By Debra Bradley Ruder

Gazette Staff

The recently enacted welfare "reforms" will likely hurt poor families through cuts in benefits and services and through increased competition for low-wage jobs, predicts Mary Jo Bane, professor of public policy at the Kennedy School of Government.

The revisions, which give greater control to the states, represent "the most dramatic change in social policy in this country in a very long time," said Bane. "I am very, very worried" about its impact on children, families, and communities -- and particularly on immigrants.

Bane, a former U.S. assistant secretary of Health and Human Services, made her comments at a forum on welfare reform and public service, held April 22 in the Science Center. About 40 people attended, many of whom contributed to a lively discussion.

The event was the first in a series of forums sponsored by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Standing Committee on Public Service. It was moderated by Professor Theda Skocpol and organized by Dean Harry R. Lewis and Assistant Dean Judith Kidd and two undergraduates, Nicole Barry of CityStep and Michael Ma of the Phillips Brooks House Association.

Bane and other panelists underscored the importance of tutoring, mentoring, literacy, and other volunteer programs in helping people shoulder the welfare cuts.

Marshall Ganz, a Kennedy School instructor and a former farm worker organizer, urged student volunteers to be both compassionate toward those they serve and angry at the injustices in society. How much inequality is tolerable? he asked.

Donna Cabral, who coordinates Head Start programs in Somerville, urged volunteers to recognize the role of the family when working with children and to treat people with respect.

As a parent on welfare years ago, Cabral was encouraged to become involved with her children's education, and that eventually led to a career helping other families.

"Somebody made me feel important," she recalled. "It only takes one person to make you feel that you're somebody."