(L-to-R) Dr. Bob Wineburg, UNCG social work professor; Linda Hembry, National Community Action Partnership; Rev. Odell Cleveland, president and CEO of WRLP

The Welfare Reform Liaison Project (WRLP), founded with the assistance of UNCG social work professor Bob Wineburg, is dedicated to helping disadvantaged individuals move toward self-sufficiency through job training and placement. But over the years, the faith-based nonprofit has assumed another important role: Economic engine.

Since its launch in 1997, the organization has helped put about 1,000 people to work with participants’ cumulative earnings surpassing $9 million. Even in the midst of the current economic downturn, the nonprofit has helped more than 80 people find permanent work this year.

WRLP has a proven track record of helping the jobless — many of whom are or have recently been homeless and have a limited skill set — land entry-level jobs. Clients are trained in a variety of trades, from video production and the digitization of paper files to the re-purposing of used mattresses and retail operations.

“There is a pent-up demand — particularly with small and medium sized businesses — for well trained, reliable workers,” Wineburg said. “What our success has been is we go seek out those needs like a hunter, and when we find them, we go to the people and say, ‘We can train your workers for you.’ In 14 years, we’ve gotten such good results with the workers we’ve put out, people come to us and hire our people.”

Much is made in economic circles of job opportunities that pay high wages, but Wineburg says jobs that have more modest starting salaries shouldn’t be discounted. “We consider it economic development if you go from earning $0 an hour to $10 an hour.”

In addition, the WRLP’s focus on job training and employment results in less strain on social service and governmental agencies. “Everybody wins,” Wineburg added. “People win, society wins and businesses win.”

WRLP was founded by the Rev. Odell Cleveland, following discussions and guidance from Wineburg, the Jefferson Pilot Excellence Professor of Social Work in the UNCG School of Health and Human Sciences. Cleveland serves as the nonprofit’s president and CEO. The thesis for Cleveland’s master’s in divinity degree, the organization’s gensis, was on the response of the black church to the 1996 Welfare Reform Act and a prescriptive guide to help move women from welfare to work. Cleveland was encouraged by Bishop George Brooks, pastor of Mt. Zion Baptist Church, to put his ideas into practice. Cleveland had the business experience to make the project successful and seed funding support from Mt. Zion Baptist Church.  What he lacked was access to the people who most needed his help and experience with grant writing and data collection, skills Wineburg supplied.

The pair teamed up last year to write a book, “Pracademics and Community Change” (256 pages, Lyceum Press), about their decade-plus collaboration on the WRLP. The book’s title is a marriage of the terms “practitioners” and “academics,” and describes not only Wineburg and Cleveland’s backgrounds but also their approach to building the grassroots organization.

The success of the WRLP hasn’t gone without notice. Recently, an official from the National Community Action Partnership spent time with WRLP leaders, gleaning information to write a case study about the organization and its model of success. The case study will be provided to the 900-plus nonprofits nationwide that support the partnership.

Leaders at WRLP have also hosted community advocates and dignitaries from across the United States and several countries, sharing the strategies that have helped make WRLP a vital part of the Greensboro community.

UNCG’s connection to the WRLP highlights the institution’s ability to make a positive economic impact through one of its historical academic strengths. “Everything that we try to do in social work has some connection to economic development,” Wineburg said. “What we’re trying to do is get people to be self sufficient. We’re brokers of self sufficiency.”

It also shows the impact of town/gown partnerships, said Jerry McGuire, UNCG’s associate vice chancellor for economic development. “WRLP is a perfect example of how local economic growth can result from UNCG’s partnering with the community to address certain social issues,” he said. “We have been engaging the community in various ways for many years, but are just now beginning to measure the full effects and recognize the mutual benefits.”