Press Releases

Media Advisory: Dec. 2, 1999

Bay Area Policy Makers Hold Summit on Welfare to Work Transportation

CONTACT:

Marjorie Blackwell
510.464.7884

Deidre Heitman
510.817.3272

A regional summit meeting on transportation challenges facing Bay Area welfare recipients transitioning from welfare to work will be hosted by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and county social service agencies on Wednesday, Dec. 8, 1999. The meeting, titled "Linking People to Success," will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Joseph P. Bort MetroCenter, 101 8th Street, Oakland.

Up to 100 transportation and social service officials from throughout the Bay Area will discuss ideas and strategies for removing transportation barriers and improving access to jobs and other support services for welfare recipients as they join the daily workforce. Under the 1997 federal welfare reform law, welfare recipients have a lifetime cap of five years to receive cash assistance.

Led by Santa Clara County Supervisor and MTC Chair Jim Beall, the summit will feature as keynote speakers Frank Mecca, executive director of the California Welfare Directors Association, Maureen D. Borland, director of the San Mateo County Human Services Agency, and Lawrence D. Dahms, Executive Director of MTC.

Difficult issues facing welfare recipients as they move from public assistance to payroll – such as how to transport their children to and from day-care centers and after-school care and how to get to and from late-shift jobs on public transit – will be discussed in group sessions. Regional transportation coordination and potential state legislation will also be on the agenda.

"Five Bay Area counties have completed welfare-to-work plans for their counties, and two more counties have plans under way," said Beall. "We want to build on the work they have done and develop collaboration among transportation providers and social service agencies. What we need now is action on a regional and statewide basis."

MTC has been working for the past two years with transportation planners, social service agencies, Private Industry Councils, community organizations and other stakeholders in each of the nine Bay Area counties to identify transportation problems and develop solutions to help each county's welfare residents access jobs. As part of its efforts, MTC has created a series of GIS (Geographical Information System)-based maps showing welfare recipients' home locations, potential job sites, licensed child care facilities, subsidized housing sites, job training locations, major medical facilities and transit routes and bus stops in five Bay Area counties. The maps are being used to pinpoint gaps in transportation services.

According to Beall, "A key component of the regional Transportation Blueprint for the 21st Century that MTC is now developing will be identifying transportation projects and services to meet the needs of low-income people."

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