In the News
Several local groups are seeking to harness millions of dollars in federal funding to ease what can be nightmarish commutes for welfare recipients who have gone back to work.
"There is tons of money available to deal with transportation," said Andrew Sanchez, a staff member with the Bronx-based Women’s Housing and Economic Development Corporation (WHEDCO). "You train somebody and you put them in a job, and three months down the line they start having trouble getting to work. It is just another problem that is emerging."
Last June, the federal government signed a transportation act that will allocate $150 million annually to handle job access issues. Transportation groups and social service agencies like WHEDCO are eyeing that money to overcome problems emerging in low-income communities.
A month ago, WHEDCO helped Sarah Huadgi, 46, get a job as a cook at a nursing home in Criston, N.J.
Every morning at 6:30 a.m., with usually nothing more than a cup of tea in her stomach, Huadgi drags herself to the subway station near her Highbridge apartment to catch the 4 train. She switches to the D train and then transfers to the A or C train downtown to the Port Authority bus terminal. Then she takes a 45-minute bus ride to Criston. She ends with a 10-block walk, arriving at work between 9:30 and 10 a.m. Her six hours of daily travel costs her more than $150 in fares each month.
The commuting problems are "something to watch over the next six years," said Sanchez. "It is a welfare issue that is not a main priority right now, but I suspect it will become one in the next couple of years, especially when there is the mass exodus off of welfare rolls."
As Huadgi has found, jobs are often far away, outside the city in remote corners of Westchester, Long Island or New Jersey. Some have irregular hours and are not easily accessed by public transit. Traveling expenses can break an already stretched budget.
Even so, when WHEDCO interviewed 24 of its welfare clients, the vast majority said they’d be glad to take a job as far away as Westchester County or New Jersey or at one of the three regional airports. Three-quarters also said they could not afford to buy discounted monthly MetroCard passes because they cost too much money to lay down at once.
WHEDCO wants to expand its initial survey to include 500 welfare recipients and groups in other boroughs that serve the welfare community. Sanchez said WHEDCO will use the findings to help agencies working on the commuting problems understand where the needs are the greatest.
Two weeks ago, WHEDCO and the Statewide Emergency Network for Social and Economic Security held a forum at the Borough President’s office on transportation barriers for welfare-to-work participants. Local leaders spoke of the need for help with the cost of fares, increased off-hour service and more routes to outlying areas. Participants suggested vanpools, reduced-rate MetroCards, creative cab services and infrastructure improvements. As a result of the meeting, a coalition is forming to serve as a watchdog and help planners alleviate transportation obstacles.
Several members of the informal group joined in another recent planning meeting hosted by the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council, which is working on a regional, federally funded plan to address many of the same issues. Local groups interested in receiving federal grants have to submit their applications to the council, which makes nominations to the federal government.
In the meantime, Huadgi has already started using her one weekday off to look for a job closer to home. She continues to make the long commute to New Jersey for her $10.50-an-hour job.
"I don’t see many jobs closer," she said. And that’s made life difficult. "I don’t have time to myself. I can’t finish my laundry, do the shopping. It’s really not easy."