RELEASE: November 27, 2000

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As the welfare caseload continues shrinking, the Department of Human Services (DHS) will individually assess 11,500 long-term welfare recipients to determine the services they need as they approach the five-year limit on benefits, Commissioner Michele K. Guhl announced today.

Meanwhile, DHS will affirm its commitment to working families by offering new education or job training grants to former welfare recipients who are now working.

Gov. Christie Whitman, who initiated the state's welfare reform program in April 1997, said Work First NJ was so successful that DHS expanded its focus to include programs for working poor families.

"With the funds we saved by moving people from welfare to work, we funded child care subsidies, transportation grants and a state Earned Income Tax Credit," Gov. Whitman said. "These programs help working people advance. We need funding to continue these kinds of programs. This is why it is so urgent that Congress re-authorize the welfare block grants to the states in 2002."

Guhl said the comprehensive assessments of long-term clients began this month. DHS earmarked $15 million to allow county welfare agencies to hire or reassign workers to handle the assessments.

Each adult who has participated in Work First NJ for 34 months or more will be interviewed extensively by a welfare case manager and a state Department of Labor worker. New Jersey is one of the first states to initiate such a personalized assessment, some of whom will reach the five-year time limit in April 2002. Other states are looking to use New Jersey's assessment as a model.

"These individual assessments will give a three-dimensional snapshot of each client who is approaching the five-year limit," Guhl said. "We will know their strengths and weaknesses and how to help them move from welfare to work."

Nearly half of the 11,500 long-term clients already are working or are involved in work activity, such as training or education combined with work experience.

David Heins, director of DHS' Division of Family Development, said the individual assessments would help steer services for long-term welfare recipients, particularly for those who are not yet engaged in work activities.

The assessment will identify potential barriers to employment, such as: health problems or disabilities; mental, social or emotional problems; family violence; substance abuse; a lack of job skills, experience or education; housing problems; or the need for services such as transportation and child care.

DHS has various programs already in place to address such problems. For example, the $20 million-a-year Substance Abuse Initiative provides drug and alcohol treatment for Work First participants. Clients who are too disabled to work are referred to the Supplemental Security Income program and are given technical assistance with the complicated application process. Also, DHS and the Department of Labor cooperate on a $33 million-a-year program to serve long-term welfare recipients with limited education and work history.

"Once we've completed the assessments and defined the obstacles facing each client, we can refer the client to the existing services that are most suitable for his or her specific needs," Heins said. "Or we can work to develop any new services we might need."

In addition, DHS will begin offering Career Advancement Vouchers -- grants of up to $3,000 for education or job training -- to former Work First participants who are working. The grants represent New Jersey's latest effort to better the lives of working poor families, using funds saved on welfare benefits.

The savings were derived from a historic drop in the welfare caseload, from 96,500 families in April 1997 to 45,000 as of November. Of those 45,000 cases, 14,700 are "child only" grants, leaving about 30,000 adults who need employment services or other supports.