A change to a state welfare reform program will require participants to work to continue receiving checks and has a local contractor scrambling to find open positions for the new workers.
An update to the Families First program will go into effect Sunday, requiring able-bodied welfare recipients to work at least 30 hours per week to receive financial assistance. Currently, more than 300 Maury County residents in the program will need to find local jobs, said David Fremouw, WorkForce Essentials Inc. job developer facilitator.
“We’re looking for any community-based programs that will give these people the opportunity to earn their required hours,” he said. “We don’t have enough employers to automatically give them those hours.”
There are 64,234 families statewide in the Families First program. Maury County has 584 families receiving assistance, 377 of which have an active work plan with program assistants and still need employment. The average cash benefit for participating families in Tennessee is $167.09 per month. Many families in the program consist of a single mother with children, Fremouw said.
WorkForce Essentials Inc. is a contractor for the Families First program in 34 counties, including Maury. The program is operated statewide by the Tennessee Department of Human Services.
Families First is funded by a federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families block grant of nearly $200 million. The state had a 10-year waiver from adopting federal TANF regulations, allowing the department to customize a more education-oriented program. The waiver expires June 30.
“Now, there are going to be a lot more restrictions, less exemptions and stricter federal penalties if our state work rate is too low,” said Michelle Mowery Johnson, director of communications for TDHS. “Ten years ago, we weren’t ready for the federal system because of education problems. We must adhere to this federal system, so we really need local assistance.”
If jobs are not found and Tennessee does not meet the federal Work Participation Rate of 50 percent, a nearly $20-million penalty could be issued to the state. Half of the penalty would come from state money to reimburse the lost federal funds. Subsequent years in violation could result in a maximum $40-million state fine.
Fremouw has contacted local officials to inform them of the program changes and ask for their help in finding community service jobs for welfare recipients.
“We want employers to understand that these people can bring something to the table,” he said. “They aren’t just a warm body taking up space on the payroll and they need jobs now.”
Currently, people participating in the Families First program are eligible for financial assistance for 18 months. Enrollees are then required to leave the program for the next three months. Lifetime assistance could be given for longer than the federal limit of 60 months with exemptions, such as people over 65 years old, people with newborn children and those who are physically disabled.
The program change restricts lifetime assistance to 60 months for all Families First enrollees, except for child-only cases. The program will also continuously serve recipients. Exemptions regarding physical disabilities are still available, but federal specifications have been established, Johnson said.
Welfare recipients must accumulate 20 hours of job-related activities per week, with the opportunity to receive up to 10 hours per week of educational training.
“You can’t just go to school for 30 hours per week like before,” Johnson said. “The federal requirements are very specific about what is work and what is not.”
The program update is designed to make people want to get back to work and save their assistance allocation for an emergency, Fremouw said.
Full text available at the Daily Herald
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