Georgia’s program to move people from food stamps to jobs found employment for only 304 people last year, or 4 percent of the program’s participants, state officials said Friday.
They attributed the poor performance to the challenges of starting up the program. But moving people from food assistance to gainful employment is a nationwide problem.
On Friday, two top Washington officials came to metro Atlanta to announce that Georgia will received a $15 million slice of a $200 million effort to accomplish that objective. Georgia is among 10 states that will embark on pilot programs to help people take advantage of the improving job market.
Georgia’s program will focus on helping about 2,500 able-bodied food stamp recipients who have no children and who have been unemployed for over a year. The demonstration effort will run for three years in 10 counties, most in metro Atlanta: DeKalb, Gwinnett, Clayton, Douglas, Cherokee, Henry, Rockdale, Bulloch, Chatham and Glynn.
It will be a joint effort of the state agencies overseeing labor, social services, behavioral health and economic development, along with the state’s technical college system, nonprofit groups and businesses. Together they will provide intensive job counseling and skills training for participants. Some people will receive tuition to attend college. If need be, people will also receive counseling for substance abuse or emotional issues.
“Helping people find and keep good jobs is the right way to transition recipients off of (food stamps) and ultimately reduce program costs,” said U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who announced the national initiative at Gwinnett Technical College. “Helping people find good jobs is a far better strategy for reducing food assistance spending than across the board cuts.”
Vilsack was referring to a Republican budget proposal that would convert food stamps to a block grant program, which would allow each state to set its own policies. House Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price, R-Roswell, said the measure would make the program more efficient, saving $125 billion over the next 10 years.
“States ought to have the freedom and flexibility to administer and tailor this program so as to better serve their unique and diverse local communities,” Price said. “Our budget would empower states to develop innovative solutions that can ensure assistance is provided more efficiently and effectively to those who need our support.”
Democrats responded that the block grant proposal would result in funding cuts that would reduce the number of people who can obtain assistance and the amount they receive.
The debate is a replay of arguments the parties have rehashed for decades, but Friday’s announcement signaled a growing sense in Washington that getting more food stamp recipients into jobs is both desirable and politically necessary.
“In their heart of hearts, almost everyone in Washington has the gnawing feeling that any government aid program has to emphasize looking for work,” said Douglas Besharov, a welfare policy expert at the University of Maryland.
That doesn’t mean the parties agree on how best to do that, he said. In fact, he suggested, the reason both Republicans and Democrats can embrace the initiative announced Friday is that they see it in very different ways.
“Liberals see this as a real opportunity to give real support” to people who struggle to find jobs, Besharov said. “Conservatives see this as a way to use incentives or sticks to get people into jobs.”
U.S. Labor Secretary Tom Perez, who also visited the Lawrenceville technical college, said the pilot programs would be crafted to match segments of the economy that are creating jobs. In Georgia, it will be geared to produce workers for manufacturing, logistics and health care.
Projects in other states vary. Vermont will focus on homeless adults, people with criminal histories and those with substance abuse problems. Washington will help veterans, parents with child support obligations, and people with limited skills in English.
“We’re going to identify the best practices, and make this SNAP program much better than it is today,” Perez said, using the acronym for food stamps’ formal title: the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Georgia has about 1.9 million people collecting food stamps. About 165,000 of them are people without children who are considered able-bodied. Those in the 10-county pilot area will be mandated to participate in the program.
About 80 percent of food stamp recipients nationally are seniors, children, the severely disabled or people already working but not making enough to support themselves.
Rosa Burgos, 34, of Duluth, turned to food stamps in 2011 when her massage therapy and wellness center closed during the recession. She lost her business, and her home went into foreclosure.
“I had to humble myself and apply for food stamps,” she said.
Food stamps, along with some educational grants, helped her finish training as a nurse. But during those years, she said, she had to tell her three children no when they asked for back-to-school clothes and field trips and big birthday parties.
In 2014, she landed her first job as a nurse. Her daughter placed the nursing pin on her chest during the graduation ceremonies.
She’s no longer receiving food stamps, she said, “and I’m no longer telling the kids no all the time.”
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