FAMILIES GET `CLEAN START' OFF WELFARE

Lynn Van Matre, Tribune Staff WriterCHICAGO TRIBUNE

Five years ago, Karen Quigley was a divorced mom with poor parenting skills, shaky self-confidence and a checkered work history of dead-end jobs, which paid so little the family had to get by on food stamps and subsidized housing.

Today, Quigley works full time as office services coordinator for an Oak Brook consulting firm. She serves proudly as a role model for her two daughters and looks forward to owning a home soon.

"I'm a new person," Quigley said. "My whole value system has changed. I used to think in terms of getting help from this or that government agency, getting something for nothing. Then I realized that I had to work for what I wanted."

For Quigley, 42, one thing has made the difference between self-pity and self-empowerment: the Family Self-Sufficiency program. It's a long-term, one-on-one life-skills project for low-income families administered by the DuPage County Department of Human Services. The department runs the program in cooperation with the DuPage County Housing Authority, Metropolitan Family Services DuPage, YWCA-DuPage District and the Job Training Partnership Act/Illinois Employment Training Center.

Under the program, known as FSS, case managers work with families for up to five years on a wide range of issues. Not all its stories have such happy endings, but the program has been so successful that County Board members recently raised its annual budget by 50 percent--from $200,000 to $300,000--and there are plans to use it as a model for several other county programs.

Human resources workers also see the program as a vital part of intensified efforts to nudge families on public assistance toward self-sufficiency in the wake of welfare reform. About 1,600 DuPage families with children under 6 will lose government subsidies within the next two years, said Joan Rickard, the program's principal case manager.

Said Jack Tenison, DuPage County's human resources director, "A lot of times with social services programs, you hear only anecdotal things about what has been accomplished, but with FSS, we have statistics showing the program is quite effective in moving people off welfare."

Since the program began in 1992, for example, nine families have become homeowners; 55 families have found full-time employment and have not needed public assistance for a year or more; 35 individuals have earned GEDs or vocational certificates; and 16 have earned college degrees. Of the 150 or so families participating in the program as of last year, 85 percent of the adults had found part-time or full-time work, and nearly 70 percent of the families that were receiving public aid when they entered the program no longer required cash assistance.

"People think that if you're poor, you must be lazy," Quigley said. "It makes me so mad when people say, `There are lots of jobs out there.' But those jobs pay only $5 or $6 an hour, and you can't live on that.

"Most poor people aren't lazy, they're scared," Quigley said. "Some of us never learned the life skills we needed to handle our problems."

Quigley, a lifelong Addison resident and a high school honors student, said that her "downward spiral" began after her early marriage broke up.

Frustrated and angry when the jobs she got did not bring in enough to support her daughters, Quigley said she began using cocaine and "hung out with losers." In 1993, while on a waiting list for subsidized housing, she learned of Family Self-Sufficiency.

"I said `yes' right away when they asked if I wanted to participate," said Quigley, who stopped using drugs around the time she entered the program. "Anybody who would think twice about getting into this program has got to be crazy. How often do you have a chance to change your whole life in five years?"

For whatever reason, however, some families are unwilling or unable to make the commitment. Only 60 percent of low-income individuals who express initial interest in the program complete the application process, which involves several introductory workshops, Rickard said.

"The energy and motivation have to come from the clients," Rickard said. "They have to be willing to take the necessary steps. If they aren't, there isn't much we can do."

The typical client is a single mother in her early 30s, Rickard said, though they have ranged from 20 to 48. About 46 percent are African-American, 42 percent Caucasian, 7 percent Hispanic and 3 percent Asian, Rickard said. A typical family of four might be receiving about $414 monthly in Temporary Aid to Needy Families, Rickard said.

After being accepted, participants are assigned a case manager, who will work with them for up to five years, helping them set personal and professional goals and develop the skills needed to take control of their lives.

"I don't want to run someone's life, but I have the experience to know what works," said Heidi Meyer, Quigley's case manager. "If someone does not have their GED, for example, I would direct them to a GED program. If they want to have a better relationship with their children, we talk about how they could do that."

Meyer, who handles as many as 30 or 40 cases at a time, also offers guidance and referrals on everything from family planning to proper nutrition to appropriate clothes for a job interview. One of the biggest challenges, she said, is developing a relationship of trust between herself and a client.

"In the beginning, I had trouble opening up to my case worker and talking about my problems," Quigley said. "But she wasn't there to judge; she was there to help me."

Recently, Quigley had a chance to help the program when her employer, CSC Consulting, asked for suggestions for its annual charitable donations. Quigley suggested Family Self-Sufficiency, and it was one of three charities to get a $3,000 check from the computer systems consulting firm.

"We like to give to organizations that our employees are actively involved in, and what impressed us about FSS was that the program is focused on helping people to help themselves," said CSC managing partner Dan Karpiak.

"When I finish this program, I'll have a clean start, a good job, a great family and a sense of pride," said Quigley, who is scheduled to "graduate" from the program in June. "It feels good."