Changing the culture of welfare offices requires difficult, multi-level changes. Staff must be educated to understand shifts in the basic mission of the welfare system, specific policy changes, and their role in carrying out both sets of changes. Recipients must understand the significance of the changes. And the community must be apprised as well, especially if community support for the reforms is to be forthcoming. Flexibility is important.
Current reforms go far beyond previous efforts.
They require fundamental shifts in program goals and operation and in expected outreach. To succeed at these reforms, states must have flexibility to revise their programs significantly in the light of experience. An initial planning process helps bring about orderly change. The five demonstration projects all required a major redesign of existing automated systems and technical support to implement the reforms. Such redesign typically took a year or more to accomplish.