ADVISORY/Work Credit for Welfare Recipients: National Urban League Institute for Opportunity & Equality to Deliver Testimony Before US Senate Subcommittee.

Business Editors & Government/Politics Writers

ADVISORY...

--(BUSINESS WIRE)

WHO:        Dr. William Spriggs, Director
            National Urban League Institute for Opportunity & Equality

WHAT:       On the heels of its statement against the passage of a
            welfare reform bill it calls "deafly silent on the need to
            improve program performance and address discriminatory
            practices in Temporary Assistance to Needy Families
            (TANF)," the National Urban League Institute for
            Opportunity and Equality will deliver testimony before the
            US Senate Subcommittee on Employment, Safety and Training
            which shows the detrimental impact the change from Aid to
            Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) to TANF is having
            on the college enrollment of women who receive welfare
            benefits.

            Under AFDC in 1996, recipients were 13 percent more likely
            to attend college than other poor women; with the change
            to TANF, poor women became 7 percent more likely to attend
            college, which is an overall 20 percent decline in the
            number of all recipients attending college.

            At the heart of the League's testimony lies the issue of
            granting welfare recipients work credit for attending
            college, legislation the organization strongly supports.

WHEN:       Thursday, May 16, 2002, 10:00 AM

WHERE:      Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room 430

CONTACT:    To receive copies of the League's testimony, or to arrange
            interviews, contact Leslie A. Dunbar at 212-558-5438 or
            [e-mail], or Max Smith at 212-558-5371 or
            [e-mail].