The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that Alabama’s Family Assistance Division will be awarded a High Performance Bonus of $620,343 from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program.
The award is for transitioning welfare recipients to work and for job retention, increased earnings or meeting other goals of welfare reform.
"States are being awarded for helping low-income families become self-sufficient through work and higher earnings", said HHS Assistant Secretary for Children and Families Wade F. Horn, Ph.D. "Welfare reform is working because more families are finding work and entering the economic mainstream."
The 1996 TANF law authorized bonuses to states for annual achievements aimed at strengthening families through work and reforming the welfare system. Awards for each state depend upon its performance in achieving goals and the size of each state’s TANF block grant.
Alabama won this award because it ranked among the top ten states in the measure of improvement of TANF recipients who entered employment in FY 2004 over the number of our TANF recipients who entered employment in FY 2003.
"We’re extremely pleased to see our TANF and JOBS staff recognized at a national level for their dedicated service," Said DHR Commissioner Page Walley. "Their daily efforts in moving Alabama families to employability and independence continue to improve the quality of life for the families we serve."
Alabama has previously won awards from HHS for performance in this and other measures of the High Performance Bonus in the years 2000, 2003, and 2004.