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ICAIIaG umYI <br /> Nli[I E:ARflLINA <br /> <br />FROM: Jim Cook, Social Services Dire or~.~f/ <br />DATE: 8-14-00 <br />SUBJECT: Update of the Work First County Bloclk~ant Plan <br /> <br /> I am writing to request that the Board of County Commissioners take action at its <br />meeting of August 21, 2000, to provide for the updating of the County's Work First <br />County Block Grant Plan. <br /> <br />Back~round <br /> <br /> All counties have received notice that it is time to undertake the biennial planning <br />process to update the Work First Block Grant plans first submitted in 1998. The Board <br />of Commissioners in each county wffi need to take the following actions in this <br />regard: <br /> <br />1) Appoint a planning committee, <br />2) Vote and notify the state by 9-29-00 whether it requests "standard" or <br /> "electing" status, and <br />3) Submit to the state by 12-1-00, a Work First Block Grant Plan it has <br /> approved for the county for the coming biennium. <br /> <br /> The Work First Block Grant consists of $2,936,168.in federal ($1,638,760), and <br />county ($1,297,408) funding. This funding may be used under federal regulations and <br />state law for administration of Work First Family Assistance (WFFA), employment <br />services for welfare recipients and former recipients, emergency assistance for families, <br />and child welfare services. (The state funding originally included in county block grants <br />is now used for WFFA cash assistance payments. Federal funds were substituted for <br />state funds in these county block grants). There are maintenance of effort requirements <br />in federal and state law for county and state funding of these programs. In the most <br />general sense, the state's policy has been to reinvest welfare savings from declining <br />caseloads into services like subsidized child care and family Medicaid, which support <br />employment. At the county level, the Work First Block Grant planning process <br />determines how to best utilize resources to prevent welfare dependency, move families <br />on welfare into work, help families stay off welfare, and provide child abuse/neglect <br />services. <br /> <br /> Department of Social Services <br />t303 South Cannon Blvd. Kannapolis, NC 28083 (704)939-1400 <br /> <br /> <br />