The Welfare Indicators Act of 1994 directed HHS to study the most useful statistics for tracking and predicting dependence on three means-tested cash and nutritional assistance programs: TANF, Food Stamps, and SSI. This annual report presents data on measures of welfare recipiency, dependency, and predictors of welfare dependence. Contributors to this report include Gil Crouse, Sarah Douglas, Susan Hauan, Julia Isaacs, and Kendall Swenson of the Office of Human Services Policy under the direction of Don Winstead, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Human Services Policy, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation.

The Welfare Indicators Act of 1994 requires the Department of Health and Human Services to prepare annual reports to Congress on indicators and predictors of welfare dependence. The 2003 Indicators of Welfare Dependence, the sixth annual report, provides welfare dependence indicators through 2000, reflecting changes that have taken place since enactment of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) in August 1996.

The National Healthy Marriage Academy, held January 8 and 9, 2003,  in Arlington, VA, provided an opportunity for representatives from several States to learn more about the Administration for Children and Families' (ACF) Healthy Marriage Initiative. The Academy afforded States an opportunity to hear presentations from nationally recognized speakers, researchers, and Federal policy makers, as well as from other States with successful Healthy Marriage Initiatives.

The Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network coordinated this workshop in conjunction with the Department of Labor, Employment and Training Division. The purpose of this two-day workshop was to assemble a collection of varying levels of expertise from all over the nation among the Individual Development Account (IDA) field to promote information sharing and fact finding. This workshop built on the successes of two previous IDA workshops that were hosted by the Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network during this past year. The program for this workshop was similar to the other two workshops with the additional component of focusing on the flexibility available in using Welfare to Work funds for IDA programs.