In the job centers, we're teaching people how to fish. But while New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani proudly touts the conversion of welfare offices into job centers, he declines to say how many people actually leave those with jobs. Advocates for the poor say the whole naming process sounds suspiciously like sloganeering that will appeal to voters but help few welfare recipients find work. I don't think so. It's a lot easier to change a name than to create jobs for people.
City officials insist, however, that finding jobs for the poor is still the program's primary goal.
They vow it will be emphasized as New York transforms all 31 of its welfare offices into job centers over the next year. The new signs and letterhead are already on order. Gary Weeks, who headed the name change committee for the American Public Welfare Association, thinks not. He found little nostalgia among members who wanted a new look to reflect the growing importance of health services along with the shift in welfare thinking. No one was on a soapbox for keeping the terminology.