The mayor turns to a onetime rival to reimagine job training for the poor. But is the city willing to pay for what employers really need?
By Leslie Kaufman
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Banks is also aggressively taking advantage of a change in state law that allows welfare recipients to attend college for four years while still receiving benefits. It was a major shift, but New York was merely bringing itself in line with other liberal states that have allowed more training and education for years, said Elizabeth Lower-Basch, director of the income and work supports team at the Center for Law and Social Policy in Washington. “New York, in the past, has stood out as using workfare much more than other places,” she said. “That was quite unusual.”
Sandra Chevalier, a single mother of five, was one of the new cohort. A foster child who never finished school, she had always loved animals. When she had a family of her own and went on welfare, she said, she decided she wanted an education but had no time as a clerical assistant under workfare.
Under the new program, she earned a high-school equivalency diploma and now attends LaGuardia Community College, where she is studying to be a veterinary assistant. In addition to receiving welfare, she earns $10 an hour mentoring other students who are on welfare. “Before I was having trouble paying the rent,” she said. “Now I can focus on my studies.”
