Program to Get People Off Welfare Faces Cuts in State Budget Process

CANANDAIGUA, N.Y., April 15 /PRNewswire/ -- One of the most successful welfare-to-work programs in New York State is at risk of being eliminated as part of the ongoing state budget debate.

Under Gov. David Paterson's budget proposal, the State University of New York (SUNY) Bridge Program would be eliminated.  Through 17 local Bridge programs statewide, Bridge helps thousands of needy individuals gain necessary job-readiness skills to become self sufficient and earn a living wage.

Instead, under the governor's proposal, the $8.5 million in Bridge Program funding would be redirected to be used for increased welfare costs and services.  The state is anticipating an increased demand on welfare services based on the numbers of unemployed growing to higher levels than ever before.

The SUNY Bridge Program fares only slightly better in the State Assembly's budget resolution, however, the program funding would be cut to $2 million.  The Senate's version makes no mention of Bridge.

Kathy Guy, Bridge Program Director at Finger Lakes Community College, which runs one of the successful 17 local Bridge programs, hopes to see the funding maintained because of its importance to communities, especially in upstate New York.  Bridge helps people in challenging circumstances connect to the education pipeline and to work.

"We have served over 600 people in the last year from the four-county upstate New York region (Wayne, Ontario, Yates and Seneca), including single parents, single pregnant women, and 323 youths, approximately 20 percent of whom have dropped out of school, and all of whom meet poverty-level income requirements. If programs like Bridge lose funding, what is going to happen to these needy individuals? How will they gain the job-readiness skills they require? The risk is that they won't have anywhere to go and will end up back where they started — on welfare."

Lori Fabritius, Workforce Development/Bridge Program Director at Jamestown Community College, said the local program there has achieved similar success in Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties. More than 2,230 individuals have enrolled in the program over the past six years, seeing it as a "work first" opportunity that promotes higher education as a way to move out of poverty and into self-sufficiency.

"Shutting down our local Bridge program will hurt individuals who are least likely to advocate for themselves. It would be a tremendous loss for our communities if the program ends," Fabritius said.

Karen Clarkson is coordinator of the SUNY Bridge College to Work Program at Corning Community College.

"The proposed cut to the SUNY Bridge Program in New York would impact services provided to 200 individuals residing in Chemung, Steuben and Schuyler counties," Clarkson said. "The SUNY Bridge College to Work Program at Corning Community College consists of a small team with a big impact on the community and the college. This program provides job readiness, short-term training, job placement and job retention services to the individuals participating in the program. In addition, the career specialists in this program provide support and guidance as individuals pursue education and training leading to self-sufficiency. Some of these students are first-generation college students achieving their career goals."  

In 2008-09, the most recent year available, the statewide SUNY Bridge Program assisted 6,029 individuals, more than half of whom were unemployed when they first enrolled in the program. All recipients met family size and income guidelines, the majority being working poor families and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients. Approximately 80 percent were women, 20 percent were men. Roughly 41 percent had children under age 6, and more than 3,220 participants had more than two dependent children.

"To help someone living in poverty get the job training they need so they can get a job and provide for their family is the best possible use of the public's money," FLCC's Guy said. "It's a living example of 'Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish, and you feed him — and in this case, his family — for a lifetime.'"

Advocates of this program are urged to contact the Governor, as well as State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and State Senate Majority Leader John Sampson, to voice their support for the restoration of Bridge Program funding:

SOURCE State University of New York (SUNY) Bridge Program