Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 9 August 1997 — Page 6

PAGE A6

THE INDIANAPOLIS RECORDER

SATURDAY, AUGUSTS, 1997 '

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Dr. Janie* Hal*, prof*aaor, *arly ^^"p^cho^gy***

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African A African American Studies, Washington University

INFUSION Continued from A1

conference is to bring together educators, parents, students, and the community to focus their attention on the diverse needs of the student population,” Browne says. Browne shares thoughts on the problem with today’s youth and education. ‘Teachers are not trained to address the needs of a culturally diverse student population, especially African Americans. Many parents are so young that they haven’t instilled the value of education in their children. And the community does not want to take responsibility for what goes on in school,” she said. As the head of the Indianapolis Public Schools Office of Multicultural Education Browne has to set many goals to better the community. ’’Not only does it prepare teachers, but it tends to the needs of children who have different needs, religions, genders, and races.” added Browne. The main focus of The Office of Multicultural Education is to

teach students they must respect who they are and they must respect those who are different from them. Ebonics in the school system is an issue that is constantly addressed to Browne. She feels that, "Ebonics is a language pattern students bring to the classroom, said Browne. “The Job of the student is to understand differences between formal and informal language. If students want to get jobs in this society they must be able to talk formally. Students must be able to function in the society in which they live, but should understand the culture in which they were bom.” Speakers for this year's conference will be Dr. Janice Hale, author of “Black Children: Their Roots, Culture and Learning Styles,” Dr. Robert Williams, “Ebonics: The True Language of Black Folks:** and Dr. Geneva Gay, “at the Essence of Learning: Multiculturalism.” For more information call 226-4611.

WELFARE Continued from A1

Indiana residents who will have their benefits terminated is less than 300. Van Scyoc says the key to getting people off the welfare ranks is the performance of the 56 providers who have contracts with the state. These providers are only paid based on the number of former welfare recipients who are able to successfully complete the training programs and get jobs. “They are supposed to do everything possible to be off the system in two years,” she added. Two of the more successful programs designed to help residents get off welfare are Training Inc. and TTI. Valery DeLong, resource development manager for Training, Inc. said anyone interested in getting off welfare should be able to do so if they make a commitment to the program they are referred to. “There are many wonderful job training programs out there,” DeLong said. “Because of our training, ours is the longest one. We have always filled our slots. We have 15 at a time. It’s a very personal one-to-one type of program. We want to know the whole person and get to know the whole person.” Training Inc., a 12-week program, is one of the most successful in the area and has been in operation in Indianapolis since 1981. “Hard skills get you the job, soft skills keeps you the job,” De Long said of the advantages her company offers its clients. She also said she expects some changes over the next few years. “We have always had individuals receiving welfare in our programs. This will be a little different, It will be people receiving AFDC. All of our trainees next year will be individuals who are receiving AFDC. Many of them will be faced with the November deadline.” There is one important aspect of the program. “They have to have an IMPACT case worker,” she said. “For individuals who are living in emergency situations, 12 weeks can

seem like a lifetime. We don’t want to set anyone up to fail. We are very proud of our success rate to this point. When you look job training, you look at the placement rate and you look at the retention rate, she added. Anyone interested in being a part of Training Inc. should contact the program’s administrative assistant, Debbi Poynter, to get an initial assessment. Chuck Baranco is president of TTI and his company’s program is called Empower Indiana. Barranco’s company will service 4,000clients from around the state in the next two years. “Here the state has taken a very, very positive outlook towards welfare reform,” Barranco said and adds clients should be shown work is a positive experience. “The state of Indiana needs to be applauded for developing performance-based contracts. The state pays for performance. The state doesn’t pay for nonperformance. “ What we do is a little different from everybody else,” Barranco added. “We have case managers that work directly with the clients and we have job developers working with the employers. “Many of our clients are second and third generation welfare recipients,” he said and added 30 percent of TTI employees are former clients. “We can serve as many people as possible. We can only take people who have been referred to us by the state.” Barranco said. For additional information about programs designed to give welfare recipients job skills necessary to gain employment, contact: * America Works at 923-3600 * Curtis and Associates at 2377171 * Eastside Community Investment Inc. at 637-7300 * Goodwill Industries at 2641313 * Keys to Work, Inc. 974-1500 •TTI at 636-5600 * Training, Inc. at 264-6740

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