Tribes Receive Small Slice of Work to Welfare Pie Story-Date: 03:19 p.m. PST Monday , May 4, 1998 ------------------------------------------------------------ Tribes Receive Small Slice of Work to Welfare Pie By Emmett O'Connell, Indian Country Today, Rapid City, S.D. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News KAMILCHE, Wash.--May 4--Only one percent of the $30 billion that was appropriated last year by Congress in the lauded Welfare to Work Bill went to benefit tribes according to Michael Peters, the executive director of the South Puget Sound Intertribal Planning Agency. SPIPA provides technical and planning services to the Skokomish, Squaxin Island, Chehalis, Shoalwater and Nisqually tribes in the South Sound area. Of the 7,000 members that agency serves, Mr. Peters estimates that from 1,200 to 1,500 are either unemployed or underemployed. This past February, usually a time of high unemployment because of the low number of seasonal jobs available, Thurston County's unemployment rate dropped to 5.2percent. Western Washington has been seeing a large population and economic boon, but the effect hasn't reached rural and tribal areas, Mr. Peters said. The record population increase in the counties that he serves -- Mason levels rose 29 percent and Thurston rose 24 percent last year -- was centered in urban areas, he said. According to an article in the Tacoma News Tribune, the population increase would effect mostly the development of commercial and industrial centers. "I'm disappointed that these numbers (showing less economic growth in the tribes) weren't taken into account," he said. "Where is the need?" SPIPA received a $97,692 grant from the Department of Labor. It is one of the first awards of the $15 million allotted to only 26 Native American governments or agencies in the U.S. The agency will hire an employment counselor/job developer. Mr. Peters said that the new employee will offer "personal direct service" to the clients of the agency. Making connections with the business community and using them to find employment opportunities for clients will be the primary goal of the counselor. The counselor will offer employment not only within the tribes but in the surrounding communities. For example, said Mr. Peters, four out of the five tribes the agency serves have casinos, but "not everybody wants to work in a casino. They offer only entry level and middle level employment." Eight months after signing the package President Clinton gave a directive to federal agencies to take part in the new age of welfare by hiring qualified people off the welfare rolls. In the same line, SPIPA will take part in supplying jobs to its clients. Some of the grant money will go toward funding subsidized employment -- a period of time when part of a worker's salary is picked up by the agency. Mr. Peters estimates that this period will cover the time that it takes the employer to train a client. But while employment isn't guaranteed after funding runs out, he said it is the program's intent. Additional costs of employment services, such as resume building, child care and transportation will also be funded. SPIPA recently re-opened the application deadline for the position because they didn't receive the turnout they expected. "We are looking for a bigger applicant pool, so we're going to let it run," he said. ----- Visit Indian Country Today on the World Wide Web at http://www.indiancountry.com/ ----- (c) 1998, Indian Country Today, Rapid City, S.D. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. ------------------------------------------------------------