San Francisco bar welfare-to-work program
puts women on the road to work,
well-being and self-sufficiency
By Faye A. Silas
For Leslie Blunt, working as an administrative assistant at the law firm of Latham & Watkins in San Francisco is more than a just a job. She is enhancing her computer skills. She is learning about a brand new field--the legal profession. She is developing greater polish and professionalism. And she is providing for her two daughters. After being out of the workforce for five years while she cared for her three young children, Silvia Castillo says her new job as a data-entry clerk in the records department at San Francisco’s Lillick & Charles has opened up a new world to her.The law firm jobs are giving these women an important opportunity--the opportunity to get off of welfare.
"I don’t want welfare to be a factor in my life," says Blunt, a single mother. "I don’t want to send that message to my children."
Thirteen other women on welfare are similarly motivated as they participate in a novel program developed in cooperation with the Bar Association of San Francisco, its Volunteer Legal Services Program and San Francisco Works, a privately funded program that mobilizes the private sector to furnish employment for welfare recipients. The Legal Employment Action Program, or LEAP as it is called, provides training to welfare mothers and entry-level jobs in San Francisco law firms and law-related companies.
The program, which started in September, offers intensive computer training or "hard" skills, as well as "soft" skills such as how to write a resume and prepare for a job interview. All are necessary tools that will help the women make a smooth transition into the workforce. For 13 weeks, the women work three days a week at their legal employer. If they perform well during this period, their jobs will expand to full time for nine more months and could become permanent after that. Approximately 17 law firms and four companies have from one to three "interns" working for them.
LEAP is part of a broader welfare-reform effort in San Francisco, the state of California and communities across the county that is striving to permanently remove people from the welfare rolls. In 1996, Congress enacted sweeping new welfare overhaul provisions that will result in a reduction or elimination of benefits to welfare recipients. That legislation, called the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act, requires welfare recipients to work after getting benefits for two years. After five years, their benefits will end. Through tax credits, the private sector has been encouraged to provide jobs for people getting benefits.
That’s what caught Tanya Neiman’s attention. As director of the San Francisco bar’s Volunteer Legal Services Program (VLSP), the bar’s pro bono arm, she felt the legal profession could be a significant partner in the Bay Area’s welfare-to-work effort. Since 1977, VLSP has provided legal services to low income and disadvantaged individuals and families. It assists families in crisis, the homeless, immigrants, battered women, the elderly, individuals with disabilities, people with HIV and indigent women with cancer. In 1997, almost 30,000 people received services through the program from 6,300 volunteer lawyers who donated nearly 124,000 hours of legal services, which equaled almost $17 million.
Because so many of the people seeking assistance from VLSP also need skills training and jobs, Neiman felt legal employers could provide job opportunities.
"I felt we could address this angle. We have a huge number of legal employers and it seemed obvious to me that the best thing we could do is convince the employers that they have an obligation to address this issue of welfare reform," says Neiman.
While Neiman says LEAP is the bar’s first foray into employment, the concept fits the legal service program’s broader mission. VLSP has gone above and beyond just providing traditional legal assistance over the years. Its philosophy is to take a broader, holistic approach to assisting people who come in for legal help by also linking them into an array of resources provided by various human services agencies in San Francisco.
"Our clients have child care problems, transportation problems, lack of training, which all may contribute to the legal problem they may be facing. You can’t just focus on legal matters. You must take a holistic approach. That underpins why we got involved in this," Neiman explains.
"Most women do not want to collect a welfare check, but (the community at large) has failed to offer (jobs). But there is work that’s needed in the firms," she adds.
Last year, members of the bar’s Women’s Committee, law firm representatives, the Chamber of Commerce and career counselors came together to discuss the concept and flesh it out. What resulted was a program that incorporates a 2-week appraisal period, six weeks of computer and "life skills" training and 13 weeks of part-time employment at 20 hours a week and continued classroom training for an additional 15 hours a week. The work and training are supplemented by mentoring from staff of the legal employer, as well as individual coaching, support groups and nine months of full-time employment at the conclusion of the 13-week internship. After that period, the employer may offer a permanent job. The women work as case clerks, receptionists, docket clerks, administrative assistants, data entry operators, file clerks and purchasing assistants.
During the two-week appraisal period in September, 25 women went through a screening process to assess their educational level and job experience, determine whether there were any barriers to employment and generally assess their work readiness. The Department of Human Services and the LEAP staff performed the screening. After this period, 15 women remained in the program.
Job recruitment
Legal employers were recruited in several ways. LEAP was publicized by letters to law firms and other employers that explained the program, and direct calls by LEAP organizers planners to law firm administrators.
San Francisco bar Executive Director Drucilla Stender Ramey brought in Nancy Seigel, the executive director of Lillick & Charles and co-chair of the Women’s Committee. "I was delighted the bar was getting involved," says Seigel, who is past president of the Association of Legal Administrators, a national organization. "My role was to get the rest of the legal community involved."
She brought together legal administrators, legal secretaries, and law librarians to explain the program and make employers feel comfortable about it. The marketing approach was this: LEAP is not entirely altruistic. It not only helps the employee and community at large, but also the employer.
"Employers are always looking for motivated employees. And you know this is a motivated group of people," says Ramey of the women on welfare. In her direct approach, Ramey says she contacted leaders in the law firms, but not necessarily the managing partner. "I cold-called women in large firms I thought would be sympathetic to the issue," she says, adding that a few of her calls were to men, as well.
The responses varied. Some firms said yes right away, others said they were interested but deferred until a later time. "It is a commitment, but firms are looking for good people," Ramey adds.
What has helped LEAP’s cause is the robust economy that has made job creation doable for many companies, Neiman says. March unemployment was the lowest in three decades.
"We’re not asking a small thing . . . , but there’s work in the firms. Thank God for a good economy," she adds.
The San Francisco bar gets funding for LEAP from San Francisco Works. The bar was to receive $267,000 based on a contract with the organization to train 25 women. Since that number was reduced to 15, the amount was adjusted. The funds pay for the contract services from the City College, which provides computer training, and Urban University, which provides soft skills training. (See "Hard and soft skills are keys to work readiness," p. 17.) They also pay for VLSP staff members who administer the program. A group called Alumni Resources provides in-kind career counseling to the interns. To offset costs to the legal employers, tax credits are available for each welfare recipient hired. The funds pay up to 35 percent (up to $10,000) paid the first year of employment, and 50 percent (up to $10,000) paid in the second year.
At the end of February, the 15 women completed their internships, and, in most cases, their work was extended to full time for the next nine months. A graduation reception was held to honor them. (Two women didn’t work out at their companies, and other employment is being sought for them.) Program organizers report that the legal employers were generally pleased with the program and its participants. A new group of women entered the program in March.
As with many families receiving aid, welfare is not a way-of-life for Silvia Castillo. When she separated from her husband last summer, she applied for welfare benefits for the first time in August as a temporary measure to provide income for her and her children, aged six, four and two. Before she stopped working to stay at home and care for her children, she held a job as a receptionist for a chiropractor.
"It was an emergency for me, to keep me going," Castillo says quietly, adding that for this reason, she has not felt bad about receiving receiving the benefits for the past several months. "That’s why I went into the (LEAP) program in order to get back to work."
The author is the editor of Bar Leader.
