The department shall provide grants to community action agencies or other local nonprofit organizations to provide job opportunities and basic skills training program participants with transitional support services, one-to-one assistance, case management, and job retention services.
Findings—Intent—1993 c 312: "The legislature finds that:
(1) Public assistance is intended to be a temporary financial relief program, recognizing that families can be confronted with a financial crisis at any time in life. Successful public assistance programs depend on the availability of adequate resources to assist individuals deemed eligible for the benefits of such a program. In this way, eligible families are given sufficient assistance to reenter productive employment in a minimal time period.
(2) The current public assistance system requires a reduction in grant standards when income is received. In most cases, family income is limited to levels substantially below the standard of need. This is a strong disincentive to work. To remove this disincentive, the legislature intends to allow families to retain a greater percentage of income before it results in the reduction or termination of benefits;
(3) Employment, training, and education services provided to employable recipients of public assistance are effective tools in achieving economic self-sufficiency. Support services that are targeted to the specific needs of the individual offer the best hope of achieving economic self-sufficiency in a cost-effective manner;
(4) State welfare-to-work programs, which move individuals from dependence to economic independence, must be operated cooperatively and collaboratively between state agencies and programs. They also must include public assistance recipients as active partners in self-sufficiency planning activities. Participants in economic independence programs and services will benefit from the concepts of personal empowerment, self-motivation, and self-esteem;
(5) Many barriers to economic independence are found in federal statutes and rules, and provide states with limited options for restructuring existing programs in order to create incentives for employment over continued dependence;
(6) The legislature finds that the personal and societal costs of teenage childbearing are substantial. Teen parents are less likely to finish high school and more likely to depend upon public assistance than women who delay childbearing until adulthood; and
(7) The legislature intends that an effort be made to ensure that each teenage parent who is a public assistance recipient live in a setting that increases the likelihood that the teen parent will complete high school and achieve economic independence." [
1993 c 312 s 1.]
Implementation program design—1993 c 312: "The department of social and health services shall design a program for implementation involving recipients of aid to families with dependent children. A goal of this program is to develop a system that segments the aid to families with dependent children recipient population and identifies subgroups, matches services to the needs of the subgroup, and prioritizes available services. The department shall specify the services to be offered in each population segment. The general focus of the services offered shall be on job training, workforce preparedness, and job retention.
The program shall be designed for statewide implementation on July 1, 1994. A proposal for implementation may include phasing certain components over time or geographic area. The department shall submit this program to the appropriate committees of the senate and house of representatives by December 1, 1993." [
1993 c 312 s 9.]
