Brain-storming on the
Family Employment Program (FEP):
Verbatim Recording of Responses
Group One
| Successes | Future Goals |
| Time lines | Opportunity to earn back spent time on TANF-earn back the months |
| Assisting people with disabilities emphasis and assistive technology | Medicaid buy-in, continue with health insurance and work |
| Modeling that going to work provides to youth-doing well in school | More ability to continue education without penalty, include education as a work activity |
| Proven record of moving from welfare to work activities | Sheltered transition for those who need support to enter into self-sufficiency work activities, i.e., mental health/emotional issues at young age |
| Housing-safe, secure-opportunity to become successful, including transitional housing to rental to home ownership | Expiring contracts-keep on affordable basis. Continue affordable housing projects. Be more realistic in purchasing and assessing value |
| Met goals of moving people out of welfare | Flexible enough-one size does not fit all, i.e., those underemployed. Basic services for while people are gaining education and training. "Education is the key." What is the path? |
| Extension of Medicaid as people first go to work | Make Medicaid resource available through employers to EES |
| Ability to enforce school attendance. Both TANF and housing can do this-getting youth to school | Keep in-and inform parents. Reinforce opportunity of children's attendance |
| Some people in ethnic communities are accessing services | Enhance Earned Income Credit (EIC)-outreach to ethnic minority people on services. |
| Domestic Violence option | How to make TANF more holistic, include culturally competent |
| More training on domestic violence with workers for good assessment | |
| Assets-ability to own, i.e., cars | PASS Plan as in SSI-use in TANF. Implement plan to achieve self-sufficiency |
Group Two
| Successes | Future Goals |
| More experience with reforming | Better collaboration at all levels |
| Universal participation | Measure success by long-term measures |
| Higher education counts in Utah | Consensus on success measures-more than reducing rolls |
| Utah has reduced numbers on roles | Develop capacity to increase wages-integrate training with employment |
| Appreciation of need for support | Expand concept of Individual Development Account |
| Flexibility | Explore how individual can take advantage of self-employment |
| Individual planning | How to measure success in small business enterprise |
| Integrated funding stream, i.e., training | Explore how practices can be changed to enhance self-employment options |
| Collaboration at all levels-legislative, Executive, local, national | Incentivize the system |
| Legislation requires follow-up studies | High education should become a more visible option |
| Improvements in child care and child support | MOE funds go to support individual in school not "on the clock" |
| More decision making on state level | Attitude change about recipient: caseworkers, administrators, legislators |
| Lower staff to customer ratio-improve relationship training and skills of workers | |
| Need more specialists, not so many generalists | |
| Change 3 year limit to 5 years | |
| 20% exemption-change base to larger base-new formula | |
| Improve child care/child support/food stamps | |
| Seamless process from secondary to community college to university | |
| Allow person to receive pell grant | |
| Direct pass-through of child support | |
| Performance standards-employment retention and wage levels on longer term | |
| Better transportation to access jobs | |
| Make definitions consistent across programs-WIA, TANF-e.g., family, also consistent program outcomes | |
| Policy-makers look at long term implications of policies | |
| Don't assume there is an ongoing collective experience-educate them | |
| Emphasize prevention/early intervention | |
| Dispel myths about recipients-before elections-of general public | |
| Personalize message about benefits to society (e.g., Jillynn) | |
| Consider housing, transportation needs, etc. | |
| What is our priority? Stay focused | |
| Public education about the problem | |
| Stories are important-investment angle | |
| Put in context of impact on children-hope, self-sufficiency | |
| Allow person to receive pell grant |
Group Three
| Successes | Future Goals |
| Focus on increasing income and broad definition of "participation" | Living wage/make work pay |
| Focus on employment | State (Utah citizens) pick up more of the burden/diminish the role of federal government |
| State flexibility | Maintain role of federal government |
| Time limit and exceptions/exemptions | Remove sales tax from food |
| Broader focus on individual's goals | Emphasize education/training |
| Maintaining investment despite caseload reductions | View welfare as an investment in people |
| Child care more flexible, both in policy and funding | Make time limits more flexible |
| Allow assistance for illegal immigrants | |
| Expanded state flexibility-broader definition of "participation" | |
| Focus on increased income versus caseload reduction | |
| Include participation in barrier reducing activities as allowable participation | |
| Broaden focus to include working poor | |
| Welfare leavers need better access to health care and other work supports (transportation, food stamps, child care, etc.) | |
| Resources for education | |
| Expand assistance/services for males in order to increase earning capacity through education and training | |
| Expand services to childless adults | |
| Expand supported employment services for "multiple barrier" individuals (especially mental health) | |
| Maintain TANF funding level | |
| Combine/integrate focus on welfare and economic development, job creation, etc. | |
| Involve businesses, especially small business, to identify barriers to better employment | |
| Look at entire ecology of welfare to focus on individual needs-less formulaic responses | |
| More training/accountability for caseworkers | |
| Balance emphasis on marriage with emphasis on capacity of single mother | |
| Support "marriage success" | |
| Strong evaluation of marriage policies (don't make money the carrot/stick for staying in a potentially unsafe marriage | |
| Strengthen "diversity" of system to meet a broad range of needs | |
| Simplify access to a broad range of services | |
| Streamline eligibility/requirements | |
| Clarify definitions of words (investment, living wage, etc.) To allow more "real discussions/consensus |
Group Four
| Successes | Future Goals |
| Ongoing dialogue between cross section of interest | Education of legislators |
| National organizations more inclusive of smaller non-profits-giving more voice | Education on supportive services for policy-makers and the general public |
| More parents working | Expanding need for more supportive services |
| More individual planning on employment plans | Clearer messages on transitional benefits |
| Self-sufficiency standard specific to Utah-has been developed | Need for more consumer input on case planning and policy |
| Utah is a leader in "welfare to work" research, policy development, and innovation | Self-sufficiency standard to be used as a tool |
| DWS administration listens well to consumer input | Streamlining and coordination of all federal programs-food stamps, Medicaid, housing |
| GED focus | More recognition of the special needs population |
| DWS Social Skills Development classes | Remove or raise the 20 percent exemption |
| DWS has a good employer relationship and knows what type of skill sets are needed | Options for states-"pausing the clock" |
| Simplify/streamline application for food stamps | |
| Inadequate benefits | |
| More discussion on housing in relation to welfare reform | |
| Child Protective Services/Division of Child and Family Services issues | |
| Need for more Spanish-speaking workers | |
| Greater understanding of cultural differences | |
| Be politically active of statewide issues of cultural competency, mental health parity, etc. | |
| Education/vocational training counted as a work activity | |
| Better access to DWS Social Skills Development | |
| Job retention-states rewarded for job retention, increased earnings | |
| Living wage | |
| Better training to prepare FEP clients for high tech jobs | |
| Socialized medicine |
Group Five
| Successes | Future Goals |
| Education works | We can do even better |
| Child care subsidies | Better tracking of former welfare recipients (identify success stories better) |
| More individual attention works | Actual poverty reduction |
| Effective mentoring | Child support is income support-get more of what we collect into children's direct services |
| Honest, open dialogue is effective | Retain flexibility to allow individual attention |
| Increase community partnerships | |
| Extending "use" of child care funding beyond 10-12 year range | |
| Long-term solutions to broad population/ investment in future, e.g., G.I. Bill | |
| Combat obstacles and decrease difficulty of "getting out" of the system | |
| Are new jobs being created as viable, long-term opportunities? | |
| Increase availability for education-must be focus | |
| Partnerships with Indian tribes; local entities | |
| Build more effective "infrastructure" for local entities and have better trained individuals to run these infrastructures | |
| Better address urban/rural disconnect | |
| Addressing multiple barriers/family crisis | |
| Find effective solutions for those outside educational advancement | |
| Address the perpetually needy in more effective/meaningful ways | |
| Federal Poverty Level needs to be evaluated/recalculated according to genuine self-sufficiency | |
| Reduce social stigmas/negative perceptions of welfare recipients | |
| More honor and respect for women and elderly |
Group Six
| Successes | Future Goals |
| Time limits | Sensitivity to culture, language, and other challenges |
| Focus on families and children-child focus | Streamlined paper process (Turbo Tax model) |
| Education and training | More visible transition of employment support for parents to keep their jobs |
| Focus on work | Time limits-extension criteria clarification, understanding, flexibility |
| More integration of programs and services (federal and state) | Data collection, especially on people who leave the system |
| Flexibility to put resources where needed | Increased knowledge, communication about where to go and what to do when parent hits time limit |
| Case management and caseworkers | Community resources-people are stumped about how to access systems and programs |
| It works-fewer cases | Continual training of caseworkers on resources available to families |
| Increased child support enforcement- consistent enforcement | Higher education goals to improve and increase income |
| State administered, rather than 20 county systems | Increase access to mental health and substance abuse programs and services |
| Increased awareness for need and quality improvement of child care | Start holding states accountable for outcomes, not participation rates |
| Flexibility and money to use for child care | College tuition (pool of money)-incentives (tax, future work services), loans, grants, service, scholarships |
| Prevent of factors that put at risk-unwed pregnancy, low education, limited career choices | Prevention of risk factors-start early, in public schools |
| More "integration" and coordination among departmental agencies, i.e., Department of Health, Workforce Services, state, federal, county, city | |
| Streamline customer notification of their rights | |
| Expand immigrant services-better, clearer understanding of services available | |
| Maintain and expand medical services | |
| Expand eligibility to use child care | |
| Expand child care services | |
| "Turbo Tax" model-multi-language, disability, Smart systems | |
| Focus on mission, rather than bureaucracy | |
| Take away fear | |
| Make schools safer | |
| Prevent abuse |
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