In 1998, the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation in the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) initiated a project on rural welfare to work strategies. Competitive grants were awarded to ten states to: increase knowledge about strategies currently used in rural areas, develop new strategies and approaches to be tested, and assist in designing appropriate research questions and methods to evaluate alternative strategies for welfare reform in low-income rural communities.

Matters that the states are addressing include: 1) Ways that the rural TANF population differs from the nonrural TANF population in terms of employability, access to affordable and quality child care, special circumstances, and service needs. 2) The best strategies, policies, and programs to overcome challenges that affect TANF participants and children in rural, low-income families. 3) The most effective approaches to implement and test programs that will produce useful information for rural welfare to work strategies. (author abstract)

Now more than ever, the path to self-sufficiency for most welfare recipients involves finding and keeping a job. The recently enacted welfare law, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996, emphasizes the need for individuals to take personal responsibility in their move toward self-sufficiency. The law underscores the importance of work and requires most able-bodied individuals to find some type of work within two years after they start collecting welfare. For welfare recipients, the time limits that the new law imposes significantly raise the stakes of not being employed. As the new law is implemented, more individuals who are less job ready will be entering the labor market. Many of these individuals, unused to the world of work, will be in danger of losing their jobs. While time limits may motivate some to hold onto their jobs, many are likely to face situations that make it hard for them to do so. Although welfare recipients must try to deal with these challenges, external assistance and support can help them overcome some of these barriers. States and other local agencies may be able to provide support that makes individuals’ transition from welfare to work smoother and more successful. (author abstract)

One of the most important themes of today’s welfare debate is the goal of moving mothers from welfare to work. The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) includes strong incentives for state agencies to move recipients into the labor force. State and local policymakers now express significant interest in the issue of job retention and in designing programs to facilitate job retention or rapid reemployment. Anticipating this need, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services contracted with Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. to provide program operators and policymakers with useful information on issues related to labor force attachment for welfare recipients. In particular, ACF had two broad goals for this study: (1) to provide some benchmarks regarding the employment patterns of welfare recipients who find jobs and the factors associated with job loss or job retention; and (2) to shed light on the feasibility of targeting resources to those who are most likely to have long periods of nonemployment. This report uses national data to examine the employment experiences of welfare recipients who find jobs. (author abstract)

The PESD evaluation had three main objectives: (1) to better understand and characterize the experiences of individuals after they become employed and to examine the factors contributing to job loss or job stability, (2) to examine the feasibility of providing services to newly employed welfare recipients and to study issues related to service delivery, and (3) to determine whether postemployment services can help individuals keep their jobs longer or regain employment more quickly after job loss. This report focuses on the third objective and provides an update of our initial findings of the programs’ effectiveness in promoting employment and reducing welfare dependency. In particular, this report examines the effectiveness of the PESD programs in increasing employment and reducing welfare dependency over a two-year period, using administrative records data on program enrollees. (author abstract)

Although many public assistance recipients suffer from depression, few receive consistent treatment. This report on a telephonic care management program in Rhode Island that tried to encourage depressed parents who were receiving Medicaid to seek treatment from a mental health professional presents results through 18 months –– six months following a one-year intervention. Called “Working toward Wellness,” the program represents one of four strategies being studied in the Enhanced Services for the Hard-to-Employ Demonstration and Evaluation to improve employment for low-income parents who face serious barriers to employment. The project is sponsored by the Administration for Children and Families and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, with additional funding from the Department of Labor. In Working toward Wellness, master’s-level clinicians (“care managers”) telephoned the study participants in the program group to encourage them to seek treatment, to make sure that they were complying with treatment, and to provide telephonic counseling. The effects of the program are being studied by examining 499 depressed Medicaid recipients with children, who were randomly assigned to the program group or the control group from November 2004 to October 2006. Participants were given a list of mental health professionals in the community from whom they could receive treatment. (author abstract) 

Although many public assistance recipients suffer from depression, few receive consistent treatment. This report presents results through six months of a one-year telephonic care management program in Rhode Island that tried to encourage depressed parents who were receiving Medicaid to seek treatment from a mental health professional. The program, called “Working toward Wellness,” represents one of four strategies being studied in the Enhanced Services for the Hard-to-Employ Demonstration and Evaluation to improve employment for low-income parents who face serious barriers to employment. The project is sponsored by the Administration for Children and Families and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, with additional funding from the Department of Labor. In Working toward Wellness, master’s-level clinicians (“care managers”) called the study participants in the program group to encourage them to seek treatment, to make sure that they were complying with treatment, and to provide telephonic counseling. The effects of the program are being studied by examining 499 depressed Medicaid recipients with children, who were randomly assigned to the program group or the control group from November 2004 to October 2006. Participants were given a list of mental health professionals in the community from whom they could receive treatment. (author abstract)

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996 brought about sweeping changes in the funding structure for the nation’s cash assistance program. Among these changes was the transformation of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, rooted in an effort to shift power from the federal government to states. To encourage autonomy and innovation, a mandate was included in the federal welfare reform legislation to provide TANF block grant funds to the states, allowing greater program flexibility in spending and other decisions. Now, more than a decade after the passage of the landmark legislation, little is known about how a noteworthy portion—roughly 15 percent—of these TANF funds is used. The purpose of this study, conducted by Mathematica Policy Research on behalf of the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families (ACF), is to understand how states are spending federal TANF funds reported as “Other” and “Authorized Under Prior Law” (AUPL) on the ACF-196 federal reporting form and, based on findings and feedback from states, to provide recommendations for improving federal reporting. Based on the definitions in the instructions for completing the ACF-196 form, we chose to focus on three categories: 1. Assistance AUPL. These expenditures were previously authorized under AFDC and cover expenses for services such as juvenile justice or state foster care. 2. Nonassistance AUPL. These expenditures were previously authorized under AFDC but do not fulfill the purposes of TANF and do not meet the federal definition of assistance. 3. Nonassistance “other” (line 6). These expenditures do not meet the definition of assistance and do not fit into any of the 13 prescribed categories under line 6. “Other” expenditures must fulfill at least one of the four purposes of TANF (provide assistance for needy families; promote job preparation, work, and marriage; prevent and reduce out-of-wedlock pregnancies; and encourage the formation and maintenance of two-parent families).(author abstract)