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Show Utah "welfare-work" program p mavbe blazing a national trail f A Utah program encouraging encourag-ing recipients of public welfare wel-fare to work for what they get "may prove to be a landmark in the development of U.S. public assistance policy and procedure," according to Utah Foundation, the private, nonprofit non-profit research agency. Utah's Work Experience and Training (WEAT) program, pro-gram, which the state funded for 18 months without Federal assistance, has not only received re-ceived official approval (and financial support) from the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, but also is attracting increasing attention across the nation, the Foundation notes in a Research Brief released this week. First reports of the new welfare proposals of the Carter Car-ter Administration make them appear to be in harmony with the philosophy of the Utah program. Utah's WEAT program was featured in a recent article in the magazine U.S. News and World Report, and Utah public assistance officials have received direct inquiries concerning con-cerning the program from more than a score of states and from such organizations as the Council of State Governments Gov-ernments and the National Conference of State Legislatures. Legisla-tures. The WEAT program takes adults on the Federally-assisted Aid to Families with Dependent Children program who are classified as least-readily least-readily employable, and finds work opportunities for them with eovernment agencies or with private non-profit institutions. insti-tutions. The state program takes the less-qualified regis- trants of the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program pro-gram because AFDC has its own Work Incentive (WIN) program to give work to welfare clients, and the state does not interfere with the operation of the WIN program. pro-gram. Sponsors (employers) in the state's WEAT program are outside the bounds of private industry so that welfare wel-fare workers will not compete in the job market. Adults eligible for WEAT are required to participate, or to forfeit their public assistance as-sistance grants. Assistance to children in the families would continue to be provided, however. how-ever. Those considered "qualified" "qual-ified" to participate in the program are able-bodied a-dults a-dults not responsible for caring car-ing for pre-school-age children. child-ren. The WEAT program is an outgrowth both of Utah's historic philosophy of having people work for what they get, and a decision of the U.S. Supreme Court (New York State vs. Dublino) holding that states may require able- bodied welfare recipients to work for their grants. On the basis of the Dublino decision, the Utah Legislature in 1974 included in its general appropriations appro-priations act a statement of legislative intent that able-bodied able-bodied and otherwise qualified qualifi-ed adult welfare recipients should be required to work for the assistance they receive. For a time the Utah program was not approved by Federal authorities, and the state carried the full financial load, but the program has since been approved and the Federal Feder-al Government is participating. participat-ing. Many participants in the WEAT program find permanent perma-nent private employment, some being hired by the sponsors for whom they worked work-ed on the "training and experience" exper-ience" program. In addition, many working mothers have been able to supplement their income to the point of reducing reduc-ing their welfare grants. 'The size of the WEAT program is limited by its very nature and it cannot by itself be expected to make a direct ' f an! substantial reduction in the V1 hn total cost of public assist- '.g ance," the Foundation points V out. "Nevertheless, signifj. V' cant savings are effected, and -m the moral effects of the pro.'-1' P5" gram both on individual' py. . 1136 ticipants and on the attitude t Cit' of the public toward welfare- t may be even more significant in the long run." .J.22aC |