What is 2002 PRWORA Reauthorization?

In 1996, Congress passed its welfare reform bill, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA). PRWORA made the most dramatic changes in federal and state government assistance to the poor in 60 years. Financial assistance to families with dependent children, the Food Stamp Program, child care assistance programs, child support collection, and Supplemental Security Income were all changed. Congress must reauthorize PRWORA by October 2002, providing a welcome opportunity to revisit and refine welfare reform.

Why is it important?

Millions of poor U.S. families with children have left the welfare rolls since the passage of PRWORA. Utah's caseload has declined by 3,350 families (nearly one-third). Although some see enormous reductions in welfare caseloads as a sign that 1996 welfare reform is a success, there is evidence that it has not worked for everyone. Indeed, more welfare and former welfare families are working, but a substantial proportion are earning low wages and lack health insurance coverage and other essential supports for children. Additionally, other families are . . .

• hovering in a condition of pre-homelessness due to persistent shortages of affordable housing;
• on welfare with multiple barriers to employment and need help to address them;
• off welfare-due to life-time limits on assistance, sanctions, or because they have otherwise not managed to comply with the new rules-but still far from self-reliance;
• struggling to navigate new welfare participation requirements despite physical or mental disabilities of a parent or child;
• confronting discrimination in the workplace due to race, ethnicity, or disabling conditions;
• not receiving essential assistance because, confused by new rules, they think they are ineligible;
• living in rural areas, where high unemployment and limited resources increase challenges.

Utah can and should play a role in Reauthorization

Utah has a long history of considering how to help welfare families become self-reliant. Utah's Family Employment Program (FEP)-the state's version of the new family financial assistance program-has innovations and information to share. For example, FEP has . . .

• an individualized approach to participation requirements that permits a broad range of job preparation activities;
• a unique, special extension to time limits for families who work part-time, many of whom have limitations that will prevent them from ever being self-supporting;
• findings from studies conducted by the University of Utah that show the interplay of welfare reform and multiple employment barriers, and the impact of welfare reform on rural Native Americans facing extraordinarily high, historic unemployment rates.

The stakes for vulnerable families and children are high. Congress could enhance welfare funding and make policy adjustments, thereby allowing positive aspects of 1996 welfare reform to be enhanced and shortcomings corrected. On the other hand, members of the newly seated 107^th Congress could decide instead to declare victory in the welfare dilemma, and cut funding and fail to correct problems. If not effectively educated, Congress could take an approach quite different from what would be in the best interests of poor people and the communities where they live and prevent Utah and other states from pursuing positive policies.

The Utah Reauthorization Project (UREAP)

UREAP is an 18-month, broad-based effort to educate state and national decision-makers and the public about needed refinements to the current welfare system, to muster congressional support for solutions that will help stabilize vulnerable families, and to enhance efforts to address poverty in our state and nation. UREAP will assist Utah families on welfare-currently around 8,300-as well as other Utahns without adequate incomes, by improving the systems intended to help them and by preventing existing support from being withdrawn.

In order to accomplish these outcomes, UREAP will do the following:

• Develop a set of principles for positive refinements to the welfare system to assist a coalition of groups and entities in arriving at common ground goals and positions
• Create a partnership of both public and private entities in this educational effort, across all areas and populations that will be touched by the Reauthorization of PRWORA
• Establish effective systems of communication among member groups to facilitate exchange of information and planning, including face-to-face meetings and email/FAX networks
• Analyze available state and national information about the impact of existing federal law and identify areas potentially in need of consideration
• Create opportunities for member organizations and the public to become informed about pertinent research findings, public entity concerns and operations, and budget implications of various policy options under consideration
• Monitor pertinent Congressional activities and actions
• Establish working groups or subcommittees to perform tasks on an as-needed basis
• Establish and maintain a working relationship with key national groups engaged in study and discussion of Reauthorization issues
• Meet with Utah's Congressional Delegation to convey information and policy concerns selected by collaborating entities; maintain ongoing contact with their staffs
• Develop leadership, expertise, and cooperation among members
• Ensure that Reauthorization legislation is amended to allow Utah to continue with positive, "home-grown" policies and practices
• Bring the issues of family poverty and well-being into welfare reform