|
|
|
|
|
| Greetings NACHSA Members! |
NACHSA Dues Are Due: NACHSA invoices members through these e-Alerts. Please submit your dues today!
Federal Update: NACHSA has heard a number of counties are experiencing a spike in assistance applications due to a free service that Intuit/TurboTax is offering in their tax software program which permits TurboTax to automatically apply on their client's behalf for food stamps and other assistance programs. The web link to that application may be found here. The federal Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) was not aware of the initiative. NACHSA is sharing information with the American Public Human Services Association (APHSA) which is working closely with states and FNS and is reaching out to Intuit. APHSA shared a message from FNS about the process which may be read here. If your county has information on impact, please e-mail it to Tom Joseph at tj@wafed.com
Earlier this week, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee adopted unanimously a reauthorization of the Older Americans Act. (S. 192). Read the press release here and a summary here. The House has not acted on a bill yet.
On Monday, the Administration will release its FFY 2016 budget. NACHSA will send a summary of the HHS provisions later in the week.
|
|
 |
Sign up for a free trial!  | |
|
| Human Services Resources |
One in Five Children Receive Food Stamps: The Census Bureau reports that in 2014, an estimated 16 million children, or about one in five, received food stamps compared to the roughly 9 million children, or one in eight, that received SNAP prior to the recession. Other interesting factoids in the brief include: less than half (48 percent) of households today are married couples, down from 76 percent in 1940; of the 73.7 million children under 18 in the U.S., 10 percent live with a grandparent (7.4 million) and 38 percent have at least one foreign-born parent (28.3 million).
Majority of Public School Students Are Poor: This Washington Post story summarizes a study from the Southern Education Foundation which found that 51 percent of students in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade in the 2012-2013 school year were eligible for the federal program that provides free and reduced-price lunches. The lunch program is a rough proxy for poverty, but the explosion in the number of needy children in the nation's public classrooms is a recent phenomenon that has been gaining attention among educators, public officials and researchers. A map shows the percent of low income students in each state.
SSBG Reports Released: HHS has released reports on how states and counties have used the Social Services Block Grant in 2011 and 2012. These reports come at a time when SSBG is under increased congressional scrutiny for cuts or elimination. NACHSA is making Hill visits with a coalition to support continuation of SSBG. The reports contain charts of expenditures for each state.
Indiana Becomes 28th State to Expand ACA Medicaid: This week, HHS approved Indiana's plan to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, increasing the number of expansion states to 28, plus the District of Columbia. With enrollment starting Feb. 1, Indiana's plan could add an estimated 350,000 low-income adults to the nearly 5 million expected to enroll in the 27 states that expanded Medicaid last year. Click here to read about the continued ACA expansion states.
State and National Behavioral Health Data Released: The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has issued the National Behavioral Health Barometer which provides data about key aspects of behavioral health care issues affecting American communities. Those issues include rates of serious mental illness, suicidal thoughts, substance use, underage drinking, and the percentages of those who seek treatment for these disorders. National and state reports are found here.
County and State Sign Ons to Fund CHIP Requested: Funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) expires at the end of the fiscal year unless Congress acts. There is an effort in Washington to obtain as many national, state and local agencies to sign on to a letter to Congress to urge them to fund CHIP. CHIP covers more than 8 million children and hundreds of thousands of pregnant women. States are now developing their FY 2016 budgets and need to know that CHIP will not run out of funding after September. If Congress fails to act, millions of children who rely on CHIP will face coverage disruptions; many will lose coverage altogether. Click here to read the letter and sign on. The deadline is February 11.
TANF Webinar: HHS is hosting a webinar entitled Integrating Executive Functioning Principles, Soft Skills Activities, and Case Management Coaching in order to Improve Economic Success for TANF Recipients on Wednesday, February 4, 2015 from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m. ET. This Webinar provides resources and step-by-step recommendations to help participants better integrate case management approaches based on the work of Ramsey County, Minnesota, the Crittenton Women's Union, and the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities- Building Better Programs initiative. Click here to learn more and register.
Webinar on The Coaching Toolkit for Child Welfare Practice: Register here for this free, pre-recorded webinar given by NACHSA Corporate Sponsor Northwoods to learn how embedding an effective coach model into training helps protective services agencies. Protective services professionals familiar with "The Coaching Toolkit for Child Welfare Practice" have experienced success when incorporating a coaching model to implement new practices and strategies for casework, including safety organized practice, critical thinking, and motivational interviewing. Building on that framework, agencies can apply the same coaching principles to new technology projects - big or small - to ensure social workers adopt technology as a natural extension of their work and transfer new skills to practice leading to quality services for children and families. The webinar is slated for Tuesday, February 17 from 11 to 11:45 a.m. ET. |
|
Tom Joseph
National Association of County Human Services Administrators
|
|
