The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program it created, made moving people from welfare to work a primary goal of federal welfare policy. The legislation included special provisions so American Indians and Alaska Natives could pursue this goal themselves.

Under several new programs - Indian and Native American Welfare-to-Work, Tribal TANF, Native Employment Works (NEW), Tribal Child Care, and Tribal Support Enforcement - tribal governments have new latitude in combining funds from different sources to pursue the overall goal of promoting employment. They can also establish for themselves the TANF time limits and work requirements that will apply to tribal nations. Yet with this new freedom comes new challenges. For example, most tribes have little experience running welfare programs, and important funding issues remain to be negotiated between tribal governments and states. The Department of Labor is funding an evaluation of Tribal Welfare-to-Work programs.

Selected Summary Findings in Brief

Tribal Welfare to Work Grants Program (Mathematica):

• Participating tribes: California Indian Manpower Consortium, Inc., Sacramento, California; Tanana Chiefs Conference, Fairbanks, Alaska; Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians, Red Lake, Minnesota; The Klamath Tribes, Chiloquin, Oregon; Kickapoo Tribe, Horton, Kansas; The Eastern Band of Cherokee, Cherokee, North Carolina ; White Earth RTC, White Earth, Minnesota; The Navajo Nation, Window Rock, Arizona; Three Affiliated Tribes, New Town, North Dakota; and Nez Perce, Lapwai, Idaho
• Close scrutiny of 1994 AFDC data can be critical to TANF success. The amount of federal funding of tribal TANF programs is based on the number of tribal members who received AFDC in 1994, as reported by the state.
• Cooperation with the state can smooth the transition to a successful TANF program. The experience of tribes in the study suggests that:
  1. state TANF programs can provide vulnerable training for tribal TANF staff,
  2. subcontracting some TANF operations to the state during a transition period gives tribal grantees additional flexibility,
  3. using the state TANF information system can reduce costs,
  4. creating a contingency fund can help resolve unexpected problems, and
  5. coordinating with state programs (as well as federal and other tribal programs and the private sector) can enhance TANF job development activities.
• Federal policies and procedures could facilitate tribal TANF operations.
• State policies and procedures are critical to the success of tribal TANF programs.