut can only be seen as aimed at the poor.
But until the law is declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, it is still in effect.
"The cuts are in the very basic needs that people have — housing, food, medical care and job training for those who are able to work." Evault said. "They're the most fundamental needs of people.
Bill Skeet/KANSAN
"Reagan's philosophy is that if you quit taking care of people they'll be forced to take care of themselves and their own lives by their bootstraps," Hanson said.
"It would be ideal if you cut off all welfare and people were forced to go back to work, but the reality is there's no jobs for them in the inner city. Even if there were, they aren't trained."
The philosophy that all people should be able to get off welfare doesn't make sense to Ewalt.
"That is, in large part, an unrealistic goal for a demonstrable reason," she said. "About 80 percent of all persons receiving assistance from the school are mental or physical illnesses, are little children or are elderly people."
"The remaining 20 percent are parents of young children. There can
be a goal of having parents work, provided there are other supports to do it, such as day care."
But the 80 percent has to be dependent, she said.
There is a perception that there are no jobs for social workers. Ewalt said. But this perception is wrong.
"People said that when the Reagan administration began to make cuts in federally-funded social services that there would be a dramatic decrease in the employment of social workers," she said. "As a matter of fact, the number of social work positions has risen."
The reason for the increase is the states' growing need for social workers to make up for reductions in federal financing, she said. This trend, however, might not continue because of the cuts.
But the perception that there are
no jobs for social workers still pervades, Ewalt said, which may cause a decrease in enrollment in the school.
The budget cuts alone may affect enrollment, she said.
"If the student loan programs are cut down, we could see a dramatic decrease." Ewalt said.
Supporters of such cuts in Congress are not thinking of the effects years from now, she said.
"Some people in Washington say 'Be practical. We can't afford to make these benefits available.' I would say these are very impractical cuts." Ewalt said.
"They are costs that are only going to have to be paid later — and perhaps at a greater cost."
Terry Burkart/KANSAN
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Florese Pratt, a 4-year-old student at the Martin Luther King Urban Center, enjoys an after-school snack. The center provides each of its 60 members with evening meals.
Center expects budget cuts to youth services
Continued from p.1
said. The center is now looking for alternative financing to minimize the effects of any cuts.
"We probably will get cut, but we've already started some inroads some monies that will be paid. But that doesn't mean we'll get them."
Without the center, many young people would have to go to school. Williams said.
'The problem with Gramm-Rudman is there's an attitude there that these people aren't working, they're deadbeats, they don't need anything, to hell with them. That's the problem with Reagan in my estimation.'
--offers a battery of programs, including basketball teams, gospel choirs, skating clubs and a drill team to attract participants.
"They need a structured environment which provides positive role models and influences so they can take action against their future," he said.
--- Gerald Williams
director of operations
Martin Luther King Urban Center
"Without a program like this, most of these kids would end up in prison, not because they are inmated but because the environment in which they live."
"One of the things I've learned is that if the kids get hooked on welfare, their motivation stops right there," Simmons said. "The minute they get a job, their benefit goes down. But it doesn't go to a job to get a job and go out and work."
Life on the streets is the environment that sets children up for the trap of welfare, said Harold Simmons. "There's a police representative to the center."
"They work pretty strongly on the pride of their identity and how to evade the stereotypes of the streets," said Dmitara Tamayo-Porras, Houston graduate student in social welfare and a worker at the center. "Self-determination is their main goal."
Tamayo-Porras works at the center as part of the requirements for her master's degree in social welfare. She is able to study the effects of poverty on the mental health of children without the constraints of
Getting the young people into the center gets them out of the street environment, Williams said. The center
team, to further paraphrase
In between activities, they are taught about motivation and pride.
By getting children off the streets, Tamayo-Porras said, the center is also helping the parents in the community.
"They need this program because they can't afford to send their kids to day care," she said. "And at least they can take care of them." "Who are in the same type of situation."
a clinical environment, she said.
But for the center, which receives financing from various sources, including the government, the threat of
"The biggest thing they preach here is that you've got to learn to do something and be creative with your time," she said. "They don't want you being out in the streets, just hanging out."
Volunteer kitchen serves needs of Lawrence's poor
"We were cut and we really struggled." Williams said. "We almost closed in '81."
The cuts implemented in 1981 cut out some children who were in the most need of the program, he said.
"You could probably go back and look at those kids and see where they are right now, and I bet you nine out of 10, if they're female, have had children. If they are males, they've been in trouble with the law."
a new wave of welfare cuts is frightening.
In 1981 the center received federal financing that supported 125 people at the center. By the end of the year, it had been provided for because of budget cuts.
But while the kitchen can aid the nutritional needs of Lawrence's poor, there are not enough resources in the community to absorb the clothing, housing and medical needs that would develop under Gramm-Rudman cuts in welfare, said Ed Dutton, associate professor of social welfare and a member of the kitchen's steering committee.
By Grant W. Butler
cheen's said, "It would give us false assurance if we thought we could pick up the reductions that are occurring by the
Staff writer
The tuna salmon casseroles, peas and pineapple chunks are ready to be served. The aroma of dinner rolls fills the air.
The five volunteers and Mika Hermes, a member of the LINK steering committee, huddle in the warm kitchen. Holding hands, they pray, giving thanks for the food they are about to serve and for the opportunity to share it with members of their community.
As five volunteers scurry to complete the Tuesday meal at the Lawrence Interdenominational Nutrition Kitchen, people gather outside, waiting for their lunch to be served.
The kitchen, which is in the basement of St. John's Catholic Church, 1229 Vermont St., relies on volunteers from 26 Lawrence religious organizations to serve a free meal to about 80 people every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
The kitchen receives no government aid, other than an occasional batch of surplus cheese.
government through voluntary auspices," he said.
but the kitchen tries to meet the community's needs. Hermes said. Citizens helping citizens through the system should be more of a lawrence.
The program, which is just more than one year old, has served more than 10,000 meals to a sector of the Lawrence community that many people don't know exists — the hunry and poor. Dutton said.
"The food is important," Dutton said, "but it's also the socializing experience. The people are getting out and not being isolated."
pent
"Everyday I see someone I haven't seen before. That just shows we're here for anyone."
Each organization, Hermes said, serves one meal a month at the kitchen. The volunteers provide the food, set up, serve and clean up.
"It's the best thing," Hermes said.
"That's how a community is supposed to work — taking care of each other and looking out for each other."
The center provides what is, for some, the only nutritional meal they will have all day, said Dutton. But the center has an importance beyond the meat.
"We don't ask any questions," he said. "We don't have any scientific data, but based on what people are us, we're helping a lot of people."
While the volunteers respect the pride of the people who come into the kitchen, Hermes said, it is evident that they need the meals.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Ditmara Tamayo-Porras, Houston graduate student in social welfare, works with Maurice, one of the students at the Martin Luther King Urban Center, Tamayo-Porras works at the center as part of the requirements for her master's degree in social welfare.