Program Transcript

(This is a complete transcript of Wisconsin Public Television's broadcast of "What Welfare Reform Did for Me")

Governor Tommy Thompson:
Our story begins in 1987, when our welfare rolls in Wisconsin soared to over 100,000 families. It was time to give people hope for the future, to break the chains of dependence...

Michele Bitter:
I hated being on AFDC. I felt worthless. I felt like I was at the bottom of the barrel. It was nasty and I never want to go back.

Man:
The W-2 system, it may benefit a few people, but the majority of them who get jobs, they'll be dead-end, low-paying jobs. And then, for a whole other chunk of folks, they're just out of the program altogether.

Mary Mayo:
I'm being evicted. I got sanctioned for three months. So, now I'm being kicked out, that's what W-2 did for me.

Narrator:
Two years ago, Wisconsin's Governor Tommy Thompson began one of the most radical social experiments in recent history when he created Wisconsin Works. W-2 became a national model for welfare reform and launched the Republican Governor into the national political arena.

Thompson:
Our welfare programs have been the biggest social change in America in over 60 years. We're getting more people off of welfare, into employment, giving them an opportunity to get out of poverty and live the American Dream.

Narrator:
W-2 replaced welfare checks with work requirements and a two-year limit on state aid payments. Since then, the number of Wisconsin families on the public dole has plummeted. And as a result, the program has been widely deemed a success. But questions linger about W-2's success. Should it be measured only by the drop in the number of families on welfare or measured by the quality of their lives?

Thompson:
One day, this one woman who really had a tough life, and she didn't have a very high esteem of herself...

Leilani Duarte:
...and I ran into some bad luck.

Thompson:
She was married and in a very abusive situation. Her husband left her.

Duarte:
From day one, I went to work experience. They placed me and I learned some really general clerical skills there.

Thompson:
That, to me, is what welfare reform is all about.

Duarte:
If it hadn't been for Governor Tommy Thompson, I would not be where I am today.

Narrator:
Leilani Duarte has become one of Beaver Dam, Wisconsin's most famous residents since her stardom in Governor Tommy Thompson's last campaign ads. It all began when she returned to her home town with her twin daughters, Jasmine and Michelle, flat broke and unemployed.

Leilani Duarte:
I went down to apply for welfare. They told me that they're not going to give me a check. They said we need you to look for approximately 20 jobs per week and that I also had to put in 20 hours of, community service, it's like job training they call it.

Leilani's mother:
She spent many evenings working and then going home and doing that in the evenings. She's got kids to go home. It was tough in the beginning.

Leilani's Daughter:
Now she works at Lifestyle, she is still kind of busy.

Narrator:
After several community service jobs, Leilani's W-2 case worker placed her in a temp agency. She's worked way up to full-time account coordinator, though she is the only one in the office without a college education.

Leilani:
They hire people only with college educations. My old boss, he told me right out from the beginning he was skeptical of bringing a W-2er in. I said, "Why?" He goes, "Because I just didn't think you could make it." I said, "Oh, thanks Jim." He said, "Yeah, you proved me wrong." I'm glad I did.

Narrator:
Leilani acquired a special skill during her marriage to a migrant cannery worker from Mexico-- her fluent Spanish was an ability the agency valued above a college education.

Leilani:
I mean, I've learned to talk about it, too, that I was on welfare at one time. Because at one time, I was very embarrassed of it. The less the people knew the better. I said this is not something you want to tell. Your relatives know it, you know. And I said gee, you don't want other people to know. They think bad about you. And people do. When you go to the store and you pay with food stamps-- the looks are very bad. But now they see in commercials. It's different. I've seen you on the commercial. Oh, she went somewhere?

Narrator:
The Duartes recently moved into a modest two-bedroom apartment not far from the temp agency.

Leilani:
I'm doing real well. I mean, my daughters are getting a lot more things. I see where we were and where we came from. At one time, we didn't have nothing in the refrigerator. I said, you've got to remember that.

Narrator:
Leilani takes the twins to visit their grandparent's farm near Beaver Dam at least once a week in her new used car. She blames her old used car in part for her fall into the welfare system.

Leilani:
I bought a lemon. What happened is that I had an engine rehaul. And that car put me in debt. I was like over $2,000 in debt. It cleaned me out. I panicked.

Leilani's mother:
-- was working in the garden this morning. That's why he still has nice, clean clothes on!

Narrator:
Two years ago, when Leilani and the twins came back to the farm, her parents agreed to let them stay for a while, providing free food, shelter and childcare.

Leilani's mother:
Some years were good and some years weren't so good. I don't blame anybody if they don't want to raise pigs anymore.

Dad:
-- then you lose money every day.

Leilani's mother:
They moved in and I do know, your electricity bill goes up, everything else goes up. I said, wow, I said I didn't realize these people were going to eat! But that's okay. That's family, you know.

Leilani:
That's Jasmine at Grandma's house dressing up with lipstick and all.

Leilani's daughter:
Mom, is this your...?

Leilani:
You're little there. Oh, that's the very first picture in the paper! That's the supervisor for Dodge County Human Services.

Leilani's mother:
You know, these people really helped her. They took an interest in her.

Leilani:
It starts with the case worker that you have right from the County. If you've got sort of a crappy case worker that don't care about you, you're going to fly right through Tommy Thompson's program and you're going to still be nowheres.

Narrator:
The nation's old welfare system based monthly payments on family size. Under W-2, families receive a flat $673 a month, plus childcare and transportation subsidies and help in finding a required job. If W-2 clients do not work, they are sanctioned and their monthly checks reduced or eliminated completely. In Madison, Wisconsin's capital, W-2 agencies are centrally organized, near a bus transfer station at the Dane County Job Center.

Man:
We've been in here a little over five years. Before that, we were in the traditional welfare office kind of an environment. No matter what you do in that environment, there's a stigma attached to it. This facility serves the general public, as well as people with special needs.

Woman:
...find a job on the bus line. That way, I won't have to worry about how I'm going to get to work.

Man:
This is a community resource room for those who have some more in depth needs.

Woman:
...driver's license?

Woman:
Yes.

Woman:
Okay, and you're living with a friend and your daughter?

Woman:
Mm-hmm.

Woman:
What was the last year that you attended school, the last year you completed? Was it like 10th grade, 11th grade?

Woman:
It was the 10th.

Woman:
It looks like here you're going to be over-income for that food stamp program, as well. You come very close.

Woman:
So, what date did you receive this?

Woman:
Well, it was posted on my door.

Woman:
The landlord says that there are other people that are living there that are not on the lease.

Woman:
I'm going to go to court for it because I think that letter is very, really unfair.

Woman:
I'm going to have you take a few minutes and fill this out. It's just starting to get you to think about some of the skills and things you'll be able to offer in jobs and thinking about examples of that.

Narrator:
Dane County also runs the nearby career expectations center. W-2 clients with little or no work experience and their challenges go through a two-week job training course before they're assigned to a community service job. W-2 clients are only allowed up to six weeks of schooling or training.

Woman:
The earned apparel shop is something that Dane County instituted to help people find clothes to go to work. All of the clothing in the earned apparel shop is new. What are you looking for?

Woman:
Something to wear to my interview.

Woman:
Right, what colors do you like?

Woman:
I like this red, too. This is pretty. I'm from Chicago, the south shore area. I have a 14-year-old daughter. She was shot in both her legs with a BB gun. I didn't want to lose my only child, so I moved here. ...shoes. I really need shoes. They're helping me get a career, get a start in life.

Woman:
Now you're going to hit the new key, "J".

Woman:
Oh, no! (laughing)

Woman:
People in the resource room have the ability to work on the computer. We've got Typing Tutor, access to the Internet so people can access jobnet. We have ... resources, other transportation resources, childcare resources. You know, anything that they might need as a resource. Mickey maintains all of that. Mickey is our resource room person.

Woman:
Just go into progress. Sometimes, I've likened the resource room to a MASH unit.

Woman:
Yeah, can I get a list of for childcare around my house and place of work?

Woman:
I need you to give me a call at CC as soon as you get this message. Thank you.

Woman:
People come in and whatever's going on, we respond to it. I don't know whatš yours is 18 words per minute, 23 words per minute for today's session.

Mickey Paterson:
Good morning. Welcome to the conflict resolution workshop. I'm Mickey Paterson. And we're going to be talking about conflict resolution today. I have three children and I raised them on my own as a single parent. In the very beginning of coming to Wisconsin, my children were very small. And I had left a really abusive relationship back in New York to come here to start over again. Many people are involved in very abusive, controlling relationships. There's days when you can't come to work. There's days when you've been kept up all night, listening to a tirade. Or, you've been hit and injured and bruised and you're embarrassed, you don't want to come to work. The other thing is if you depend on an abusive partner to be your childcare, forget it, they won't be there when you need them. If you depend on them for transportation, the car will not be there. So, this conflict in an abusive relationship really makes it difficult to focus on what you're doing.

Woman:
My family was always fighting. Everyone drinks a lot.

Mickey Paterson:
I learned that one of my most valuable tools was my own personal experience. And I know there's schools of thought about professional boundaries, you don't share and you don't cross that line, but if you want to effectively work with people, you're going to need to rethink those methods. If you sit there and blame the victim for being poor, uneducated, alcoholic, drug-ridden, violent or abused, it's not going to work. When you share yourself, masks drop off, trust builds. Boy: Look! A doggie. Patrick Bitter: I met Michele about four years ago. We had a battle with alcoholism with her. It's been a long four years so far. But we've come a long way since we've met.

Narrator:
Michele and Patrick Bitter live in a rural trailer park near Marshall, Wisconsin, with their daughter and step kids. Michele has been in and out of the W-2 program the last two years and was in Mickey Paterson's class at the career expectations center in Madison. It was Michele's contact with W-2 and Mickey Paterson that helped her begin a new life.

Patrick Bitter:
She was in W-2 for a while. And then, the alcoholism really started becoming a real big problem. So, she was kind of in a spot where she had to do something with her life. She had to make a change.

Michele Bitter:
I grew up being on welfare. And when I had children, that's all I knew. So, I ended up on welfare. I was on AFDC. I was on AFDC for a good nine years. I hated being on AFDC. I felt worthless. I felt like I was at the bottom of the barrel. It was nasty and I never want to go back.

Boy:
(referring to dog) He chases people sometimes.

Narrator:
Michele grew up in an abusive, alcoholic home and became a teen-age runaway at age 16.

Michele Bitter:
And I was three months pregnant with my first child. I was homeless for say, six months, sleeping in cars, bathing in public restrooms, you know, just washing down and stuff like that. It was hard. And I was with an abusive person and I left him. And if I wouldn't have left him I don't know what would've happened. I justš I couldn't take it no more.

Narrator:
After Mickey shared her life story during class, Michele decided to talk with Mickey about her own struggles, which she was medicating with alcohol.

Michele Bitter:
She talked about what had happened to her. It felt like then-- it was like I could reach out to her, I can talk to her. I can tell her everything. It was like, Mickey, I'm going to be going to jail. She was like, "Why?" And I explained to her what had happened. I had gotten drunk and blacked out. I went after my sister with a butcher knife, I guess, I was going to stab her. I don't remember. And that I might do 18 months in prison for this. And Mickey's like, well, I'm going to help you out. She goes, I'm going to write you up a letter. It says, oh, boy, "Dear Judge Torphy, Part of my job is to help transition W-2 clients from welfare to work. Part of this work is to recognize and eliminate barriers to employability. Naturally, the issues of the homeless, and that is poverty, untreated chemical dependence and mental health concerns have indeed been barriers to Ms. Bitter's progress. The incident on February 10, 1997, that now comes before you... (Baby babbling and cooing) "...was a crisis of such magnitude that Michele started to ask for help. She is for once in her life attempting to deal with her problems in a concrete way. Yours respectfully, Mickey Paterson."

Narrator:
Mickey's letter to the judge helped persuade him to give Michele two years' probation instead of 18 months in jail. She also was placed in an alcohol treatment program.

Michele:
If it wasn't for that, I'd probably still be on AFDC or you know, still trying to have children, trying to be on it. I want to go somewhere in life. This Sunday is mine and my husband's anniversary.

Patrick:
I thought it was Saturday.

Michele:
No, it's Sunday. We bought this place and we got a van. From renting to now owning, both working. He works days, I work nights so we don't have to pay for a babysitter. That helps out a lot. I'm working in a gas station being a cashier. But there's nothing wrong with that. Just being happy, I don't know what that is yet. I guess I'm still searching for it. But everything's a lot better now. A lot better.

Narrator:
In the state of Wisconsin, worker caseloads vary from county to county. Rural and suburban areas often have few families left on W-2. Milwaukee, the state's largest city, however, has over 8,000 W-2 clients. The majority of clients in the entire state. And almost all are located in Milwaukee's inner city.

Man:
This is not the Milwaukee that I was born in. This is not the Milwaukee that I grew up and had hope of being a decent place for me to have children and raise a family. For every evicted lot and every boarded up home that you see, that's the devastation that has affected some families. From AFDC to work-- work where?

Phil Wylato:
Unemployment in the state is, you know, under four percent. But in this neighborhood here, it's 25.

Narrator:
Phil Wylato is a printer by trade and Union organizer the rest of the time. Last December, his "A Job is a Right" campaign gathered signatures on petitions outside the Milwaukee Urban League center in a so far unsuccessful attempt to stop evictions during the winter. Wylato was worried that over 3,000 women with children had been sanctioned off W-2 and were possibly living in abandoned buildings and on the streets.

Phil Wylato:
Governor Tommy Thompson says 30,000 people are off the welfare rolls. Of the people who have been declared "job-ready," that's a classification, by the W-2 agencies and pushed out of the program, only 15 percent had full-time jobs. Forty percent had been evicted or were facing eviction and the majority were living on between $400 and $600 a month. So, it's justš this is the untold story of the W-2.

Man:
A picture ID, I need that for sure, and then if you have a social security card, I'd prefer that as well. It'll just take a few minutes.

Narrator:
Dale lost his job in a layoff and his marriage broke up. He isn't getting W-2 assistance because W-2 is for custodial parents and Dale doesn't live with his kids anymore. He's currently living with friends.

Dale:
So, basically, you're a temp service?

Man:
Correct. A lot of our jobs are temp to permanent.

Narrator:
The Milwaukee Urban League hosted a winter job fair. Most employers were hiring temporary Christmas help. But others had full-time jobs with benefits to offer in the suburbs.

Dale:
I'm interested in knowing what UPS has to offer.

Woman:
Loading and unloading semi trailers.

Dale:
The problem of transportation to get there. Is there transportation that will get me from say, downtown Milwaukee to Oak Creek?

Woman:
Right now, for our 10:30pm to our 2:30am shift, there isn't any bus transportation that goes out there at that time.

Woman:
The busses don't really supply one of our time frames that we need individuals on. So, that's probably what's hurting a lot.

Phil Wylato:
From here to where the jobs are, there's no transportation. The few places where there is public transportation, it would take you two to two and a half hours to get out to those jobs. And then, two and a half hours to get back. And if you have children, now you're talking about putting your kids in daycare for 12 hours, which is not covered by W-2. You can't move out to the suburbs, because there's no affordable housing out there. Milwaukee, statistically, is one of the most racially segregated cities in the country. Milwaukee County is 98 percent white in the suburbs. The racial segregation, lack of transportation, the lack of jobs in the city, all mean that when you are unemployed in the central city, it's very, very difficult to get a job to get yourself out of that situation.

Man:
So, you know, W-2 getting all this money, you know, all this money that they got, they could like, you know, put it up for us, you know, paying the rent. You know, for people that can't pay it, that got kicked off of W-2.

Man:
Your generosity is well appreciated.

Phil Wylato:
The W-2 system, it may benefit a few people. But the majority of them who get jobs, they're bee dead end, low-paying jobs. They won't advance. And after five years lifetime participation in the program, they'll be out of the W-2 system and worse off than they were when they started. And then, for a whole other chunk of folks, they're just out of the program altogether.

Mary Mayo:
I had one of those W-2 jobs in a bakery. On the fourth of July they told me they had to let me go because I was too slow and I couldn't get the icing on the cake right, because I didn't have no experience in doing that. Then, I had another one that lasted two or three days. The same thing. I was too slow. After that, I got sanctioned for three months. So, now I'm being kicked out. That's what W-2 did for me.

Narrator:
Mary Mayo moved to Milwaukee so her kids could see their father more and she could get his help in raising them. She hasn't been able to find a steady job and now has ten days to find somewhere to live and a way to pay the rent.

Mary Mayo:
I was working in Los Angeles until I came her. I would like to be with people. I like, you know, being around people. If I could get a job in a hospital-- Sometimes, you've got to know somebody to get into a hospital, to get into a job like that. I would rather have a job than be sitting at home, you know, doing nothing.

Louise Jackson:
There's so many people that this W-2 thing is really messed up. I think in her case, she don't even have a babysitter. It's sad. It's really sad. I just can't see how in the world this could happen.

Narrator:
Mary met Louise Jackson at church and they became friends. Louise is already housing several other homeless people in her small, two-bedroom apartment, but may add Mary and her six kids if shelter space doesn't open up soon.

Mary Mayo:
Five adults in her house. So, if she wouldn't mind me staying here with five kids and myself makes six adults. You know, wow, that's 12 people, you know.

Louise Jackson:
There's one shelter who would take her and three of her kids, that's being the three younger ones or the two girls and the younger one. So, what would happen to the three boys?

Narrator:
The Milwaukee Police have a name for apartments where homeless families double and triple up. They're called "W-2 Stacks." Louise is worried that if Mary and her kids move in, her landlord will evict them for illegal overcrowding.

Louise Jackson:
But if I have to...stay over there, until they kick us out.

Narrator:
Without W-2 checks coming in, Mary has been going to food pantries to supplement the $241 in food stamps she receives each month.

Mary Mayo:
$241 went real quickly with six kids. And boys, they like to eat, you know, and my girls do, too. This is Joseph, Jacob, Jeremiah, Loreta, Kiesha and Joshua. I was going to-- they like the churches mostly. They'll give you a little food, a little cereal and a couple of cans, something like that. I'm not the only one. I'm not alone in not having no food. It's going to be a rough Christmas this year.

Newscast:
...closer to home, folks in Milwaukee spent the morning shoveling out sidewalks and their cars.

Narrator:
Throughout the year, protested picketed against W-2's time limits and sanctions. Christmas Carollers: Oh, come all ye -- , join us in our protest... Woman: I wasn't allowed to finish college. I was studying to be an electrical engineer, myself. But they want you to get jobs as nursing assistants and security guards. It's very low-paying, minimum wage type of jobs.

(children reading)

Girl:
I can put on my boots.

Woman:
Me and my kids were sort of like abandoned by the kids' father. The rent stopped being paid. The electricity was turned off and the gas was going to be next. So, I just bailed out.

Narrator:
By Christmas 1998, the nearby Milwaukee Rescue Mission Homeless Shelter was filled to capacity with families like Mary's. Some had tried and failed at W-2 jobs.

Girl:
I can do it myself.

Woman:
That's right.

Narrator:
Others, like May, lost their homes while waiting for their first W-2 check to arrive, which can take up to two months.

May:
I need the benefits right off the bat. You know, so that I could've gotten me and my kids maybe in a small apartment or something, you know. But I had to come instead just to keep a roof over our heads and food to eat.

Narrator:
Makita is also waiting in the shelter for her first W-2 check. She's working on her high school equivalency or GED, with hopes of getting a good job and getting off W-2.

Makita:
Look at the hours that you know, for W-2, that you could be having your own job, getting paid more. $673 a monthly payment, that's not enough to take care of you and then pay rent and bills and take care of your kids, too. That's not enough. W-2, it feels like they telling you when to get up, when to go to sleep, what to do. And I just try to do whatever they tell me to do for this time being, because I don't want to mess up and then me and my children don't have no income coming in. I didn't want to come to a shelter, but I knew they're there for to help me. That's why I came.

Mary Mayo:
I'm being evicted so I'm getting my stuff out today. I'll be out by this afternoon, tonight sometime.

Narrator:
Mary Mayo made it through Christmas, but the ten-day waiting period is up. It's early January and an overnight blizzard has dumped two feet of snow on Milwaukee. Mary and her kids still have no food and nowhere to go.

Mary Mayo:
I just don't know where I'm going to end up at right now. Yes, Mr. Leroy, this is Mary Mayo. You know, I was down there trying to get a place while I'm being evicted. I still haven't found a place. Okay. Okay. All right, I will. Thank you. So, he told meš That's a community advocate, to find shelter for people. He told me to call him back at 2:30. So, he's going to call around and see if he can find somewhere for me, you know, today. Yes, I'd like to know, I'm being evicted, and I wanted to know if you had any shelter. So, I have to get back with them, he's away from his desk. That's what I always keep getting, "I'm away from my desk." Sometimes they, don't call back. Yes, may I speak to Leroy? He's not going to hassle them. He's going to have to leave a message in his voice mail. Yes, this is Mary Mayo. You told me to call you back at 2:00 and you're not there. So, can you please give me a call. Thank you. He told me to call him back at 2:00. Ugh! "Call me back at 2:00." Get your guys' coats.

Narrator:
Mary is on a waiting list for subsidized low-income housing in Milwaukee's suburbs so she can be closer to better jobs and schools.

Mary Mayo:
I signed up in June, but I won't be hearingš I'm on the waiting list, so see, I'm number 361. They'll contact me in one to two years. That's pretty long. Yes, is Leroy back? Okay. Bye. Nope, he isn't back. Before I can go to a motel, where I have to pay $119 a week. But I was thinking about it, if I take all six kids into a motel in one room, I don't know how they'll feel about it. I know I'll probably have to pay a little bit more money.

Narrator:
Garland Smith, Mary's landlord, came by mid-morning to see how soon the Mayos could be out.

Garland Smith:
I just want to see what's going to happen. Period. I've bent over backwards for you.

Mary Mayo:
You know, it's just my W-2 check, Mr. Smith, I tried to tell you. But you know, it just got sanctioned.

Garland Smith:
All I can do is let you stay here. And I don't want to put you out on the street. I come over here to ask her when she going to get out. They been in there four months and haven't paid the rent. I've let her stay another two months, 'cause I didn't want to put the kids out on the street. She says W-2 won't send her her check. I feel hurt. I feel hurt because I let them stay here for four months. I'm still paying my house note. And you know, I got nothing to show for it.

Mary Mayo:
I told him I didn't have no way, you know, to get out. It's all snowy. Who's going to come and get me in the snow? Yes, is Leroy in? Okay, thank you. He's out till 4:40.

Narrator:
Today is especially hard for Mary. It's the one-year anniversary of her oldest son's death.

Mary Mayo:
My oldest one got killed in a drive-by shooting. That was last year he got killed. I try. You know, I try so hard, you know, like trying jobs. I hope one day, I might find something. I'll just keep looking. Something will come up one day.

Narrator:
Mary's family fled that night to a nearby motel and stayed for several days. Then, her friend Louise took them all to stay at her small apartment.

Protestors:
...sanctions...for the people and by the people...not for the corporations and by the corporations...stop... welfare sanctions.

Jean Rogers:
Governor Thompson shared with you the outstanding record of the 89,000 families who have moved from welfare to work. When September ë97 rolled around, and we were at the beginning of this new program, the cash assistance caseload stood at 34,491 people. What we have experienced since then is an additional 70 percent reduction.

Narrator:
Jean Rogers is one of W-2's chief architects. She's Wisconsin's division administrator for the Department of Economic support and is determined to make sure Wisconsin Works will work for all W-2 clients.

Jean Rogers:
I always get a kick out of it when I talk to one of our clients who's gone through parts of the program and proudly says, "Oh, the agency didn't help me get that job. I got it on my own." And then we find out that there was soft skills training, how to write a resume, how to interview, access to the dress for success closet and a host of other services. But it was done right. The overall success of W-2 depends on much more than how we get those checks out to people to help them.

Narrator:
After her speech to potential W-2 employers, Rogers went to the south side of Milwaukee's inner city.

Jean Rogers:
It has representation from the white community, the African-American community. It's the heart of the Hispanic community and it has the largest Native American population.

Narrator:
Rogers went to the United Migrant Opportunity Services or UMOS office. UMOS has a long history of service to Milwaukee's Hispanic community. And the state has a contract with them to provide W-2 services to their clients.

Woman:
Why do we need to learn how to ask appropriate questions? Because that interview isn't just about what can I do for you. It's about what can you do for me. Right? Using the phone book, there is like a cajillion people in the telephone book listings there. Call them up.

Jean Rogers:
You know, it's only ten or 15 percent of employers that have vacancies, so this is a really good tool for you to use. I'm an undergraduate early childhood education person. And my graduate work is in behavioral studies. I'm very much a person who is focused on behavioral outcome.

Woman:
This is an English second language class. And we're just going over some bad applications. What do you think about his references?

Woman:
We were creating a whole segment of society that was disenfranchised in the very basist way. They didn't have a clue.

Woman:
How do I call her? You need, always, emergency phone numbers. You can't just put a box number for emergency. You receiveš you're the boss. You have this application. It's garbage. You don't want him working for you. He doesn't follow directions.

Jean Rogers:
All we are is big kids. And we react positively and negatively to the same kind of teaching and learning experiences that children do. And that's where the sanctions come in. The sanctions are tied to giving people clear instruction. But if they don't cooperate, then there's a consequence. You're going to respond better to a pat on the back than you are to a spanking.

(Speaking Spanish)

Man:
We want to send our greetings of congratulations to the Governor and if we don't have a chance to meet him, we want you to tell him for us personally. Thank you very, very much that this is a available to us.

Jean Rogers:
I will, I will. Thank you.

Woman:
And the new partnership that we have with the nursing home. They have one or two vans that they are going to lease to us and then we will transport their people to and from work. And they also have childcare right there.

Jean Rogers:
Are they close enough in terms of shift times that it works? Woman: We need to work through that.

Jean Rogers:
She's worried about that.

Man:
Also, the Milwaukee County Transit System has finally extended some bus lines that go at least to New Berlin.

Jean Rogers:
Obviously, given where you all are, there's no one best route solution.

Narrator:
Rogers is looking ahead at the first lifetime term limits due in August. That's when W-2 checks to parents who haven't been able to support their families will permanently end.

Jean Rogers:
As I suspected, they fall into two categories. They need pre-GED in order to get them ready. And the other category is they aren't going to get there, let's work on other kinds of self-sufficiency skills. You have to design the programs so that they serve the 85 percent of the constituency that you want to address well. And then, for the 15 percent that doesn't quite make it, that doesn't quite fit the mold, there's an ability to adjust the time line so that if you have somebody that simply can't be ready within either the 24 month or the five year time line, we can adjust and say, for you, we'll make an accommodation. It's that 85 percent/15 percent, get the balance right, that makes good public policy. And it's what was wrong with AFDC. We had that program so full of exemptions from any expectation that we were setting the general policy for the needs of the 15 percent. And that is a recipe for failure. Once you're out there in that job market, you have the opportunity to grow. There's no opportunity to grow when you're sitting gathering a welfare check.

Woman:
The bigger decisions, like whether we were going to be here today or not, those kinds of things we do have to think about. Because, again, the consequences, if we don't come, you get sanctioned. Can you deal with that? Can your family deal with having less money?

Narrator:
After several months of homelessness, Mary decided to give W-2 another try. She was assigned to Goodwill Industries, one of Milwaukee's five private service providers for job training.

Woman:
You had a decision to make. What would be the first thing to happen?

Narrator:
Mary's weekday mornings were now spent learning how to land a job, manage money and make sound decisions.

Woman:
So, define the problem. I mean, you make decisions based on there being a problem or there being something wrong or something that needs to be changed. Let's just say you're getting ready to move. I'm going to put some fake addresses up here. Okay. So, good things about this one.

Students:
...money ...locked ...secure building ...don't stray that high up usually, even if it is a bad neighborhood.

Narrator:
While Madison has its programs around two central offices, in Milwaukee five private and non-private corporations have contracts with the state to provide services for W-2 clients. At the end of the year, the private agencies can keep any profits from unused services and caseload reductions. Goodwill Industries, a non-profit agency, wants to use the money it has left over to expand its job training program.

Woman:
When I was staying in a shelter, it was hard. I lost my house, all my furniture, everything.

Narrator:
Goodwill's entry-level job requires W-2 workers to sort through used clothes hangers for a department store chain.

Woman:
Go through thousands and thousands of hangers in one day. And it's hangers!

Mary Mayo:
Go to the store, oh, man, there's some hangers, you know.

Woman:
It's crazy. But it motivates you to get a different job. It's a good way of getting you out of here.

Narrator:
If Mary gets through the clothes hanger job, she'll be promoted to the next assembly line. There, she can learn how to assemble lawnmower tires for a local manufacturing firm.

Man:
Remember how I told you to hold it, right here? There you go. I'm in W-2. It's been kind of hard. Just getting out of prison and can't find no work. No one want to give you a decent paying job. You gotta keep a roof over your child's head, so you gotta do what it takes. You know, most people here, they never did this before in their life.

Woman:
No, I haven't. Man: Most people here are women. And they don't know nothing about no wrench or no ratchet or socket or a nut.

Woman:
I didn't even know what a nut was!

Man:
And now, when they go back out into the work world, in the work field, they'll be able to know, hey, what's that, oh, that's a ratchet in a deep-well socket.

Woman:
Mm-hmm, right.

Man:
They know that much. At least that'll get them into a job. You're getting better at that.

Mary Mayo:
Yeah, I am. I am getting better.

Man:
You're going to get a job in no time.

Mary Mayo:
Okay, here I go. Don't get wet you guys. It's been going okay. I like it, you know, going to class. That's the best part. Sometimes, I would be kind of sad, because not too long ago my son had got killed. So, the people in there talk to me and they were okay about it.

Narrator:
Mary and her kids have been living with her friend Louise for three months when the apartment across the hall became available. With an eviction notice, Mary was a rental risk. But Louise helped her get a lease and Mary is now on her way home to move in.

Mary Mayo:
I'm going home to my new apartment. (laughs) I finally got one. So, that's where I'm going, home. I can finally say that. I was homeless for a while. But now, I got a place. The weather's kind of nasty, but it's okay. It's a great day.

Governor Tommy Thompson:
There are 9,000 families that are anxious for the opportunity to earn a living and begin their journey toward success, as well as the American dream. (applause) Together, we've reduced the welfare rolls by 74 percent. Our state welfare caseload is now just 9,000. And we won't rest until that number is zero.

Woman:
Hi, I'd like to welcome our guests to the CNA training graduation class of June 18, 1999. You have a credential now. And you can go out into the world and do what?

Woman:
Get a job! Woman: You got it. (laughter)

Narrator:
Mary Mayo finished her W-2 community service hours, then signed up for a short course to become a certified nursing assistant, or CNA. In June, she passed her finals. Today, she receives her diploma.

Woman:
This particular class that graduated today was very special in that they came from all the different W-2 agencies in Milwaukee.

Woman:
(crying) Congratulations to everybody. (applause)

Woman:
We initially started with a nine-day program and enhanced it to 20 days to give more life skills, more bonding activities with people that are on W-2. Some of them don't have high school degrees or any credentials and this is the first credential that they have that shows that they've done something with their life.

Woman:
I never really accomplished anything. Every time I'm there for a week, I quit. And this is the first time I've really done something. I'm proud of myself. And I want to thank everybody. (applause)

Woman:
This lady has a heart of gold and this has been a goal of hers. And I'm really glad that you chose to be a CNA Mary, because I think you will be an excellent one. Mary Mayo. (applause)

Narrator:
Mary was chosen for a special award, student with the most positive attitude.

Woman:
They feel so good inside. Most graduations, everybody cries because the emotional aspect of them succeeding and feeling good about themselves, and I've gone somewhere, and I've done something with my life and I have a goal now.

Mary Mayo:
I didn't know I was going to get that. It was really a surprise. I was stunned, you know. Wow, me?! Little ol' me?

Narrator:
Mary applied for dozens of jobs, but says no one ever called her back. She hopes her new CNA diploma will change all that. Mary Mayo: I always wanted to be a nurse, so. The only thing, I just wish I had a bigger place. You know, my little apartment is kind of small. But, I don't know, only a š there, so.

Girl:
I'll be a doctor...

Mary Mayo:
Most of it was really easy, you know, except for the CPR, that was really tough. Hopefully, I'll have a job by the next time you see me. I'm going to keep a positive attitude.

Narrator:
Mary has already applied at two nursing homes and her family has settled in to their new apartment, across the hall from her friend Louise.

Louise Jackson:
They still haven't been able to get a stove or refrigerator.

Mary Mayo:
Oh, I usually put my food over in Louise's apartment. I buy groceries and put it all over there. And I cook over there.

Narrator:
Mary lost her stove and refrigerator during her eviction, when her belongings were put out on the curb.

Mary Mayo:
So, when I got back, it was gone.

Narrator:
It was only three months ago that Mary and her kids were homeless and slept across the hall on Louise's living room floor.

Louise Jackson:
Kids, some of ëem slept on the floor and all around, but this is basically where their sleeping area was. The rest of the 990 people lived in the bedrooms.

Mary Mayo:
Doing great. They all made honor roll and got to the next grade. Kiesha graduated from kindergarten to first grade. Joseph graduated to middle school.

Louise Jackson:
Their progress really excelled the last few months. We never close the door. The doors are never locked. One big house. People helping people, that's the only way we gonna make it. I mean, whoš what else can we do?

Narrator:
By mid-summer, 1999, forced evictions in Milwaukee's inner city continued a slow and steady rise.

Man:
These are the papers that we have completed so far today. There's nine in here. We've done six actual evictions and we have 17 papers yet to finish today. We've probably got eight or nine moves within ten blocks of this area. So, we're not going far.

Narrator:
Milwaukee detectives evicted many W-2 stacks this year. A mother with three young children slept in this attic. Her own mother took them in after the woman was sanctioned by W-2 and then evicted.

Man:
I think that's the case here, you probably have some relatives that probably were not originally on the lease. And they find places to live, attics, basements. In the winter, you find a lot of bedding and mattresses next to the furnace. Milwaukee has had a lot of fires in the last five or six years. And houses like this, they're olderš you've got people living up here with this type of heater. During the night, somebody kicks it over and this attic would catch fire in a blink of an eye, really.

Woman:
My experience being on W-2 is, like, terrible.

Woman:
Really upsetting a lot of people. It's hurting a lot of families. Woman: I almost got evicted a few times. If it wasn't for me having social workers and stuff by my side, I would have been evicted, too.

Woman:
W-2 delay your check for months and months half the time.

Woman:
They'll hold your check. They don't care. I tell you, it's not their problem if you get put out.

Woman:
You see a lot of kids don't even have a place to stay and nothing to eat or clothes to wear. This is really bad.

Man:
I've been doing this for almost five years. And the average is about four percent a year they've been going up on evictions. We do anywhere from 3,300 to 3,600 evictions a year.

Man:
Race will become an issue. The white sheriff is throwing you out. That bothers me because the kids then get the perception that you're a bad guy. And they don't even know me, you know. I'm not a bad guy. I've just got a job to do.

Woman Demonstrator:
We need to call for an end to sanctions and time limits.

Woman:
All the focus is on the mothers and there's no focus on the fathers who have abandoned the children. There's no insistence that enforce the absent parent be responsible, not the present parent, who's already double responsible.

Woman Demonstrator:
Time limits are coming up all over the country causing women and children to have zero income whatsoever if they lose their job, their man or their health.

Narrator:
Within two weeks, Mary was hired by the Mt. Carmel Nursing Home in suburban Milwaukee. The starting pay for CNA's there is $8.00-$9.00 per hour, with health care benefits included.

Mary Mayo:
It's great. I like it here. I talk to the patients, listen to them. They're quite a gas. They're nice. I like them. The people who work here are okay. I'm doing great. Show them your Sunday smile Celia. Okay, Celia is showing her Sunday smile.

Sylvia:
There are smiles that make us happy...

Mary Mayo:
Sylvia's singin'.

Sylvia:
There are smiles that make us...

Mary Mayo:
I'll be back. Okay Sylvia? I'm going to get some more residents.

Woman:
Mary is a wonderful employee. Mary has enthusiasm. She is a very caring individual. And she displays her compassion and respect for our residents.

Mary Mayo:
Supper looks good.

Woman Resident:
That's enough for a whole family!

Mary Mayo:
Is it?

Woman Resident:
Yes it is, honey.

Woman:
The value of the nursing assistant is that they're the backbone of long-term care. And there is an extreme need right now for people to become nursing assistants. And for nursing assistants, it's good on a career ladder, because once they become a nurse's aide, they'll have more opportunities, possibly, to become a licensed practical nurse or a registered nurse in the future. And in our organization, we give assistance so that can happen.

Mary Mayo:
...a big goal...L.P. and R.N. ... if I don't get too old. I'll be an old nurse, walking around with my cane.

Woman:
There's been a great influx of W-2. It's a delight to have that group of women here, though, because we value the service they can give us.

Narrator:
Mary's shift hours are 3:00 to 11:00 pm. She's grateful that Louise can feed and care for her kids since nighttime childcare is scarce. No bus lines run from the suburbs to her inner city neighborhood at night. So, again, it is Louise who drives across town with the kids in tow to bring Mary home at night.

Woman:
We're doing a transportation questionnaire right now to see if we would provide a van service.

Mary Mayo:
It is hard to get out here, but I really enjoy here.

Narrator:
No one knows how the 25,000 Wisconsin families who left W-2 last year are faring. W-2 agencies have done little to track them, though they are counted as success stories. In Milwaukee, food pantries and homeless shelters are ready for another round of winter evictions.

Man:
I like to go home at night and put my feet up and watch TV and not have to think that two doors down, there's someone living in an abandoned home. There's no reason in the world that little children should be out here in the cold because W-2 agencies are kicking their parents out of the program.

Governor Tommy Thompson:
Success is often described as a journey, not a destination. Together, we can make W-2 a better way of life for poor families all over Wisconsin. (applause)

Narrator:
In November 1999, Governor Tommy Thompson vetoed the budget bill aimed at expanding W-2's job training and educational programs from six weeks to two years.

Mickey Paterson:
I would like to see more emphasis placed on furthering education. The educational component will keep people from needing assistance from others. We're new in this thing. So, we're going to have to see what happens. But human beings are remarkably adjustable creatures. And we learn from a little help from our friends.