IRON MOUNTAIN – A Rural Poverty Initiative proposed by the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families (DCF) would assist residents of rural areas with the challenges they face while looking for work.

“Most anti-poverty programs do not take into account the unique characteristics of rural areas,” Joe Scialfa, DCF communications director, told The Daily News.

The idea that poverty is mostly an urban issue is a misperception, Scialfa explained, partly because urban areas have more concentrated pockets of poverty and advocates for the poor in urban areas are often better at making the needs of their community heard by decision-makers.

Poverty in rural areas, however, is often spread out and less visible or obvious to the general public, he said.

Scialfa noted that the main issue facing rural poor is underemployment, not unemployment. He also discussed demographic differences between urban and rural poor.

“A higher percentage of rural residents struggling with poverty are married, and many own their homes and have access to a car, so from the outside it appears as if they are doing fine,” he said.

DCF Secretary Eloise Anderson has called the plight of the rural poor “one of the most misunderstood issues in Wisconsin,” and said the most recent data shows that a higher percentage of people in rural portions of the state are in poverty than those in urban centers.

In many rural areas the poverty level as of 2013 was between sixteen and eighteen percent, compared to the state average of 12 percent, with one rural county having a 39 percent poverty rate, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

“Yet, when crafting programs to help alleviate poverty, almost no effort has been made to design strategies that account for the unique obstacles that rural communities face,” Anderson wrote in an article outlining the need for the initiative.

One of the reasons cited by Anderson that anti-poverty programs have not adapted to the needs of the rural poor is a misperception among policy makers that, due to relatively affordable housing, rural residents don’t need as much money to be financially secure.

The Rural Poverty Initiative would develop a transitional jobs program through public/private partnerships to assist those unemployed long-term and those with the highest barriers to employment in the 16 counties with the highest percentage of rural residents in poverty, Scialfa said.

The initiative would look for community businesses that are in need of more employees to expand or diversify their operation, but hesitant to take the risk, he said.

Scialfa explained that if an employer agreed to take a program participant for up to six months, DCF would pay the employer up to minimum wage, and the participant would receive mentoring, training, a resume reference, and “a foot in the door.”

The participant would be guaranteed at least minimum wage, however, the employer would not be locked into a specific wage by DCF, he added.

At the end of the job subsidy, the business could choose to hire the initiative participant, or they could be transitioned to employment outside of the business.

Gov. Scott Walker has worked with DCF on the plan, and portions of his proposed 2015-17 budget address obstacles faced by rural communities, such as limited access to broadband and a need for reliable transportation and infrastructure.

In addition, his proposed budget includes $1 million in funding for the initiative in the first and $2 million in the second year.

Scialfa said the funding must be approved for the Rural Poverty Initiative to become a reality, though there has been a lot of support for the program in the Wisconsin legislature.

After the approval of funding, DCF would begin implementing the initiative as quickly as possible, possibly by the end of 2015, according to Scialfa.

He said that during the pilot program, many participants had indicated they “had given up” after being repeatedly turned down by potential employers due to a lack of experience.

After the pilot program ended, most participants transitioned outside of the business, though many others were hired on where they had started, he noted.

Scialfa stated that getting small and start-up businesses to participate would be just as important as signing up bigger companies, as they are vital to the health of a local economy.

He gave the example of a three- or four-employee business in need of one more worker in order to expand, and noted that the atmosphere of a smaller business provides opportunities for hands-on training and mentoring.

Scialfa characterized the initiative as a win-win-win, with businesses being able to expand their workforce without taking on additional risk, participants earning a paycheck and a feeling of self-worth, and communities growing stronger as their local economies improve.

Eligibility criteria for the transitional jobs program would be contingent upon funding, though DCF would most likely target parents, custodial and non-custodial, in order to focus on children and their families.

Increased opportunities for non-custodial parents are important because the parent is usually more engaged with their child if employed, as child support and other issues can lead to estrangement, Scialfa said.

“What is clear,” Anderson wrote, “is that if a serious effort is not made to tackle the issue of rural poverty, many Wisconsin families will remain in tenuous financial situations, unable to reach their full potential.”

Evan Reid’s e-mail address is ereid@ironmountaindailynews.com.