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Welfare/Employment
Welfare, Employment and Disabilities
Since the implementation of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) in 1996, increasing attention is being given to the interrelationship of three closely connected topics; welfare, employment and disabilities. While PRWORA created a clear expectation that adult welfare recipients were expected to become self-sufficient, a growing body of welfare to work research has demonstrated that many individuals receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) have significant work limitations, often involving hidden disabilities such as learning disabilities, mental health problems or intellectual limitations.
Many of the challenges faced by Welfare-To-Work (WTW) programs are new. As recently as 1995, the majority of adult welfare recipients were exempted from work requirements. Programs were not in place to help program staff and clients manage work limitations and find employment while coping with family related issues.
Based on shared experiences gained from 1996 to the present, it is clear to welfare to work program managers and their colleagues in the vocational rehabilitation world that their ultimate success in moving clients with work limitations into employment will depend on a greater recognition of interrelated issues associated with welfare, employment and disabilities. Ideally, from greater awareness should emerge a more coordinated set of responses and stronger partnerships between TANF agencies and vocational rehabilitation organizations.
This section of the NYSRA website was developed to improve the access of WTW program staff and managers and their vocational rehabilitation colleagues to provide information regarding disabilities, employment and welfare.
There are three sections featuring recent news and articles related to welfare, employment or disabilities, as well as links to websites of interest. The "Welfare" page will focus on welfare-to-work issues, program and policy updates. The "Employment" page includes the latest research and program information dealing with people remaining on welfare, who sometimes have multiple barriers to finding and keeping a job. The "Disabilities" page highlights updated information, reports and studies about disability issues and provides links to other sites.
We hope this information will be helpful to programs that deal with job seekers who have work limitations. Please let us know how we may make this site more useful by contacting us at nysra@nyrehab.org.
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