Is job training next for the war on poverty?

Two years ago, LaTarsha Ross had hit rock bottom. Her job in child care, whose pay was already insufficient to live on, had proved too difficult during pregnancy. She found herself on public assistance, barely supporting herself and her newborn son.

"I had to do everything possible to make ends meet," she says ruefully. "I just didn't want to be in that position anymore."

Today, Ms. Ross is on top of the world. She's a patient-access representative at the Boston Medical Center, makes $26,000 a year, gets full benefits, and enjoys her work. She can't say enough about the responsibility and independence her newfound career has given her.

The route from welfare to work, for Ross, was clear: Job training made it happen.

But, as Congress works through renewal of its landmark 1996 welfare overhaul, job training is the object of great debate. One side considers a job as the No. 1 priority, the other considers a good job – in which training is key to pay and longevity – the No. 1 priority. The debate isn't over getting people off welfare – it's how best to get them into the kinds of jobs that will help them escape poverty.

The 1996 reforms and the booming economy cut welfare rolls by more than half. Most of those former recipients are earning more than they got from welfare, but not enough to move up the economic ladder.

Last week, the House passed a bill that follows the Bush administration stance of pressing states for tougher work requirements, such as a mandate for 40 hours a week of work for welfare recipients. A more moderate version of the bill working its way through the Senate would give states more power to count education and training as "work."

"It isn't hard to get people off the welfare rolls, particularly in a good economy. It's especially easy if we don't care where they end up," says Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D) of California. "If we want people to go from welfare to self-sufficiency, then we have to work a little harder."

That next step – moving up the economic ladder – was the one Ross took. Though most experts are wary of prescribing any one-size-fits-all solution, the program that gave Ross stability – Training Inc. – is considered a model for keeping former welfare recipients out of poverty.

The five months of 8-to-4 training, workplace simulation, and an unpaid internship at a marketing firm allowed Ross to enter the job market with professional skills, computer literacy, and a solid résumé.

In Boston last year, 95 percent of Training Inc. graduates landed jobs, 98 percent of those jobs came with full benefits, and the average wage was more than $11 per hour. Graduates have about a 90 percent job-retention rate.

But it's not the only organization with such impressive numbers, says Christin Driscoll of Workforce Alliance, a job-readiness advocacy group in Washington. Programs are in place, but the key is getting the neediest citizens, such as welfare moms, access to them.

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