Arkansas Administrative Code › Agency 016 - DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES › Division 20 - Division of County Operations › Rule 016.20.00-015 - TEA Policy 3600-3625 - Welfare-to-Work Grant Program and Form DCO-1426 - Welfare-to-Work Eligibility Certification

Current through Register Vol. 49, No. 6, June, 2024
3600 Welfare-to-Work (WtW) Grant
			 Program
3601
Background and General Description of Program
On August 5, 1997, the President signed the Balanced Budget Act
				Of 1997. This legislation amended certain Temporary Assistance for Needy
				Families Program (TANF) provisions of the Social Security Act and authorized
				the Secretary of Labor to provide Welfare-to-Work (WtW) grants to States and
				local communities for employment assistance to move the hard-to-employ TANF
				welfare recipients into unsubsidized jobs and economic self-sufficiency. The
				amendments made by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 were further amended by the
				Welfare-to-Work and Child Support Amendments of 1999.
The objective of the WtW grant program is to provide additional
				resources to target hard-to-employ welfare clients and non-custodial parents
				within the State. The WtW legislation specifically includes certain
				non-custodial parents of TANF minor children. A non-custodial parent means a
				parent who is absent from the TEA child's household. (See TEA 3621 for more
				information regarding non-custodial parents.)
WtW activities must be coordinated with those undertaken
				through TANF. The WtW regulations provide the States and local governments with
				broad discretion to design and implement programs that meet the needs of the
				hard-to-employ clients in the individual States.
Although the WtW program is a part of the Arkansas TEA State
				Plan, the Employment Security Department (ESD) is the administrative agency for
				the WtW program. The State WtW grant funds are funneled through ESD from the
				Department of Labor to the local Workforce Investment Area. At the local level,
				the Workforce Investment Board (WIB) administers the funds. However, because
				the WtW program is specifically for TANF families, close coordination and
				collaboration between the County DHS office and the local WIB is necessary for
				a successful program. The procedures described in the following sections are
				intended to be used as a basis on which to build an effective and coordinated
				WtW process at the local level.
In addition to the WtW formula grants described above, local
				entities may apply to DOL for a WtW competitive grant. Although the target
				population for competitive grants is basically the same as for formula grants
				(i.e., TANF families or those at-risk of becoming TANF families), competitive
				grant programs can be somewhat more flexible than the formula grants.
				Currently, there are only two competitive grantees in Arkansas
- City of Little Rock and Arkansas Enterprises Group in
				Arkadelphia. County staff in which a competitive grantee is providing services
				should coordinate directly with the grantee for referral criteria, services
				provided, and other processes. (See the Welfare-to-Work (WtW) Appendix for a
				list of counties that are served by the competitive grantees and the contact
				persons for the competitive grantees.)
3605
Welfare-to-Work
			 Eligibility Requirements
The federal law specifies certain criteria an individual must
				meet in order to participate in the WtW program. Not every TEA recipient will
				meet this criteria. Therefore, a WtW eligibility determination must be made on
				each individual. The County
DHS
Office will be responsible for
				determining WtW eligibility and will certify to the WtW agency that each
				individual referred meets the WtW criteria.
The WtW legislation targets those TANF (TEA) recipients who
				will have the most difficulty transitioning into employment. It divides such
				individuals into two groups:
(1) The
			 hard-to-employ group; and
(2) The
			 long-term dependence characteristics group. It also states that the WtW agency
			 must spend at least 70% of its funds on the hard-to-employ group and not more
			 than 30% on the long-term dependence group. As a result, the two groups are
			 commonly called the 70% group and the 30% group. The following sections
			 describe the two groups in detail.