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.New Focus: In FebrUary, 2000, after considerable planning, the department implemented a new way of doing business in the Employment and Work First Family Assistance areas. The New Focus, as it is called, required anyone requesting WFFA, to be assessed by a social worker in the Employment area. The assessment involved not just the client, but considered the full family situation. The purpose was to ascertain whether the potential applicant for Wi*FA could be better served through social work services, the provision of some short-term financial assistance, and assistance in getting a job, rather than an application for WFFA. This proved to be very effective in better serving our welfare population. To date, we have diverted 73% of applicants from WFFA applications, and sincerely feel that we have served them better this way than with a public assistance application. They are encouraged to apply for medicaid and food stamps if they so desire at that time. The committee designing the New Focus has received both a Kemer Productivity Award and a County Manager's Award for their innovation and effectiveness. Covering Kids: Two years ago, we determined that working families needed assistance with dependent health insurance coverage for their children. Many small employers were unable to help with this coverage, which resulted, in many instances, in children not having insurance. When NC Health Choice for Children started, we wanted to take a proactive approach to ensuring that the most children possible could take advantage of this excellent insurance. Through a grant with the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation, we were one of only a few counties in North Carolina selected to participate in a national outreach effort called Covering Kids. The Covering Kids program has three primary goals: 1) to design and conduct outreach programs that identify and enroll eligible children in Medicaid and other health insurance programs, 2) to simplify enrollment processes, and 3) to coordinate existing coverage programs for low-income children. The Covering Kids initiative in Cabarms County has targeted the following groups for outreach and enrollment: the Latino community, the faith community, and providers, including primary 'care physicians, hospitals, school nurses, dentists, and vision care specialists. Our mission in doing this is to continue to reduce barriers to children's health insurance and to develop and test outreach methods to increase enrollment. In working to accomplish this mission, we have out stationed outreach staff at NorthEast Medical Center, our regional hospital; Logan Community Family Resource Center, a primary practice and outreach center in a predominately African-American and Latino community; the Cabarrus Health Alliance, the local public health department; and at the JobLink Career Center. All of these outreach efforts are targeting both medicaid eligible families as well as working families who need this insurance for their children, and in many cases, are unable to otherwise access or afford health care through their employer. Updated Work Over Welfare: In our ongoing efforts to improve and enhance what we are doing to employ welfare recipients in Cabarrus County, the General Assembly granted us updated waivers for operating our Work Over Welfare or WOW program. The WOW program initially began in Cabarrus County in 1995 and was the first welfare reform inkiafive in the state. It preceded Work First. The original WOW 22