The Work First program is changing so that people get their monthly cash assistance only after they follow a plan for becoming self-sufficient and not before, officials in the Forsyth County Department of Social Services said.
The new rules, which go into effect statewide on Oct. 1, would affect about 400 families in Forsyth County. These are families who rely on Work First for cash help as they try to find work, said Bobbi Bales, the county's senior social-work supervisor for Work First.
Previously, participants could get their cash for the month toward the beginning of the month. Those who didn't meet their goals would be penalized by not getting a check at a later date.
Under the new rules, people will get their cash assistance for a particular month only after the month has passed and the goals are met.
"I think it is a necessary change," Bales said. "When we deal with trying to help people feel responsibility, this is the last effort to be able to do that."
The state is making a special one-time payment in early October to bridge the payment gap that the change creates.
The new rules don't apply to cases in which the money goes only to support children. Those cases typically number about 700 in the county at any given time, officials said. The new rules do apply to cases where the money goes to support both adults and their children.
At any given time, local officials said, about 25 percent of the affected recipients aren't meeting their Work First requirements.
State officials said that the change is primarily designed to emphasize more responsibility. But there's an important financial incentive too. If the state fails to meet federal goals for getting people off welfare, it could jeopardize the flow of federal money that pays for programs such as Work First.
Under the new rules, people that don't qualify for Work First payments don't count against the state's goals.
Joe Raymond, the director of the Forsyth County DSS, said that losing federal payments would hurt a large number of other important programs that depend on federal money.
"This change is the right thing to do to protect being able to get those funds," Raymond said.
wyoung@wsjournal.com
727-7369
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement