Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance
Department of Labor

Follow-Up on Implementation of Welfare Reform in New York State

As a result of welfare reform legislation, most public assistance recipients must seek employment or engage in activities that can lead to employment, such as formal education or job training. New York's public assistance programs are administered by the counties under the supervision of the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance and the Department of Labor.

In our prior report 97-D-19, we reviewed the actions taken in New York to implement this new approach to public assistance programs as well as the actions planned to evaluate the effectiveness of the new approach. We concluded that additional programs might be needed for public assistance recipients with significant barriers to employment, and additional post-employment services might be needed to help individuals either stay employed or get better jobs. We also identified a need for better transportation services and better child care services for public assistance recipients participating in welfare-to-work programs, and noted that the effectiveness of these programs could not be adequately evaluated unless systems were established for tracking public assistance recipients after they became employed or after they exhausted their eligibility for public assistance funds. In our follow-up review we found that, while actions have been taken to address these issues, additional actions are needed if the issues are to be adequately addressed.

For a complete copy of Report 2000-F-11 click here.
For a copy of the 90-day response click here.