A $20,000 grant has been awarded the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services for a four-county pilot project aimed at increasing the self-sufficiency of people leaving publically-funded cash assistance rolls.

The Employment Retention Project, which will operate in Riley, Geary, Saline, and Dickinson counties, is aimed at fighting against two of the biggest problems facing former public cash assistance recipients – maintaining employment and earning a large enough wage to become self-sufficient.

In announcing the grant, the federal Administration for Children and Families in the United States Department of Health and Human Services said it will provide planning and technical assistance on the project. The federal agency indicated that a successful pilot will help other states understand how best to provide assistance to those leaving cash assistance.

The pilot project is one of several gearing up in Kansas. Others SRS pilots include an expanded work support services pilot, a pilot aimed at providing targeted short-term help to keep people from going on assistance, a work support allowance pilot project, and a pilot project to provide an incentive bonus to former public cash assistance recipients who maintain employment. All the pilots will be tested and if they prove successful, could go statewide.

Numerous studies, including one done by SRS, have shown that while federal welfare reform has resulted in a significant drop in the number of persons receiving cash assistance, nonetheless job retention rates and level of pay for many leaving cash assistance remain low.

"Our study, and studies in other states, show that families involved with cash assistance have multiple barriers that prevent them from getting or keeping a job," said SRS Secretary Janet Schalansky. "These vulnerable clients are often unsuccessful in retaining employment or advancing enough in their jobs to rise out of poverty."

Secretary Schalansky and Deputy Secretary Candy Shively, who leads the SRS Integrated Service Delivery division, indicated that the pilot projects going on across the state are part of a new focus the agency has undertaken to help clients with job retention skills and training to promote job advancement. The agency will also work more with those who leave cash assistance by providing ‘on the job’ coaching and mentoring and by providing help for clients in accessing other programs such as Food Stamps, medical assistance and child care.

In the Employment Retention Project in central Kansas, clients will be randomly chosen for the project and the results will be compared to a ‘control’ group receiving regular SRS services. A treatment group and a control group will be maintained in each of the four counties where the project is operating.

Some of the additional services provided clients randomly chosen for the project include:

• Expanded self-sufficiency planning. To help cash assistance recipients maintain contact with the agency and focus on post-employment supports, the focus of the self-sufficiency plan will shift to an income goal rather than a job goal. Getting an entry-level job will become just the first step in a career plan. A recent SRS-funded study by Kansas State University on self-sufficiency standards for families will help provide information about what level of income the family needs to make ends meet.

• Additional child care for training or education. These funds will be earmarked to help employed former cash assistance recipients pursue education and job training opportunities.

• Cash assistance will become one of many support services. Cash assistance will be viewed as a support service available to a family which encounters a bump in the chosen career path. Not all families will require a maintenance grant to get over the bump.

• A full-family risk assessment process. The assessment process will be expanded to include all family members rather than just the adults in order to determine strengths and weaknesses and how the problems of other family members may affect the employment of a parent.

• Integrated service delivery teams will work toward a common goal. After the case manager and the client assess employment strengths and weaknesses from a family prospective, family needs will be identified and associate team members from various divisions within and outside of SRS will be asked to join. These associate team members could include vocational rehabilitation counselors, county extension service experts, community mental health center workers and others.

Deputy Secretary Shively said with this and the other pilot projects, an assessment will be made concerning the results and if success is shown, the project could go statewide. She said the agency is changing focus to respond to the needs of clients.

"We are working to maintain contact with families after they leave cash assistance to provide services which promote job retention and career advancement," she said.

Page Last Updated: May 29, 2001