Conference to Mark the Redesign of the City's Welfare System

Philadelphia, PA—The Philadelphia Workforce Development Corporation (PWDC) is hosting a motivational conference for the 500 staff from the Employment, Advancement and Retention Network (EARN) Centers at the Pennsylvania Convention Center on Friday, January 18, 2008 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.. Confirmed program participants include Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter and Secretary of Welfare, Estelle Richman.

Two years ago, at the direction of the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare, PWDC’s Transitional Workforce Division (TWD) took the lead in overseeing the delivery of services to the city’s 25,000+ adult welfare participants.  The redesign created fourteen comprehensive neighborhood centers, the EARN Centers, from which services to participants are delivered. The EARN Center model provides case management, job placement and other services to help ensure a more efficient and permanent transition from welfare to work. TWD has helped to transition thousands of participants from welfare to self sufficiency. The purpose of the conference is to convene the 500 staff members from the EARN Centers to examine the challenges that exist in the delivery of services and share best practices to resolve those challenges.

“While it has only been two years since the re-structure of the system, we have already seen significant changes as a result of our initiatives”, says Debbie Coleman, Vice President of the TWD. “But we still have ongoing challenges ranging from the barriers that our participants face each and every day to the ever-changing legislative policies that dictate the system. The ultimate goal of this conference is to discuss these issues and devise a plan to solve them”. The last two Centers became operable in January 2007, thus completing the redesign of the entire system.