Recent News

Heldrich Center Receives Over $1 Million in New Disability Employment Funding

The U.S. Department of Labor has awarded the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development a grant of nearly $1.1 million to continue and finalize the work of the NTAR Leadership Center, which was founded in 2007. The NTAR Leadership Center, led by Heldrich Center Executive Director Kathy Krepcio, is one of four national technical assistance centers funded by the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy. The center seeks to increase the employment and economic self-sufficiency of adults with disabilities by conducting research and providing technical assistance to state and local policymakers.

Research Spotlight

New State Strategies for Helping Low-Income People with Disabilities Move from Welfare to Work

It has been 15 years since Congress enacted welfare-to-work provisions as part of the 1996 welfare reform program known as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). While the program succeeded in moving large numbers of adults from welfare to employment, TANF recipients with disabilities have continued to encounter major barriers in their efforts to transition into the general labor market.

The fact is that TANF recipients are three times more likely than the general population to have physical or mental impairments that complicate their move into the workforce. As a result, they are far more likely to be penalized for failure to comply with the program's work rules.

These challenges are explored in a new NTAR issue brief entitled Moving TANF Recipients with Disabilities to Work: Examples of State Strategies. The brief was co-authored by Nanette Relave, Director of the Center for Workers with Disabilities at the American Public Human Services Association, and April Kaplan, a consultant specializing in social policy analysis and program design. Their research found several examples of states adopting creative approaches to increasing disability employment nationwide for TANF recipients with disabilities.

The issue brief highlights opportunities at every step in the job placement process where employment outcomes can be improved. California adopted a statewide protocol so that caseworkers screening TANF recipients could direct them to more in-depth assessment of learning disabilities. Utah's "Choose to Work" program established a close partnership with that state's vocational rehabilitation and workforce development staff to provide more individualized job development plans for low-income job seekers with disabilities. Georgia's GoodWorks program offers personal advisors whose intensive, targeted support promotes greater self-sufficiency among long-term TANF recipients, while Delaware helps counsel those whose substance abuse problems undermine effective job searches.

Moving TANF Recipients with Disabilities to Work also identifies the key characteristics common to successful programs aimed at boosting the employment prospects of TANF beneficiaries with disabilities. These include opportunities to ease into full-time work on a more gradual schedule, more personalized screening and assessment of strengths, and close collaboration between all relevant service providers. The brief also advocates greater flexibility for state administrators so that other creative solutions can become available to TANF recipients with disabilities.

Read the brief

Listen to the podcast interview with co-author Nanette Relave, Director of the Center for Workers with Disabilities at the American Public Human Services Association

Read a transcript of the podcast

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