REPORT CITES NEED FOR COOPERATION IN WELFARE-TO-WORK (WELFARE TO WORK, SECOND OF FIVE PARTS)

An analysis aimed at providing information to help welfare-to-work efforts in Cape Girardeau County indicates educational and social-services systems need more cooperation to meet needs of the local marketplace and to increase the future pool of qualified low-income applicants.

A preliminary report -- based on a community analysis prepared by a Boston consulting firm, Mt. Auburn Associates -- was presented last week to the Welfare Reform Task Force. The task force has been working for more than a year to make the best of community resources in helping former welfare recipients get jobs.

The consulting company could issue final recommendations for improving employment strategies as early as next month.

The task force, led by the Community Caring Council, was organized in December 1996.

The report said the county's work-force development system lacks a "planned approach" to engaging employers. While education, job readiness training and employment support systems all appear to recognize the need for more employer focus, the county lacks a "comprehensive and coordinated system that takes into account the needs of employers and the marketplace," it said.

"Employers need to have an easy point of access to find out how they can identify potential workers and what incentives are available to them," said Peter Kwass of Mt. Auburn Associates. "There needs to be a more institutionalized task force or some other organization that sees that this happens."

The report indicated a need for more short-term degree programs and computer literacy options in the community. Better job development and retention services are also critical in the overall system, it said.

Students appear overwhelmingly to prefer health-related fields of study, and the region's computer-literacy programs have a lack of diversity, the report said.

Harold Tilley, director of the Cape Girardeau Area Vocational-Technical School, said he agreed with the report's assessment of future trends but believes educational systems in the county are already moving toward those goals. The vo-tech school's Business and Industry Consortium was designed specifically to prepare students for the local marketplace. Educators meet monthly with large industries in the county to hear what their needs are and develop programs around those needs, he said.

Tilley said new emphasis is being placed on a "seamless education," which incorporates basic academic and occupational training with the opportunity to pursue two- and four-year degrees.

"It appears the jobs that are currently available and the jobs of the future will require more than a high school diploma but less than a baccalaureate degree," said Tilley. "We have a variety of programs that help prepare the individual student for the workplace, but at the same time we try and meet employer needs by designing our programs around their placement needs."

Dr. Randy Shaw, director of Southeast Missouri State University's new Polytechnic Institute, agreed. The university is expanding its associate-degree offerings somewhat, but more emphasis is being placed on cooperative networks with the vo-tech school and regional community colleges like Mineral Area Community College in Park Hills and Three Rivers Community College in Poplar Bluff, he said.

Even so, Shaw said he was concerned too much emphasis was being placed on short-term degrees. "I'm concerned some of the short-term stuff may not be enough to qualify" public assistance recipients for a job that pays enough for them to be self-sufficient, he said.

The report also found a lack of cooperative efforts between social-services agencies.

There are seven active programs in the county that focus on the development of "soft skills," including personal and workplace skills, self-improvement and career-awareness issues. Although these programs are helpful and exist in a larger cooperative framework, they don't have the same mission and don't target a single population, which results in a "lack of coordination" that hampers the effectiveness of the programs and decreases their overall target population, the report said.

Nancy Jernigan, executive director of the Area Wide United Way, said her agency has been pushing for development of a cohesive network of services in the county. There needs to be a central clearinghouse that knows where the services are and who can access them, she said. The clearinghouse would give referrals to social-services agencies and help public assistance recipients and others locate services specific to their needs. Educational and job opportunities could also be accessed from that body, she said.

"If we can't figure out how these programs work or where the benefits are, how can we expect the people who are on welfare to do so?" asked Jernigan. "We think we can be real facilitators in bringing people together to break barriers and really overcome some of these obstacles."

Saturday: Public assistance recipients face negative attitudes and lack of support systems on the job.