In Attendance

Dianne Cunningham, Social Research Institute (SRI), U of U
Mary Beth Vogel, SRI, U of U
Shane Riedel, International Rescue Committee
Kerry Steadman, Salt Lake County Human Services
Irene Fisher, former Bennion Center and Utah Issues Director
Lois Kelson, Community Action of Provo
Tim Shultz, Crossroads Urban Center
Gina Cornia, Utahns Against Hunger
Robin Arnold-Williams, Department of Human Services Director, American Public Human Services Association (APHSA)
Sarah Brenna, Policy Analyst, Department of Workforce Services (DWS)
Helen Thatcher, Department of Workforce Services
Karen Silver, Salt Lake Community Action Program
Sara McCormick, Center for Public Policy and Administration, U of U
Jerry Costley, The Arc of Utah
Bonnie Macri, JEDI for Women
Martha Velasco, Salt Lake CAP Head Start
Mary Bissonette, Box Elder Family Support Center
Joyce Dolcourt, Governor's Council for People with Disabilities
Bill Walsh, Walsh & Weathers Research and Policy Studies (WWRPS)
Shirley Weathers, WWRPS

Welcome and Introductions
Everyone introduced themselves and stated their particular interests in welfare reform.

UREAP Principles
Bill Walsh made the case to finalize the UREAP Principles in this meeting. He noted that the UREAP membership drive depends on finalizing the Principles. The UREAP position papers will be based on the Principles. He said that UREAP staff will try to set up meetings with Senators Hatch and Bennett, Governor Leavitt, and Representatives Matheson, Cannon, and Hanson (in that priority order) during the August Recess. One of the goals will be to share our Principles. He asked for volunteers to go to these meetings along with Shirley Weathers and himself.

After some discussion about placement, the words "common ground" were added to the preamble of the Principles because they were inadvertently left out of the last draft. Everyone was comfortable with this final version which will be posted on the UREAP web site. UREAP membership forms were distributed with encouragement to sign up community-based organizations as soon as possible. Any UREAP members will be noted in meetings with our congressional organizations, as well as position papers and other key documents.

TANF Recommendations
Shirley described a process designed to assist with the development of UREAP positions on reauthorization issues. Positions for TANF are under development using the following steps: 1) Walsh & Weathers researched a number of available analyses of TANF policies since implementation, including research findings involving actual family outcomes, and treatments generated across a broad political spectrum specifically focused on recommendations for changes for the next phase of welfare reform. 2) The compilation of those recommendations was made available to UREAP participants, including through a TANF Proposal Questionnaire put up on the UREAP website for online completion early in July. 3) A draft TANF Position Paper was prepared by W & W by considering, a) UREAP principles, b) survey results, and c) study by UREAP staff, and emailed to all UREAP participants on June 30, 2001 with a request for input. 4) Input will be used to prepare a final version of the TANF position paper.

Unexpectedly fast Congressional action on Food Stamp reauthorization has led Walsh & Weathers to begin the same process for Food Stamps. A compilation of proposals has been posted at the website. However, Shirley asked the group to provide feedback on the process as they have experienced it so far so that any needed adjustments can be made to make it as meaningful and productive in arriving at common ground positions as possible. She noted, for example, that only 16 people actually completed and submitted a questionnaire and asked for input as to form and content. Shirley said that the surveys were not scientific, rather, they were intended to assist in determining consensus as we seek the common ground positions UREAP will ultimately taken, including the views of both those who attend meetings and those who do not. The low response rate causes concern.
 
It was noted that the TANF questionnaire was a bit overwhelming in length and complexity. Additional position surveys should not be that long. Future surveys will feel "safer" if we say that respondents do not have to answer if unsure or uncomfortable with the choices. W & W agreed to make changes as they move forward with other reauthorization position processes, including Food Stamps.

Shirley asked for feedback on the range of authorship of potential positions. Meeting participants supported the range of positions and the attempt to find common ground.

Discussion then turned to the draft TANF Position Paper. Shirley pointed out the the format used in this particular draft Position Paper includes the UREAP Principles (including the preamble) and individual policy positions. UREAP membership will be added, probably after the Principles. The primary audience for this and other UREAP position papers is the congressional delegation, although they could well have other uses, e.g., as an attachment to a letter to a member of the Utah Congressional delegation referencing either the positions themselves or UREAP membership or both. The paper could also be used to help educate groups who may want to know the major issues of reauthorization. Group discussion supported this process.

Shirley then asked Irene Fisher to share her experience with and study of consensus processes. She described two approaches, one requiring agreement by everyone before any action can be taken and the other based on welcoming the ideas and concerns of all who care to comment prior to developing actions that everyone "can live with." The group agreed that the second approach is effective and acceptable for UREAP's purposes.

On that basis, Shirley asked meeting participants to make final comments on the draft TANF position paper by the end of Tuesday, August 7. She and Bill will then produce a final UREAP Position Paper on TANF. There was some concern about the fact that Congress was moving fast on parts of welfare reform, so UREAP needs to take positions and talk policy with congressional representatives if any opportunity is presented.

Some input was then offered by the group on the position paper draft. A point was made that Utah's approach using universal participation was favored, but that "work" should be dropped from "work participation" because we have agreed in our Principles that not everyone can work. It was noted that a position on Supplemental Grants to states, including Utah, had been omitted and that support for them should be added.

Robin Arnold-Williams discussed what she has seen and heard in Washington, D.C., and provided two documents from APHSA. One was a joint press release on Food Stamp program recommendations from APHSA, Second Harvest, and the Food Research Action Center (FRAC). The other compiled descriptions of Family Formation activities among the states. Robin said the Washington rhetoric around welfare reform is positive, but funds are in short supply since the surplus has disappeared. She said that APHSA opposes funding "set-asides," such as 10% for Family Formation, but said that there are groups working very hard in the other direction.

A recommendation was made to support "coordination" as a goal among programs serving families.

Shirley responded to a question about how the range of policy positions taken in the draft UREAP position paper Principles compare with what other groups and states are recommending on TANF reauthorization. She said that there is substantial agreement across the nation on some changes and that UREAP is paying close attention as we look for common ground. The agreement reached by APHSA, FRAC, and America's Second Harvest is just one example. At the same time, Utah's learning experience with welfare reform, mainly around the Single Parent Employment Demonstration Program (SPED), and the work at the University of Utah, will be our contribution, supporting changes that may be less known in other states and among national groups. The Reauthorization of Welfare Reform offers opportunities for social programs to make improvements, if everyone works to those ends.

Shirley repeated that the deadline for the TANF Position Paper was August 7, and the Final UREAP Principles will be posted as soon as possible after that. Other UREAP position papers will be adopted and communicated to elected officials.
 
Legislative Update
Shirley recommended APHSA's web site for the latest welfare reform activity in Congress.

Food Stamp Recommendations
The House of Representatives added Food Stamps to their Agriculture Bill already, and allocated $3.25 billion over the next ten years. This is an increase from the $2 billion originally reported by the Chair of the House Agriculture Committee, but falls short of the $11 billion amount that is believed necessary by many food and nutrition advocates. The Senate has just held hearings and may wait for the Administration's proposals to craft a bill, but there may well be Senate action in September.

Shirley reminded the group of the Food Stamp Proposal Summary sent out last week based on written testimony to the House Agriculture Committee. W & W will develop a UREAP Food Stamp online questionnaire very soon and e-mail participants when it is available for completion. Participants should fill it out and submit it, and staff will match it with our Principles and produce a UREAP Position Paper by the end of August. Shirley invited input from nutrition advocates.

Linda Stone, Project Director of the Nutrition Reauthorization Project of the Western Region Anti-Hunger Consortium is scheduled to provide a briefing on Food Stamp reauthorization at the Jubilee Center during the morning of September 25 and will also be on the agenda for the September UREAP meeting that same afternoon. Congressional action in the meantime is uncertain, but UREAP participants can expect to learn important information and are invited to the morning briefing.

Announcements, questions, feedback, comments
The next UREAP meeting will be August 28, 2001, 2:30 - 4:30, featuring Family Formation. A compilation of proposals will be posted at the UREAP website in advance of the meeting.

Bill asked for volunteers to meet with congressional representatives and their staffs. He also asked for help in recruiting members.