Arkansas and Tennessee have developed mentoring programs to provide important emotional support and positive reinforcement for those who have recently entered the workforce. Mentors provide guidance with time management issues, balancing priorities and commitments at work and home, financial budgeting and planning, professional relationships and work ethics. Tennessee and Maryland have set-up hotlines for newly employed recipients. Hot line operators can make service referrals or act as mediators between employee and employer. Washington developed cash bonuses for caseworkers who have helped recipients find high wage jobs with good benefits.
Graduated bonuses are available if recipients stay in jobs over time.
Arizona offers vocational and occupational training for former recipients who are employed. This training is intended to help them acquire more valuable job skills in an effort to maintain their current position or obtaining better jobs. Washington State has launched a pilot program in the Seattle area called Project Access . The program extends telephone service to people who do not have a phone, providing free community service voice mail to DSHS clients. Community sites that have volunteered to host Project Access telephones provide free local telephone service.