Posted on 12/27/2002 6:32:01 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
By Launce Rake Teresa Owens was able to have a Christmas this year for her three children thanks, in large part, to a government program in California that paid for her family to move to Las Vegas. The family, originally from Southern Nevada, moved to California for a job after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, when work here was scarce. But they found nothing but trouble in the Golden State. "It was horrible," Owens said. Instead of finding steady work, Owen and her husband, Gilbert Mendoza, were homeless and relying on government assistance. Owens' story is not unusual in Central California's San Joaquin Valley, where the unemployment rate ranges from 12 to 20 percent annually. What is unusual is the program that pays families' moving costs out of the area -- like Steinbeck's "Grapes of Wrath" in reverse, with people packing up and moving away from California's farm belt. Owens' Christmas in Las Vegas came courtesy of the MOVE program, which provides one-time assistance of $2,000 to $3,000 to relocate families. The Owens clan is one of more than 1,300 families relocated through the program to areas throughout the United States. The program will send families anywhere they have a secure job lined up. About 80 families -- fewer than 100 adults -- have used the program to move to relatively prosperous Southern Nevada, said Karen Davidson, MOVE's employment supervisor. The state of California saves money by paying welfare recipients to pack up and leave -- but the program has alarmed some Las Vegas-area officials, who fear a migration of low-income families. Keith Schwer, director for the Center for Business and Economic Research at UNLV, said the concern is that the new arrivals could eventually swell local unemployment numbers and increase the demand for social services. "In Nevada, we don't offer the social safety net that they offer in California," Schwer said. One-way tickets The program started four years ago in California's Tulare County, an agricultural center that experiences seasonal unemployment rates of close to 20 percent. The program has grown and now relocates families from five Central California counties: Tulare, Kings, Madera, Kerns and Fresno. Davidson said her agency strives to make sure that families relocated under the program do not become a burden to the government agencies where they move. One of the things the program looks at is the economic health of the target area. "In the beginning, Las Vegas was a real popular destination," she said. "After 9-11 hit, we had to take a really hard look at our destinations. We kind of put a hold on Las Vegas." But Southern Nevada has appeal for many, Davidson said. "You definitely have a lot of job growth," she said. The area has other benefits: a relatively lower cost of housing, less crime and cleaner air than in many parts of California, she said. Unemployment in Clark County, which topped out at just above 6 percent after the Sept. 11 attacks, is now about 4.5 percent. Davidson said applicants to the MOVE program undergo a strict screening process that includes looking at their work and legal history. "We have had critics who say we are just moving our problem," she said. "That is a myth. Our clients who move do not go on welfare. They get good-paying jobs and are self-sufficient." Owens, in her comfortable home in Henderson, said getting into the program was not easy. She pulled out a thick file folder she received from the MOVE program. Included within the folder are tips on how to get and keep a job, an accounting of how the relocation money would be used, and a signed agreement that Davidson will not return to the California town of Visalia to seek assistance. "That's part of the deal," Owens said. "You're going somewhere where there's a promise of work. "It's not to take you out of one bad situation and put you in another." Another family who moved here through the program did not come because there was no work, but because the work that Brian Kizer, 34, had at a California Wal-Mart did not pay the bills. Here, Kizer finds that his paychecks from a Las Vegas Wal-Mart go a lot farther. "California's just a real expensive state," he said. "It's just harder to survive in California." MOVE covered about $1,500 of the family's relocation costs, enough for the rental of a moving truck and an auto trailer as well as some money for additional expenses, Kizer said. Kizer, his wife Brenda and their three children -- ages 2, 3 and 4 -- packed up everything and moved to Las Vegas. They are living in an apartment a few miles off the Strip. "It's serving our purposes right now," he said. "The kids are safe and warm." Problem or solution? Davidson said that 86 percent of the people the MOVE program places are still at their new jobs after 90 days, and 70 percent are still working after 180 days. The program is being criticized by some officials in Southern Nevada, however. "It's outrageous to send economically disadvantaged people to Las Vegas," Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said. "It's unfair for these families because they don't understand our system and they don't know who to call, and it sets these families up for failure." Clinten Coleman, family services director for Catholic Charities in Las Vegas, said she believes one homeless man may have been a participant in that program -- but she said she doesn't know for sure. Clark County Director of Social Services Verlia Davis Hoggard said she has been aware of the MOVE program for about a year, and believes it could contribute to long lines at her offices, which provided assistance to about 76,000 people last year. "But we don't know for sure if the people are from the program, because we don't track that," she said. State employment offices also do not track participation in the MOVE program. Clark County Manager Thom Reilly has a different perspective. He pointed out that thousands of people and families move to Las Vegas every year. Many of them have no support system at all, and eventually need government assistance. "We've known for a long time that so many people move out here looking for a job," he said. "They've been taxing the system for a long time. "If they're getting them a job (through the MOVE program), that's a much better premise." But the county may take a harder look at who is applying for social services to determine if they arrived here through the California program, Reilly said. "I think we have to know a little more about the program," he said. Davidson said she does not know of any people in the program who have moved to Southern Nevada and then gone on welfare. Davidson said she does not know of any other program that works like hers does, but said that does not mean the program could not be duplicated. "Any county can do it," she said. "We can't believe how popular it's gotten." The reason the program is popular, Davidson said, is because it works for families like Teresa Owens'. "At least there's work here," Owens said. She applied unsuccessfully for many jobs in California. Here, "I went to one place. One application and got a job." Owens works at a mortgage company in Las Vegas. Her husband, Gilbert Mendoza, a member of a local masons union, also has steady work. "I love it here," Owens said. "California, it was the worst thing ever to happen to me." She said the situation was very bad for the family's three children, 10-year-old Tiffani, 6-year-old Anthony and 4-year-old Briana. "Last year there was no Christmas," she said. "Now (we were able to) get presents for all the kids." Program sends away families looking for work
<lrake@lasvegassun.com>
LAS VEGAS SUN
There are entrepreneurs everywhere creating job opportunities all over the place, but there isn't always a 1-to-1 correspondence between these job opportunities and folks who want to do the work. If the potential workforce is fluid enough, then they will find each other and jobs will be filled.
"In Nevada, we don't offer the social safety net that they offer in California," Schwer said.
So then, the bums will go back to California.... what's the problem?
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