IOP Panelists Speak About Welfare Reform

Government at the local, state and federal level needs to be more responsive to families in poverty, said three social service administrators at an Institute of Politics panel discussion last night.

Mary Jo Bane, an assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Linda Carlisle, commissioner at the Massachusetts Department of Social Sciences, spoke at the forum, which was titled "Children and Families: How Should Government Help?"

The third panelist was George Latimer, a Federal Housing and Urban Development director and former mayor of St. Paul, Minnesota.

Although every American family receives some type of government support, there is much debate over what kind of values the government should promote, said Julie Wilson, director of the Kennedy School's Wiener Center for Social Policy, who moderated the forum.

The three panelists used personal anecdotes to illustrate their opinions on social policy in the U.S. All agreed that the private sector needs to be more involved in fighting poverty.

"If we don't get the private sector engaged in these issues, they will never be solved," George Latimer said.

Mary Jo Bane addressed the issue of federal control over locally-regulated programs. While admitting that federal policies have a limited effect at the local level, she said that "the process of writing [federal] regulations could bring about a change in climate."

Bane also said she would like to see reforms of public assistance programs that include greater accountability on the part of their administrators.

Linda Carlisle said the main problems state administrators face is the extensive paperwork and the struggle to acquire much needed funding. "Legislator balk at increasing funds" for social programs because they do not produce tangible or visible results--such as roads or more police officers on the streets, Carlisle said.

George Latimer cited central city decay as one of the major causes of poverty and discussed ways that city governments could help, especially with regards to education.

Challenging popular conceptions of welfare recipients as not wanting to work, Latimer said he had seen an overwhelming demand for job training courses from welfare mothers. "People want to be self-sufficient," he said.

Latimer also said that while middle class whites are tired of race issues, race is an important issue that must be addressed in addition to poverty. He said that Black youths face a "lack of economic opportunity" and "obvious discrimination."

Latimer also criticized "targeting," a process that makes only the poorest of the poor eligible for aid programs, saying that this system leads to "resentment and divisiveness." He argued that public assistance should be broadly based to "make sense of our massive resources."