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Recommendations
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State of Louisiana TANF Evaluation: Volume 1: Evaluation of the FITAP and FIND Work Programs (10/01/02)
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- The Dept. of Social Services should improve the assessment process for FIND Work participants. The Dept should explore the feasibility of developing contracts with Louisiana Community and Technical College system to streamline the system of referring FIND Work participants.
- The Department of Social Services should expand FIND Work recipients’ access to assessment and counseling for mental health issues, learning disabilities, and other disabilities. These services may be provided by other state agencies and contracted community-based service providers.
- The Dept of Social Services should expand countable job search and readiness classes to all parishes and encourage most FIND Work participants to take the classes.
- The Department of Social Services should develop a work activity component that combines 10 hours per week (or up to 35 percent of scheduled hours) of basic education, workplace literacy training, or other job-related training with a 20-hours-per week work experience component.
- The Department should develop partnerships with the Workforce commission and the Louisiana Community and Technical College system to implement and education/work experience component at local campuses participating in the Adult Education and Workplace literacy Training TANF Initiative.
- The Department of Social Services should continue to provide transitional transportation assistance to FIND Work participants who exit for employment.
- The Department of Social Services should begin development of an after-care program for recipients who leave the program for employment, with the aim of improving job retention and reducing recidivism.
- The Department of Social Services should review the process for ensuring that FITAP recipients comply with child support enforcement. SES and OFS staff should jointly analyze the reasons and circumstances that cause these cases to close.
- The State of Louisiana should review whether the school attendance requirement for children of FITAP families is warranted, and consider dropping this requirement for FITAP participation.
- The State of Louisiana should review whether the immunization requirement for children of FITAP families is warranted, and consider dropping these requirements as FITAP participation.
- The Department of Social Services should study the feasibility of implementing a sanction response team, using either DSS staff, local service providers, or some combination of the two.
- The Department of Social Services should identify alternative activities in addition to, or in place of, the monthly 20-job contact requirement for recipients who seek an exemption to the 24-month time limit.
- The Department of Human Services should review its current strategies for identifying and assessing families reaching the federal 60-month lifetime limit for receipt of cash assistance.
- The Department of Social Services should review the current schedule of contacting clients nearing the time limits in order to allow more time for recipients to address any barriers they face.
- The State of Louisiana should review the goals and merits of the 24-month time limit— relative to the 60-month lifetime limit on cash assistance—and consider eliminating or significantly modifying the 24-month time limit.
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State of Louisiana TANF Evaluation: Volume 2: TANF Initiatives Implementation Study (10/01/02)
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- DOA may want to require all programs to submit basic counts of services provided. In most cases, this will be the number of participants who were enrolled in a program or received service in a certain period. If there are multiple program components, the program should be required to report the number of participants in each program component as well as a total number participants served.
- If indicators are reported in percentage terms (e.g., a program completion rate), DOA should also ask for the counts used to compute such percentages. Our review of performance indicators in percentage terms indicated that many of them were hard to verify and interpret.
- Some implementing agencies at the local level may not have the experience or capacity to track required indicators. DOA should work with each state agency to ensure that local sites understand the requirement and are able to consistently record required indicators. This may require providing technical assistance to local staff or simplifying indicators.
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