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State funds totaling approximately $560,000 have been earmarked to help the counties of Culpeper, Fauquier, Madison, Orange and Rappahannock initiate the second phase of the Commonwealth’s welfare reform program.
The initial phase of welfare reform began in the area in 1995 and shifted the emphasis of the state’s Department of Social Services (DSS) from providing financial benefits to helping clients become self-sufficient through finding and maintaining jobs.
During the past four years the state DSS has been very successful in refocusing its efforts and services to this end, but has found that some long-term problems still need to be addressed.
Issues including the need for enhanced employment training, adequate transportation and substance abuse counseling continue to provide obstacles for some DSS clients in their efforts to become financially self-sufficient.
During the past year the DSS offices from the five-county area including Rappahannock have prepared and secured funding for a proposal to help address these needs in the region.
As with the first phase of welfare reform, the central Virginia area is serving as the pilot program for the state’s reform efforts. While regional planning allows the counties to pool financial and personnel resources, each of the five counties is also working individually to address the specific needs of their communities.
Some efforts during the coming two-tothree years will be focused on enhancing employment opportunities for harder to serve clients, including those with limited access to transportation, lower education levels or substance abuse problems.
Hiring career and substance abuse counselors who can spend a portion of their time in each of the five counties is one way DSS hope to help address these needs. Counselors, some of whom have already been hired and are now in training, will be working to establish new support groups within the region to help those with specific concerns, such as those faced by working single parents.
Developing a “one-stop shop’’ for career resources is the primary goal of the Rappahannock County Social Services, which is working with its county library and literacy program to develop its own center.
“The center will most likely be located in the basement of the library, but we are still in the process of working out the details,” said Bev Leathers, Director of the Rappahannock DSS. “We’ll probably start out with some basic services like providing
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