Part Two: The 21st Century Agenda for Cities and Suburbs
B. Investing in America's Working Men and Women
A century ago, as the economy was shifting from agriculture to manufacturing, the ways in which Americans lived and worked changed dramatically. Today, the economy has shifted again in many communities -- this time from manufacturing to information and technology. These changes have been the engine of today's prosperity, but Americans who have not had access to education and training to prepare for this new economy risk being left behind.
Education and training have been the cornerstone of the Administration's efforts over the past 6 years to ensure that all Americans have the tools they need for the 21st century. Such initiatives are vital for tapping the labor force in cities and ensuring urban workers can perform well in the expanding job market. Expanded education and training initiatives, however, are only part of the equation. Empowering the workforce also requires building on our Nation's highly successful track record with welfare-to-work initiatives that move families from welfare to work and with providing more affordable childcare to help families balance the demands of work and family. More efforts to strengthen urban schools are also critical for preparing our future workforce and for helping cities attract and keep middle- and upper-income residents.
Preparing America's Men and Women to Succeed in the Workforce
Last year, President Clinton launched the USA JOBS Network34 transforming the job training system by streamlining services and empowering workers with a simple skills grant so that they can choose the training they need. However, more work needs to be done. On average, employers report that one out of every five workers is not fully proficient in the manufacturing job, and 88 percent of companies are having trouble finding qualified applicants for at least one job function. The FY2000 budget proposes a $965 million, three-part initiative to help close America's skills gap, focusing on adult education, universal re-employment services, and youth initiatives.
Adult Education and Family Literacy. Today, 44 million adults struggle with a job application, cannot read to their children, or cannot fully participate in our economic and civic life because they lack basic skills or English proficiency. The goal of the Adult Literacy initiative is to improve the quality of adult basic education programs and help States both meet the new quality goals and serve more people. The FY2000 budget calls for a $190 million increase in spending on adult education and family literacy to support five major components:
- Adult Education State Grants will be increased by $95 million -- to $468 million -- to boost the number of full-time adult education teachers and instructional hours per student, make more computer stations available at adult education centers, and provide more childcare and counseling services.
- Because we have absorbed record numbers of immigrants, the English Literacy/Civics Initiative will receive $70 million in the FY2000 budget to provide immigrants and individuals with limited English proficiency expanded access to high-quality English language instruction, linked to practical instruction in civics and how to navigate the workplace, public education system, and other key institutions in American life.
- America Learns Technology will receive $23 million in the FY2000 budget to promote more effective use of technology in adult education.
- Other tools for adult education include the High Skills Communities Campaign, which would be funded in the FY2000 budget at $2 million, to mobilize States and local communities to implement strategies to promote adult education and lifelong learning.
- Under the Workplace Education Tax Credit, employers that provide certain workplace literacy, English language instruction, and basic education programs will be allowed a 10-percent income tax credit for eligible educational expenses, with a maximum credit of $525 per participating employee per year.
Universal Re-employment Initiative. Very few Americans today work at the same job throughout their careers. Because our workforce is so dynamic and careers so fluid, retraining is critical. The FY2000 budget will increase funds for re-employment training and placement by $368 million. The budget makes a commitment to our Nation's reformed job training system to ensure that within 5 years, all displaced workers will receive the job training and re-employment services they want and need. Since 1993, dislocated worker funding has been expanded by 171 percent. This initiative includes three major components:
- The Dislocated Worker Program would be increased by $190 million to enable it to serve 169,400 additional workers.
- The FY2000 budget also expands the Employment Service, putting it on a path to serve 1.4 million displaced workers within 5 years.
- One-Stop Career Centers would also be expanded. Last year, Congress and the Administration ensured that One-Stop Centers would be available in every part of the country.
The FY2000 budget provides $65 million to give unemployed people reemployment services the moment they apply for unemployment insurance and create a nationwide toll-free telephone system so workers can find out what services are available and where they can go to receive them. The one-stop initiative will ensure that job search information is available at 4,000 locally-based organizations, create 100 new mobile centers for rural areas, and include special services to help people with disabilities.
Youth Employment. Dealing with the problems of at-risk youth is one of our Nation's most important challenges. In December 1998 the national unemployment rate was 4.3 percent -- its lowest peacetime level in 41 years. The jobless rate among African-American teens (aged 16 to 19) also reached its lowest peacetime level in four decades. However, it was still more than 6 times higher than the national average and much higher than the rate for White youth. The youth employment initiative funds promising approaches to increase the educational attainment and employment rates of disadvantaged youth. The FY2000 budget proposes a $405 million increase for youth employment initiatives.
- As part of this initiative, the Administration proposes an increase in funding for the Job Corps and another $250 million investment in Youth Opportunity Areas, which are competitive grants to low-income and high-poverty areas that will fund a wide range of education and employment services for out-of-school youth residing in those areas.
- The FY2000 budget also expands HUD's popular Youthbuild initiative, which promotes on-the-job experience combined with academic assistance for school dropouts. Funding for Youthbuild will increase by more than 75 percent, enabling this initiative to provide $75 million to offer disadvantaged young adults the opportunity for an education and employment skills by rehabilitating and building housing in their communities for low-income and homeless people.
- The FY2000 budget proposes a new $100 million Right-Track Partnerships initiative to promote innovative partnerships among schools, employers, and community-based organizations to reduce high school dropout rates, improve high school achievement, and enhance post-secondary education and career opportunities among economically disadvantaged and limited-English-proficient youth.
Other initiatives would be targeted to help disadvantaged young people get ready for college.
- The FY2000 budget doubles funding to GEAR-UP for College, from $120 million to $240 million, to enhance partnerships between high-poverty middle or junior high schools and colleges to help low-income youth prepare for and enroll in college. In 2000, GEAR UP will reach 381,000 students.
- The FY2000 budget proposes a $30 million increase in other Federal initiatives, including Upward Bound, to fund outreach, counseling, and educational support to help disadvantaged students prepare for academic success in college.
- A new $35 million initiative is also proposed to help disadvantaged students stay in college and earn diplomas.
| Cities Pioneer Initiatives to Help Youth
St. Louis Youthbuild. Every year, many thousands of disadvantaged youth drop out of high school and start down a road that too often leads to poverty, dependence, and crime. Youthbuild helps school dropouts aged 16-24 choose a better path. It provides the opportunity for young people to gain marketable construction skills and simultaneously strengthen their academic credentials. Youthbuild participants earn income at the construction sites and contribute to their community by helping to build and rehabilitate affordable housing. St. Louis, MO is among cities with an active Youthbuild program. There, 110 out of 128 Youthbuild graduates have been placed in jobs at salaries which range from $7 to $12 per hour. Many have gone on to college, and 73 percent have earned their GED or received a high school diploma.
Albany, NY. In 1996, this city created Kid Improvement Districts (KIDs) to forge a better future for Albany's inner-city youth. A multi-faceted program, KIDs features sports activities, job creation, crime and drug prevention, life-skills training, and urban land reclamation. Public housing residents receive job training and serve as program volunteers. As part of the initiative, the city restored a nature preserve that is now a scientific nature learning center. Hospitals have been enlisted to provide free clinics within schools in the target neighborhoods. Dozens of community mentors also participate in the program. Rather than working separately, local organizations, volunteers, schools and city departments are now united in efforts to improve living conditions in Albany's neighborhoods.
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Helping Families Move From Welfare to Work
Millions of welfare recipients have already made the transition from welfare rolls to payrolls -- and the percentage of the U.S. population on welfare is at its lowest since 1969. Nevertheless, important challenges remain. Although most new jobs are being created in the suburbs, one-half of all households that receive public assistance income live in cities.35 This means that efforts to develop additional job opportunities in the cities must be accompanied by strategies to connect city welfare recipients to the jobs through the metropolitan economy. Existing mass transit often does not provide adequate links to many suburban jobs at all or not within a reasonable commute time. In addition, many jobs require evening or weekend hours that are poorly served by existing transit routes.
To address this gap, for the second year in a row, the Clinton-Gore Administration requests new HUD Welfare-to-Work Housing Vouchers to help families make the transition from welfare to work. The FY2000 budget seeks $144 million to fund 25,000 vouchers in addition to the renewal of 50,000 vouchers enacted by Congress in 1999. Welfare-to-work vouchers are especially valuable when job opportunities in a region are located some distance from where welfare recipients live.
The housing vouchers complement the Administration's Job Access transportation initiative to help welfare recipients and other low-income workers get to work. The Administration's budget doubles funding for these competitive grants, providing $150 million in FY2000. Administered by DOT, the program provides competitive grants to assist States and localities in developing flexible transportation alternatives, such as van services, for welfare recipients and other low-income workers.
To help families in the poorest neighborhoods and those with the greatest challenges move successfully from welfare to work, the Administration's budget proposes $1 billion to reauthorize the Welfare-to-Work program. This initiative will continue to help welfare recipients and low-income fathers get and keep jobs. Funds are targeted to those individuals and communities needing the most help -- providing services to the hardest-to-employ and distributing funds based on concentrations of poverty, welfare dependency, and unemployment. These funds help long-term welfare recipients with low basic skills, substance abuse, and poor work histories move into lasting unsubsidized jobs, and provide tools to help them succeed in the workforce. The proposal would also assist in ensuring that both parents contribute to the support of their children by providing that at least 20 percent of formula funds be used to increase the employment of low-income noncustodial fathers so they can pay more child support.
Providing Supportive Services
Providing support services -- particularly assistance with child care and transportation to work -- has proven to be a highly effective strategy for helping people enter the job market, build careers, and achieve economic self-sufficiency.
Affordable Childcare. Childcare remains a significant barrier to tapping city labor pools. Nationwide, only about 10 percent of the families who qualify for Federal childcare assistance receive help. Many cities have tens of thousands of families on waiting lists for childcare assistance. To help urban families balance the demands of work and family, the FY2000 budget proposes a significant new investment in strengthening childcare -- making it better, safer, and more affordable.
The FY2000 budget expands the Child Care and Development Block Grant -- the primary Federal subsidy program to pay for childcare. Funds are distributed by formula to the States to operate direct childcare subsidy programs and to improve the quality of care. In FY97, States provided childcare assistance to only 1.25 million of the 10 million low-income children eligible for assistance. The FY2000 budget will increase funding for childcare subsidies by $1.2 billion to provide childcare subsidies for hundreds of thousands more families.
The Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit provides tax relief to taxpayers who, in order to work, must pay for the care of a child under the age of 13 or a disabled dependent or spouse. The FY2000 budget proposes to increase the credit for families earning less than $60,000, providing an additional average tax cut of $345 for these families and eliminating income tax liability for almost all families with incomes below $35,000 (for a family of four) that claim the maximum allowable childcare expenses. The FY2000 budget also proposes to create an Early Learning Fund to promote early learning and school readiness by, among other steps, improving the quality and safety of child care for very young children.
A large body of research shows that children's experiences in the earliest years are critical to their development and ability to reach school ready to learn. One of the Clinton-Gore Administration's highest priorities is to expand Head Start, America's premier early childhood development program. Head Start supports working families by helping parents get involved in their children's educational lives and by providing services to the entire community. The FY2000 budget provides $5.267 billion -- a $607 million increase over FY99 levels -- for Head Start. This increase will enable the program to serve 42,000 additional children in 2000 -- bringing the total served to 877,000 -- and keep Head Start on track to reach the Administration's goal of serving 1 million children by 2002. Since 1993, the Administration has worked with Congress to increase annual Head Start funding by 68 percent. The FY2000 budget also proposes to increase the Early Learning Fund block grant to improve early learning and the quality and safety of childcare for very young children.
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