The county does not know what becomes of workfare participants after they leave Home Relief.

The news came from an agency official running the orientation session for workfare participants one morning in April 1999.

Many experienced workfare participants said conditions used to be worse.

The Parks Department said 17 percent of its workfare participants leave every two weeks.

A similar number of workfare participants are already employed by the hospitals, he noted.

Put workfare participants through a training program to which they can bring their children.

Advocates for workfare participants said city officials did not react appropriately given the heat.

Several officials also said their organizations gave workfare participants valuable training and supervision.

A community group and a public employees' union yesterday began trying to enroll 10,000 workfare participants in an organization to improve working conditions, officials said.

Most states would solve the problem by paying workfare participants less than the minimum wage.