Carl on Welfare Reform -
Dignity Corps
[click here for video]
www.paladinoforthepeople .com________________________
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Unemployment in New York State is among the worst in the nation. If elected Governor of New York, Carl Paladino would bring real reform to help get New York back to work, including work for welfare. Carl will help people off extended unemployment and welfare and into paid employment.
Of course, recipients of welfare who truly cannot work will receive continued support and will remain outside the return-to-work process. We have a responsibility to take care of our own.
But what of those who can work, but don't? Many want to, but can't.
In a Paladino administration, everyone capable of doing work will be expected to work or prepare for work if they want financial assistance. Any able-bodied New Yorker on unemployment or welfare will join the Dignity Corps to help them get back to work. The Dignity Corps will offer a comprehensive program of support for job seekers including training, development, work experience and mentoring. Time limits will be applied to New York's unemployment benefits, while able-bodied New Yorkers on welfare will be expected to participate to collect a check.
Carl was inspired by two things to create the Dignity Corps: his father's Civilian Conservation Corps experience and his own experience in Buffalo. There was economic trouble when Carl's immigrant father joined the CCCs, much like we have today. Recession, Depression: it doesn't matter much what the economists call it if you can't find a job.
Carl has also drawn inspiration from St. Luke's Mission of Mercy, a remarkable private homeless center in Buffalo. He has worked closely with St. Luke's for fifteen years and he's watched closely as the missionaries have housed, clothed, fed and given work to thousands of inner city homeless and unemployed - and helped many get back to work. (See more HERE.)
In the first months of Carl's administration, he'll order comprehensive assessments for every recipient of welfare and extended unemployment. New claimants will be assessed when they apply. New York City has a standard skills assessment to determine work readiness and the degree of intervention required - and they implemented it in two years.
In the Dignity Corps, community work programs will give long-term unemployed New Yorkers an opportunity to train, work and upgrade their skills to find fulfilling jobs. And, just like FDR's CCCs, the Dignity Corps will offer both urban and rural work centers for New York residents who want to live, learn, work and earn a good living on projects like parks restoration, building facilities, infrastructure development, recycling and much more.
At Dignity Corps centers, the chronically unemployed can learn life and work skills they need to have a fulfilling life. They will have meals, work clothing, wages, and housing.
Taxpayers can achieve significant cost efficiency by using existing state facilities on the chopping block. Today New York State correctional facilities are under utilized; many have called for closing underused prisons. In fact, New York State can achieve great savings if we redevelop and repurpose half-empty minimum-security correctional facilities.
Ship out the prisoners to consolidated correctional facilities. Tear down the fences, barbed wire and other confinement construction. Upgrade the facility and you have a property that could easily be redeveloped as open and comfortable Dignity Corps campuses in beautiful New York State settings. Underutilized college campuses may be retrofitted, too. Any state facility with surplus capacity can be put to use instead of being an empty monument to government waste.
Bottom line: when Carl Paladino is governor of New York, if you are out of work, you will get help to get you back into work. If you are unable to work, then the government give you the help you need. And, if you are able to work, your unemployment benefits will be geared towards getting you back in the workforce.
New York is facing enormous challenges and only new ideas and radical reform will turn this state around. Carl Paladino's Dignity Corps can prepare and launch our unemployed into fulfilling jobs and lives. And by cutting your income taxes by 10 percent in July and cutting government spending by 20 percent in a year, Carl will create more jobs for New Yorkers eager to work.
