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Chapter III: Meeting Rural Implementation Challenges Through Institutional Partnerships And Local Connections
Institutional partnerships and active connections with local employers and other service providers are among the strategies the Rural Welfare-to-Work demonstration programs use to meet the demands of rural program implementation. Partnerships expand the reach and capabilities of the state welfare agencies involved in the programs and enhance the resources available to low-income people in areas with limited service capacity. Community linkages can help clients access existing services, take advantage of employment opportunities, and overcome barriers related to a poor work history or personal reputation. In this chapter, we detail how each demonstration program uses these strategies and highlight their significance in a rural context. We also point out factors that can enhance or reduce the effectiveness of program implementation and service delivery.
LEVERAGING RESOURCES THROUGH PROGRAM PARTNERSHIPS
State welfare agencies in all three Rural Welfare-to-Work sites collaborated with well-known, well-respected partner organizations to implement the demonstration programs. The Illinois Department of Human Services teamed with Shawnee Community College to create Future Steps, the Nebraska Health and Human Services System contracts with the University of Nebraska Cooperative Extension to operate Building Nebraska Families, and the Tennessee Department of Human Services runs First Wheels in cooperation with the Tennessee Resource Conservation and Development Council. Each of the partner agencies has an organizational mission that relates in some way to the demonstration program’s objectives (see text box).
PROFILES OF RURAL WELFARE-TO-WORK PARTNERS
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The experiences of the Rural Welfare-to-Work demonstration programs suggest some general lessons regarding the benefits and limitations of these partnerships.
- Channeling program services through independent partner organizations has the advantages of location, reputation, and expertise.
All three collaborating organizations are respected service providers in their regions, and all have infrastructures that benefit the Rural Welfare-to-Work programs. SCC is a primary provider of education and workforce development services in the five-county area it covers. As such, employers are likely to list jobs with the college’s placement center, and local residents are familiar with the college’s training programs. UNCE maintains offices in nearly all Nebraska counties and extends the university’s educational resources to rural areas. The Tennessee RC&D is an umbrella organization for 10 local councils, located throughout Tennessee, that actively promote rural development. Community volunteers direct local RC&D councils—some of these volunteers also serve on First Wheels loan committees.
The positive reputation of partner organizations in the demonstration programs helps reduce the stigma clients may feel as participants in a welfare-to-work program. This is particularly true of Future Steps and BNF, which have affiliations with well-respected educational institutions. In trying to encourage referred clients to respond to letters to set up an initial appointment, for example, Future Steps workers often emphasized that the program is part of SCC, downplaying its character as a welfare-related service. According to program staff, employers also were more likely to respond to inquiries from Future Steps when they were told of the program’s affiliation with the community college.
The organizations that have partnered with welfare agencies for the demonstration programs also possess valuable resources and staff expertise. For example, Future Steps workers have easy access to the extensive job listings that the SCC placement center maintains, along with such other career resources as assessment tools, resume-writing assistance, and career-planning guides. BNF educators have strong credentials as master’s-level professionals and benefit from other extension educators’ know-how. Materials created by the UNCE community are often included in lessons for BNF clients. In addition, extension educators outside BNF reviewed a curriculum created specifically for the program. The experience and motivation of the demonstration programs’ directors is another important source of staff expertise. The First Wheels program director, for example, previously spent more than 30 years at TDHS, working on special projects. Directors of all three programs appeared to be highly motivated and committed to the programs’ success.
- Previous collaboration experience between welfare agencies and their partners helped smooth program startup and operation in Illinois and Nebraska.
Two of the partner organizations—SCC and UNCE—have collaborated previously with the welfare agencies in their states. This experience has enhanced the initial and ongoing implementation of the demonstration programs. In Illinois, IDHS had worked with SCC on the Advancing Opportunities program, a predecessor to Future Steps. Former Advancing Opportunities staff members, including the program director, took on similar roles in Future Steps. As a result, when Future Steps began, solid personal relationships among staff at the two agencies already existed, making communication easier about expectations for referrals to Future Steps, service delivery to enrolled clients, and connections with local employers. In Nebraska, NHHS had collaborated with UNCE on the Food Stamp Nutrition Education Program; staff at the two agencies modeled BNF on this earlier initiative to some extent. As with Future Steps, the program coordinator for BNF had a leadership role in that previous initiative, so was familiar with NHHS as an institutional partner. This familiarity helped NHHS and UNCE cooperate to address such early implementation issues as where to station BNF educators and how to achieve sufficiently high referral levels.
The institutional partners involved in Tennessee First Wheels had limited prior collaboration experience as a basis for expanding the program statewide. Although a local RC&D council had worked on a county-level version of First Wheels, the statewide implementation of the program marked the first time the Tennessee RC&D council had worked with TDHS. To some extent, this collaboration has operated smoothly. Information about policy and program operations generally appears to flow well between state-level TDHS and RC&D staff. In addition, in some local areas, TDHS staff and First Wheels program managers effectively work together to recruit clients and enroll them in the program.
The organizations’ lack of experience working together may have led to missteps in structuring and implementing their partnership, however. For example, overlapping responsibilities and problems communicating about marketing and outreach tasks have made it challenging for the program to develop a coordinated outreach strategy. This has contributed to lower than expected levels of client recruitment and loan disbursement. In addition, regional RC&D affiliates did not participate as actively in program outreach as planners expected.
- Program leaders play an important role in cultivating and maintaining support for the demonstration programs within welfare agencies and partner organizations.
While the Rural Welfare-to-Work programs have been enhanced by the strengths of the collaborating agencies, they also may be influenced by changes in the program’s standing or profile within each organization. Competing priorities can affect how much attention or resources the programs’ organizational sponsors devote to them. In Tennessee, for example, TDHS became responsible for determining the eligibility of participants in the state’s subsidized health insurance program not long after First Wheels began. This new duty increased the agency’s clientele—and workers’ caseloads—substantially. Workers had much less time available to identify clients eligible for First Wheels and guide them through the application process.
In general, BNF and Future Steps have benefited from the active backing of their sponsoring organizations, and program leaders have worked to develop and maintain this support. BNF differs from UNCE’s traditional activities in that the population served is low-income and the program receives funding through a grant. BNF staff and administrators publicize the program to audiences within and outside the university to generate ongoing interest and explain how it fits into UNCE’s larger mission. Similarly, the Future Steps program director helped communicate an ambitious vision for the program to other administrators at the college and the welfare agency. When the director left the program, it lost an important advocate. This departure, and the prospect of an end to demonstration funding, led to a gradual scaling down of the program.
CONNECTING CLIENTS WITH COMMUNITY RESOURCES
All the demonstration programs link with other service providers to achieve program goals and increase client access to the types of assistance they may need to move toward self-sufficiency. Clients benefit from these connections not only through referrals to outside services, but also by having the “endorsement” of program staff as they interact with employers and other members of the community.
- To varying extents, program staff members identify and refer clients to outside service providers, resources, and potential employers.
Program staff use both structured and informal scans of their service areas to identify useful outside resources. BNF educators are expected to undertake “community mapping” to catalog other local organizations working with low-income people. In all the programs, staff members’ personal knowledge of their communities also appears to be an important means of locating useful resources. Several Future Steps career specialists were familiar with local services and employers because they had grown up in the counties the program served. Demonstration program staff members also may share information with each other about service providers that can help clients across communities. In First Wheels, program managers in three service areas have worked with a single insurance broker willing to secure automobile policies for loan recipients.
The frequency and types of referrals that staff members make vary across the programs, and referral patterns in each program reflect that program’s overall goals and service emphasis. Program records from Future Steps indicate that more than two-fifths of the program’s clients were referred to another provider at least once, and one-third received three or more referrals. More than 30 percent of clients who received referrals were directed to training or education providers, although not all of them may have actually entered training.1 Much smaller shares were referred for such services as mental health care (seven percent) or substance abuse treatment (two percent). Future Steps career specialists also linked clients with potential employers by calling employers to make appointments for clients or providing other placement assistance. As noted earlier, about two-fifths of the program’s clients received this kind of help.
BNF educators make referrals to mental health providers and other sources of assistance not directly related to employment, such as community action agencies or parenting groups. This pattern likely reflects the lower level of overall life management skills among BNF participants, compared to those in Future Steps. BNF service records indicate that educators have provided noneducation support—including referrals and contacts with staff at other organizations on clients’ behalf—to about two-thirds of participants. Individual educators vary in how often they provide such support, however. A few educators have provided referrals or contacted outside organizations for nearly all their clients, while others may do so for only a third or fewer of their participants. This variation could be due to differences in how effectively staff members network with outside service providers or in their ability to integrate such referrals with their core responsibilities as educators.
ACQUIRING CARS FOR FIRST WHEELS CLIENTSFirst Wheels program managers try to match clients’ needs and circumstances with the type of vehicles they receive. This is not always easy—reliable cars sold for the amount of a typical First Wheels loan ($2,400 to $3,100) are scarce. A key accomplishment for First Wheels has been a legislative measure that secures the program privileged access to used vehicles from the state of Tennessee. When the state government no longer can use a vehicle, it is transferred to a surplus lot. First Wheels has the opportunity to purchase these cars before they are made available to other parties. Used cars purchased through the state usually are in better condition than those available from automobile dealers, since the state requires that they be well maintained, and they are relatively affordable. The program has acquired about 180 vehicles this way. |
First Wheels staff connect clients with a supply of reliable used vehicles and other services essential to car ownership. Because of the program’s direct relationship with the state of Tennessee, clients can access used state vehicles, which usually are in better condition and more affordable than those available through other sources (see text box). This enables clients to avoid the hassles and risks of purchasing a used car on the open market. As noted earlier, staff members have developed relationships with insurers who can provide affordable coverage. When vehicles need repairs, program staff also may help clients find a qualified, affordable mechanic in their area. Program records do not indicate how many clients receive such assistance, however.
- Staff members also help clients overcome poor reputations and navigate the social service system.
Some clients of the Rural Welfare-to-Work demonstration programs face challenges related to their personal histories. These people may come to the programs with a checkered employment record or troubled family background, information that may be widely known in a tight-knit rural community. Such circumstances can make it more difficult for these clients to find and keep a job.
In these cases, program staff “vouch” for clients—staff express confidence in these clients’ abilities and signal that they have the program’s backing. For example, Future Steps career specialists would actively market clients as good candidates for available positions, contacting potential employers to tell them to expect an application and informing them that the client was affiliated with SCC. Employers and other service providers who heard these expressions of support may have been more likely to offer clients an opportunity—or a second chance—especially when program staff were known and respected within the community.
When clients have problems with employers or social service providers, program staff members sometimes help resolve these issues. In Future Steps, mediation with employers, although it occurred infrequently, was sometimes critical to job retention. Career specialists noted using this strategy in several instances: to address an accusation that a client had stolen from a customer while on the job, to resolve child care issues, and to discuss a drop in the client’s productivity. Program records indicate that staff mediated for just over 1 in 10 clients. About half of these instances were with employers; the rest were with social service agencies and other parties.
BNF educators spend little time interacting with employers, but they do help clients communicate with other parts of the social service system. This assistance may be practical—for example, helping a client complete paperwork for child support payments. It may also be structured as a mentoring experience—coaching a client on making a difficult telephone call to a child’s school, for instance. Staff members also have helped clients resolve problems with the local welfare agency. As one focus group participant explained, “Caseworkers, supervisors, counselors—they just…wouldn’t listen to us….And sothe BNF educator] helped us…set up a meeting with everybody, and she called us into her office…and we wrote down everything we wanted to say at the meeting.” An educator can make this kind of assistance an educational experience for clients, modeling effective ways of resolving problems as she acts as a liaison between the client and the welfare agency.
1 Records indicate that nine percent of Future Steps clients entered training of some type (including GED, occupational training, and on-the-job training). (back)
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