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1994.10.19 :  New York Welfare Demonstration

Contact:  Michael Kharfen     (202) 401-9215
Wednesday, Oct. 19, 1994

 
            HHS APPROVES NEW YORK WELFARE DEMONSTRATION

     HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala today approved "A Jobs First
Strategy," a welfare demonstration project in the state of New York. 
The project gives applicants alternatives to welfare, provides new
incentives for recipients to find work and encourages the formation
and preservation of two-parent families.

     "This project will direct new welfare applicants to employment
from the beginning of the application process and offer them support
other than welfare," said Shalala.  "Overall, this bold proposal
reinforces the values of work and responsibility, and I am pleased
to approve it today."

     The demonstration allows applicants otherwise eligible for Aid
to Families with Dependent Children the option to receive child care
or Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training program services in
place of AFDC.  JOBS services may include education, on-the-job
training and work experience.  The program will also provide AFDC
applicants one-time cash assistance or other services necessary to
remedy a temporary emergency which has resulted, or may result, in
job loss or impoverishment.

     "This demonstration will test a number of promising techniques
to give applicants an alternative to welfare.  This demonstration
also sends the right message:  that children should have the support
of two parents," said Mary Jo Bane, assistant secretary for children
and families.  

     The demonstration encourages family formation and stability by
allowing children in AFDC families to receive AFDC for up to two
years after a caretaker parent marries and the new spouse's income
makes the family ineligible, so long as the household's income does
not exceed 150 percent of the federal poverty guidelines.

     It extends to a full year transitional child care benefits for
employed recipients who leave the rolls because of child support
payments.  In addition, clients will be encouraged to develop their
own business enterprises by increasing the allowable limits on their
resources and the value of a vehicle.  

     The demonstration will be implemented in six sites in four
counties (Broome, Onondaga, Erie, and up to three sites in
Brooklyn), and will operate for five years.  It will include a
rigorous evaluation.
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