7.8: Poverty/Employment and Training: A strategy for healthy environments in York, Pennsylvania

Poverty Policy Influence:

Race, Class, Sexual Preference, Gender, and age have always played a role in American life. The notion that these elements have been addressed and it is time to move on demands constant challenge. Slavery was introduced into York County in the early 1700’s and by 1772 there were 448 slaves in York, this in-spite of a Pennsylvania enactment outlawing the importation of slaves from overseas. The Revolutionary War reduced the use of slaves and with the introduction of the indentured servant. In exchange for transportation to this country a person may agree through contract to indenture his/her service until the final debt is satisfied. By 1780 Pennsylvania was the second state to abolish slavery through the gradual-abolishment act; those slaves born after date of legislation were free as of their 28th birthday. The system of low wage servitude created the formation of a permanent underclass (Kalish, 2010).

The underclass system created in 1780 remains intact at the turn of the twenty-first century. The 2000 Census Bureau Statistics exemplify the issues of York City as compared to York County and the State of Pennsylvania. In 2000, the population of the city was 40,862, and decreased in just 2 years by 610 (1.5%) while the County had an increase in population from 381,751 to 389,289 (2%) (U.S. Census Bureau, 2000). The economic base for the city is eroding -- property values in the city are dropping, while county property values are soaring. Jobs are hard to find in the City, but the County is flourishing. York County residents all enjoy the services of the hospitals and other County-wide services whose facilities are located in the City of York, but it is the poor, struggling City that has to bear the financial burden, compensating for all of the tax-exempt properties in the City that are owned by organizations who serve the wider region. Social service needs are high in the City, but revenues do not meet the needs. As conditions deteriorate, the exodus of residents and businesses shrinks the tax base even more, increasing the burden for those least able to bear it. Crime increases and there are few resources to counter the trends.

Mayor John Brenner was critical in engaging community partners with tax exempt status to help remedy a portion of the financial burden. The Mayor instituted an in lieu of tax request generally provided increases and not to mention his famous Happy Meal tax, which was a request of all County residents to pay the City of York the price of a happy meal for use of city facilities/services (The City of York is the County Seat of York County).

Other US Census 2000 statistics show that the per capita income for City of York as of 1999 was $13,439, compared to $21,086 for York County (the per capita income for Pennsylvania was $20,880.) The percentage of persons living below the poverty level was 23.8% for York City, 6.7% for the County, and statewide the percentage was 11.0%. The homeownership rate in the City in 2000 was 46.8%; York County 76.1%, and the statewide average is 71.3%. The median value for owner-occupied housing units in 2000 was only $56,500 in the City, compared to $110,500 for the County, and $97,000 for the state as a whole.

These statistics are indicative of the thriving County and point to the fact that the City of York, which not only shows values and incomes that fall far below the County’s averages, but they are also much lower than the State averages (Figure 7.8.1 poverty statistics).

Demographic Indicators	City of York #	City of York %	County Data #	County Data %
Population	40,862		381,751
Non-white population		40.2		7.2
Home-owners’ housing costs over 35% of total income	1,211	18	12,789	13.5
Median Home value	$56,500		$110,500
Per capita income	13,439		21,086
Persons living below Poverty Level		23.8		11

Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Demographic Indicators York City vs. York County

Job Training and Support Strategy

Equally important to the well-paying jobs is the interim qualifiers for family development while awaiting completion of new skills or merely making ends meet when in low paying jobs. As pointed to by Lamison and Freeland (personal communications, 2011) the Employment Skills Training Program offers life coaches for the purpose of obtaining services (safety net) for completion of job training, which is supported by a study conducted by Ryan, Kalil, & Leininger, (2009), demonstrating the need for a security blanket and support for indigent families.

Qualitative research describes how merely believing relatives or friends would help if necessary can make mothers feel less hopeless, isolated, and anxious and instill a sense of belonging (Henly, 2002; House, Umberson, & Landis, 1988; Howard, 2006 as cited by Ryan et al., 2009, p. 280). Regardless that informal support is real or perceived, it is clear that the availability of a strong private safety net can bolster mothers’ economic and emotional well-being in the face of financial hardship. Children’s development may be negatively impacted via low income because it prevents parents from purchasing essential as well as socio critical materials, experiences or services as indicated by economic theory.

Reisig, Holtfreter & Morash (2002) contend “Generally, social theorists posit that a variety of positive outcomes is associated with healthy social networks...According to contemporary social theory, kin and non-kin social networks provide social resources that can produce a variety of desirable outcomes including employment, access to training and education, as well as instrumental, social, and emotional support” (p. 167-168).

Ryan et al. findings add to a long tradition of research illustrating the importance of social support, broadly defined, to the economic survival and emotional well-being of low-income families (e.g., Edin &

Lein, 1997; Harknett, 2006; Henly, 2002; Henly et al., 2000). The research demonstrates a significant and substantively important association between the availability of a private safety net and children’s internalizing symptoms and positive behaviors. The similarity in the nature and strength of these associations across the two data sets was especially striking given the different (yet complementary) operationalizations of private safety nets in Fragile Families (which emphasized material support) and National support.

They have thus highlighted an important protective factor for children growing up in economically disadvantaged families, one that may prove especially important in the wake of welfare reform as mothers necessarily rely less on public safety nets, such as cash welfare assistance, and more on their informal networks. A note of significance is that children tend to internalize symptoms and prosocial skills strongly associated with the mother’s private safety net availability than externalizing behaviors. These results indicate that children’s behavioral adjustment may not respond strongly to changes in mothers’ safety net levels, at least not over a short period of time (relates to York City disciplinary concerns above).

Ryan, Kalil, & Leininger, (2009) find:

A positive association between private safety nets and children’s socioemotional well-being, but a different finding could have emerged. Qualitative literature on the dynamics of social support suggests that because mothers often receive informal support only on the condition of reciprocity, help from mothers sometimes can induce as much stress as it alleviates (Antonucci & Jackson, 1990; Howard, 2006) both because mothers worry about repaying their debts (financial or otherwise) and because the exchanges can complicate interpersonal relations. In these ways, mothers’ private safety nets could undermine their emotional well-being and consequently their parenting or expose children to negative relationships, either of which could disrupt children’s socioemotional development (p. 294).

More broadly, the results suggest that a group of low-income mothers exists for whom social isolation and other disadvantages overlap and that children in these families may be particularly at risk for socioemotional difficulties. As more single mothers enter the labor market under Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and it becomes increasingly critical to have a private safety net, these mothers and their children may suffer disproportionately (Ryan et al., 2009).

As pointed out by E. Lamison & B. Freeland, (personal communications, 2011) York’s Job training has taken on a new perspective, setting aside the one size fits all facade, examining the persona of an individual ensuring that the person is not set up for failure. They examine language, education, criminal history, child care issues, and then provide employment coaches to provide confidence to the person entering the workforce. This is equally effective for reintegration of prisoners who leave prison with huge debts for child support and fines. The total system is designed to deal with the concerns so the individual may be successful. The Employment Skills Training Program (ESTP) offers services for income eligible residents of York County between the ages of 18 and 54 who are currently unemployed or seeking to enhance employability.

The mission is to provide motivated individuals with outdated or unmarketable skills with information, coaching, case management and employment/training opportunities to make them viable individuals in today’s job market (E. Lamison & B. Freeland, personal communications, 2011). The significance of the coaching and case management is they aide the indigent trainee to gain the support required to make it through. This support via coaching and case management include but not limited to financial assistance, child care, gaining health care etc. (B. Freeland, personal communication, 2011).

The program is in its infancy beginning in 2010, providing training needs across racial, gender, sexual or criminal history barriers with the whole persons’ ability and potential as part of the training equation. According to E. Lamison & B. Freeland (2011) the potential is recognized as not simply intelligence but if the job that the trainee is working to achieve requires a criminal history background investigation and the trainee is a convicted felon and will not qualify, another job training is selected (not a program to set a person up for failure). The ESTP consists of the following core elements: Job skill assessments designed to measure foundational and personal skills as they apply to the workplace; Job analysis, which pinpoints or estimates skill benchmarks for specific job positions that individuals must meet through testing: Job searching, resume writing, and skill training to improve individual’s viability; Participation in computer training class with instructor; and Access to Full-time Case Manager and Employment Coach. This is but one program offered as a cooperative effort to increase the resource dollar for the service group rather than multiple groups vying for the same resource; and does not recognize character flaws, race or gender as a barrier but rather a qualifier for the service (Figures 7.8.2-7.8.3 program outcomes for first year of program).

2010-To-Date: Number of Ex-Offenders – 256 (male and female) Number of Females – 257 (49%) Number of Males – 268 (51%) Total: 525 Number of clients that has obtained employment – 85 (16%)

Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\): Employment Skills Training Program

Year-To-Date Accomplishments: 19 Clients completed Forklift Operator Training 54 Clients provided resume assistance 8 Clients completed Nurse Aide Training 63 Clients completed “Principle of Construction Workshop” 3 Clients completed Food Safety training 6 Clients provided College Tuition or Textbook Assistance 2 Clients enrolled for Lineman Pre-Apprenticeship Training 14 Clients completed Home Health Aide Training

Race: Asian – 1 Black – 316 Caucasian – 66 Hispanic – 66 Unknown – 70 Other – 6

Figure \(\PageIndex{3}\): Employment Skills Training Program

Thus, in conjunction with the community oriented policing and problem oriented policing strategies proffered in previous sections of this study, success can only be realized when the blinders are permanently removed and attitudes are adjusted to meet community needs. Again, no one strategy is a stand-alone process and must meld with all entities to ensure a lasting outcome; such as the family safety nets and life-coaching in job training (Remember that children having children of previous decades are our debt to society in this decade).

Education

An indicator frequently observed in city-suburban flight surveys is the absence of quality education and York is no stranger to this phenomenon (Simpson, Brenner, DeBord & Conover, personal conversation, 2011). The voluntary segregation of York schools leaves York precariously situated for civil unrest to return and may need for court sanctioned bussing as was observed in the 60’s unless other solutions are initiated (consolidation of school districts, charter schools or private education). The voluntary segregation differs from the forced segregation in that this is due to the flight from inner cities of the economically advantaged leaving the economically disadvantaged with no or little ability to pay for required resources.

Currently the City of York has six charter schools which are: Crispus Attucks Charter School; New Hope Academy; Lincoln Edison; Helen Thackston; International Baccalaureate Charter School; and the Logos Academy and one parochial elementary and one parochial high school. The funding mechanism for each will vary from public dollar supported to public dollar/private contribution support. According to Bobby Simpson (personal conversation, 2011), charter schools are independently run, good teachers, school board that participates and is supportive, accountable to parents and requires parents accountable to teachers and maintains the discipline of a private institution and Catholic Schools and students are more academically challenged and placed for future academic ventures, however they have yet to improve standard test scores as has Catholic or private institutions.

Numerous studies have been conducted to support Mr. Simpson’s assumptions. Carbonaro’s & Covay’s (2010) contend “findings were consistent with prior research. First, Catholic school students experienced larger math gains from 10th through 12th grade than comparable public-school students. This finding is consistent with research from both High School and Beyond (HS&B) data set, a longitudinal sample of 10th- and 12th-grade students in 1980 and 1982.(HS&B) and National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988(NELS:88) (Bryk et al.1993; Gamoran 1996; Hoffer 1998; Hoffer et al.1985 cited by Carbonaro & Covay, 2010). Thus, changes in the Catholic and public sectors have not eliminated the Catholic advantage in high school achievement; it is now observable over a 20-year period beginning in the 1980s through the early 2000s. Sector differences in Educational Longitudinal Studies (ELS) are substantially smaller than those found in analyses of HS&B” (p.176). Regardless, a decade of standards-based reform has not eliminated the gap in achievement growth among public and private high schools.

Second, despite standards-based reforms in the public sector during the 1990s, private school students were still taking more advanced math courses than their public-school counterparts. Perhaps more importantly, public school students were still less likely than private-secular and Catholic school students to enroll in advanced math courses even after controlling for family background characteristics and prior achievement. Thus, it appears that otherwise similar students are exposed to substantially different learning opportunities in public and private schools. Carbonaro & Covay (2010) maintains that “Sector differences in course taking were substantively meaningful: Our findings show that private school students were more likely to go much further in the math curriculum than their public-school counterparts” (p. 177). This is especially important given that math course taking in high school is an important predictor of college enrollment and completion (Adelman 1999 cited by Carbonaro & Covay, 2010). Although important it is difficult to find gains in York’s math and reading in the standardized testing without advancing students to advanced math, as indicated by York City School Statistics.

Finally, consistent with prior research of school sectors, most of the Catholic and private-secular school advantage in achievement was explained by differences in course taking among students. This finding is largely consistent with other studies that suggest that private school students benefit from exposure to a more rigorous academic curriculum than their counterparts in public school (Bryk et al. 1993; Hoffer et al. 1985 cited by Carbonaro & Covay, 2010, p. 177). These analyses also produced some important differences with prior research on school sector and achievement. Unlike prior studies of school sector, they examined sector differences in both gain scores and specific math skills; arguing that simply focusing on gains scores provided an overly narrow view of sector differences in achievement (Carbonaro & Covay, 2010).

Carbonaro & Covay hypothesized that since standards-based reforms targeted students in the lower half of the achievement distribution, sector differences in math skills would be largest for more advanced skills. The study’s findings supported this hypothesis and produced findings sector differences in those students taking advanced course paid substantial dividends for students’ higher level math skills. This is especially important to recognize since students with weak math skills are more likely to take remedial courses when in college, which increases their risk of leaving postsecondary education (Adelman 2004 cited in Carbonaro & Covay, 2010).

However, it is important to note that very few students in public or private schools reached proficiency in the highest level of math skills. Thus, all schools, regardless of sector, need to provide additional resources to help students at the high end of the achievement distribution master the most challenging parts of the math curriculum. Although the curriculum is critical for challenging the masses, it is equally important to provide the resources for the disadvantaged educational campus. The correlation between private, Catholic and Charter Schools is important to York’s future educational success, albeit Charter Schools were not the specific subject of studies provided by Carbonaro & Covay, they mention the charter school proposition as part of the overarching differences but statistical data specific to the charter system is not as abundant. They further contend that it is not a leap of faith to lump the three systems together as they are of similar characteristics (Carbonaro & Covay, 2010).

York has undergone an educational transformation in the past forty years from de-segregation in schools during the 1950’s and 1960’s to the advent of charter school systems within the York City School District According to Simpson (2011) Crispus Attucks provided the first charter school in York City (Simpson, personal conversation, 2011). York’s Educational system has been the topic of reports due to a decline in resources and educational opportunities preceding the riots of 1969 and since, for example the York Human Rights Commission held numerous hearings and analysis, the Charrette at York, (1970), post-riot healing process and York Counts, 2009 has established this as one of the top three issues to address in the region (DeBord, 2011). What does persist as a disruptive issue for providing an educational environment is the disciplinary problems and dropout rates (Kalish, 2000, Simpson, 2011, DeBord, 2011) which is indicative of poverty and disciplinary issues in York City (Figure 7.8.4-7.8.5 school system statistics).

Drop Out Rates: 2005-06 York City Schools (grades 7-12) 4.6% vs. York Co. avg 1.9%; City rate increased from 4.0% the previous 2 yrs; Discipline Incidents: 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 Hannah Penn MS 3144 5519 5961 Edgar Fahs MS 5325 5495 4519 Wm Penn HS 8799 5231 6882 Despite several youth being removed from the mainstream classroom to alternative schools, placement, or some form of incarceration, the disciplinary problems continue to plague the district. Graduation Rate: 2005-06= 58.7%; 2006-07 = 63% Free / Reduced Lunch 2006-07: 88.5% Elementary Schools, 87.9% Middle Schools, 79.2% High School.

Figure \(\PageIndex{4}\): School District Drop Out Rates

York City with the highest minority population. 2002-2003 Central York; Dallastown; Dover Area; Eastern York; Hanover; Northeastern; No. Yk.Co.; .Red Lion; South Eastern; South West’n; So. Yk .Co.; Spring Grove; West Shore; West York; York City; York. Suburb 14.2% 5.9 4.0 4.5 9.2 3.1 3.4 2.5 3.4 3.7 2.4 3.0 6.4 8.8 73.0 12.3 2004-2005 16.0% 8.0 5.3 5.0 10.7 6.5 3.1 3.7 3.1 5.4 3.1 3.5 7.8 12.2 80.0 14.6 2006-2007 16.8% 11.7 7.6 5.2 16.2 10.8 5.4 5.4 3.8 6.8 4.0 5.2 10.0 16.1 81.8 15.4 Percentage of minority students. (Pennsylvania Department of Education, Public Enrollment by County, LEA, Race, and Grade, http://www.pde.state.pa.us/k12statis.../cwp/view.asp?).

Figure \(\PageIndex{5}\): School District Minority Breakdowns in York County

High school dropouts are three and one-half times more likely than high school graduates to be arrested, and over eight times more likely to be in jail or prison. Across the country, 68 percent of state prison inmates do not have a high school diploma. While staying in school even one year longer reduces the likelihood that a youngster will turn to crime, graduating from high school has a dramatic impact (Lochner, & Moretti, 2004). Although York’s progress has been observed dealing with segregation issues over the past forty years the decline in quality education continues to haunt the city. This singular issue has impacted housing, flight from the city, crime and poverty (Simpson, Brenner, DeBord & Conover, personal conversation, 2011).