Kentucky Works Program
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Since July 10, 2007, Audubon Area Community Services has operated the Kentucky Works Program (KWP), to work with Kentucky Transitional Assistance Program (K-TAP) recipients under contract with the Cabinet for Health and Family services in the thirty-four (34) counties of the Green River, Barren River, Pennyrile and Purchase Area Development Districts. Primary KWP offices are maintained in Owensboro, Bowling Green, Madisonville and Benton, with offices in each county that are staffed on a full-time or part-time basis, depending upon consumer needs.
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Program - TANF is a block grant program to help move recipients into work and turn welfare into a program of temporary assistance. Under the welfare reform legislation of 1996, TANF replaced the old welfare programs known as the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program, the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training (JOBS) program, and the Emergency Assistance (EA) program. The law ended Federal entitlement to assistance and instead created TANF as a block grant that provides States, Territories, and Tribes Federal funds each year. These funds cover benefits and services targeted to needy families.
Kentucky Transitional Assistance Program (K-TAP) - K-TAP is the monetary assistance program established by Kentucky using Federal funds from the TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) block grant. The program is a collaboration between the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, which operates Kentucky’s TANF program, known as the Kentucky Transitional Assistance Program (K-TAP).
Highlights of K-TAP:
Work Requirements:
- With few exceptions, recipients must work as soon as they are job-ready or no later than two years after coming on assistance.
- To count toward a State’s work participation rate, single parents must participate in work activities for an average of 30 hours per week, or an average of 20 hours per week if they have a child under age six. Two-parent families must participate in work activities for an average of 35 hours a week or, if they receive Federal child care assistance, 55 hours a week.
- Failure to participate in work requirements can result in a reduction or termination of a family’s benefits.
- States cannot penalize single parents with a child under six for failing to meet work requirements if they cannot find adequate child care.
- States must engage a certain percentage of all families and of two-parent families in work activities or face financial penalty. These required State work participation rates are 50 percent overall and 90 percent for two-parent families; however, States can reduce the targets they must meet with a caseload reduction credit. For every percentage point a State reduces its caseload below its FY 2005 level (without restricting eligibility), the credit reduces the States target participation rate by one percentage point.
Work Activities – Activities that count toward a State’s participation rates are (some restrictions may apply):
- unsubsidized or subsidized employment
- work experience
- on-the-job training
- job search and job readiness assistance – not to exceed 6 weeks in a 12-month period and no more than 4 consecutive weeks (but up to 12 weeks if a State meets certain conditions)
- community service
- vocational educational training – not to exceed 12 months
- job skills training related to work
- education directly related to employment
- satisfactory secondary school attendance
- providing child care services to individuals who are participating in community service.
Five-Year Time Limit:
- Families with an adult who has received federally-funded assistance for a total of five years (or less at state option) are not eligible for cash aid under the TANF program.
- States may extend assistance beyond 60 months to up to 20 percent of their caseload. They may also elect to provide assistance to families beyond 60 months using State-only funds or Social Services Block Grant funds.
Barren River Region:
(Warren, Barren, Allen, Butler, Edmonson, Hart, Logan, Metcalfe, Monroe, Simpson)
Green River Region:
(Daviess, Henderson, Union, Webster, Ohio, Hancock, McLean)
THE LAKES:
(Pennyrile – Hopkins, Christian, Muhlenberg, Caldwell, Crittenden, Livingston, Lyon, Todd, Trigg)
(Purchase – McCracken, Calloway, Marshal, Fulton, Ballard, Carlisle, Graves, Hickman)
The Kentucky Works Program (KWP) has provided a bridge to unsubsidized employment by combining time-limited subsidized employment with a comprehensive set of services to help participants overcome barriers and build work-related skills. The KWP program has serviced over 3,000 referrals from the State and amassed an estimated $5.2 Million dollars in taxable income from their clients in hourly wages. Our transitional job program gives participants the opportunity to gain valuable work experience, develop a work history, and earn a reference from an employer, which can be critical factors in securing unsubsidized employment.
Audubon is working to balance and reducing welfare expenditures with the State and Federal Governments by promoting the financial and non-financial benefits of working for each low-income client. They let participants brainstorm about why they are better off working, for financial reasons (such as being able to move to a better home or buy their children clothes) to non-financial ones (such as self-esteem and independence). We also help participants expand their thinking. People often get stuck in a pattern of thinking very narrowly about what they are able to do. Our Career Developers explore the positive things participants have accomplished and the range of skills they have acquired. In addition, help participants overcome barriers-both real and perceived-to employment, so that they can focus on their employment goals rather than getting caught up in the difficulties of working.
AACS Career Developer staff work closely with the Department for Community Based Services Case Managers and Supervisors by taking referrals for KWP from the Kentucky Transitional Assistance Program (K-TAP). Each KWP customer receives an initial hour long interview in which all aspects of the program are discussed and their interests and skills are assessed in detail. The career developers carefully take the KWP participants’ skills into account when matching them with a job that will be rewarding to both the employee and their new employer. This, along with the knowledge of our individual communities within the service region, promises to bring together a workforce that consists of K-TAP clients transitioning from welfare to job security and ultimately to self-sufficiency. Once a client finds a job that meets their employment goal, the Career Developers track their job progress for 365 days after they stop receiving benefits to monitor their success by: building additional skills or career advancement, updating and helping with resumes, counsel them through barriers, develop and fine tune job searching so they can maintain employment stability.
Because of the success of this program, the clients placed in a workplace environment can significantly increase the likelihood of getting hired in an unsubsidized job for participants with a criminal record, little or no work experience, or no work history in the United States.
For a copy of a current Monthly Report click here
- This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , Program Director;
- This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , Associate Program Director;
- This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , Barren River Regional Manager;
- This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , Green River Regional Manager; or
- This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , Purchase and Pennyrile Regional Manager.
