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You are here: Home » Policy Issues » Health & Human Services » Welfare Reform/Employment Training Welfare Reform/Employment Training
The NCAI Welfare Reform Program began in 1996 after the passage of Public Law 104-193, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA). Resolutions passed at NCAI's 53rd Annual Session in Phoenix, AZ established the direction that NCAI would take in disseminating information and advocating on behalf of Indian communities. Past program activities have included the submission of proposed amendments to PRWORA as well as the facilitation of multiple national forums on the impact of welfare reform on Indian Country. Recent program activities have been concentrated in four main areas: continued broad dissemination of welfare reform information, identification of tribal best practices, working in partnership with regional tribal organizations, and various NCAI Welfare Reform Task Force initiatives.
By facilitating substantive dialogues between tribal leaders and state, as well as federal, representatives, NCAI works with tribes to take pro-active measures based on informed decisions to implement tribal welfare reform. The sweeping changes brought by welfare reform will effect all tribes, regardless of their existing economic infrastructure and relationship with their respective states.
Overview of Welfare Reform
In the Summer of 1996, the 104th Congress passed, and the President signed into law, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (Pub. L. 104-193), more commonly referred to as Welfare Reform. The following year, the 105th Congress technically amended portions of the welfare reform law and established a Welfare-to-Work (WtW) program, as part of the spending provisions of the historic Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (Pub. L. 105-33). The result of these laws is an unprecedented change in the way federal welfare assistance is provided to individuals, children and families living in poverty throughout the United States. These new laws exact broad-sweeping changes in federal entitlements such as: Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), now a discretionary block grant to states known as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) which mandates work participation requirements; Food Stamp eligibility; Medicaid and Medicare program delivery; child care and other children's support programs; and a host of other welfare related assistance programs and services. Devolution of most of these programs to states and often, in turn, to local governments has alleviated the federal government of most of its fiscal and jurisdictional program responsibilities. Federal funding for most of these programs is now discretionary in nature as well, with spending authority block-granted directly to the states.
Documents
Tribal TANF Participation
Links
NCAI Welfare Reform Priority Issue Memorandums and Welfare Reform Updates
Documents
NCAI Testimony on Welfare Reform Implementation
Documents
NCAI Welfare Reform Task Force
The NCAI Welfare Reform Task Force (WRTF), as called for in NCAI Resolution GRB-98-44, was nominated by the tribes and established by the NCAI Executive Committee at the NCAI 55th Annual Convention in Myrtle Beach, SC. This task force is currently dealing with numerous issues in the arena of tribal social service delivery, employment and training, and family support services. The NCAI WRTF includes two delegates and one alternate from each of the twelve federally-recognized areas of Indian Country. NCAI would like to thank the Welfare Reform Task Force for all of their hard work and commitment to advocating for tribal communities in the midst of welfare reform.
Documents
NCAI National Welfare Reform Forums
The collecting and sharing of information is vital to a better understanding of the true social service needs in Indian Country. In NCAI's efforts to address these and other welfare reform issues, a series of national welfare reform forums were conducted in 1998. Participants included Tribal leaders and government representatives from both the state and federal level. Transcripts and documents associated with these forums have been generated, collected and made available to tribes as part of NCAI's role as a national information clearinghouse on tribal welfare reform.
Documents
Welfare Reform Implementation in Indian Country: A National Forum February 28, 1998 Conference Theater, Grand Hyatt, Washington, D.C.
Welfare Reform Impacts On Tribal Social Services: A National Forum April 23, 1998 Double Tree Hotel LLoyd Center Portland, Oregon
Addressing Tribal Employment Responsibilities Under Welfare Reform: A National Forum June 14, 1998 Great Lakes Complex Radisson Inn, Green Bay, Wisconsin
Organizational Reports on Welfare Reform in Indian Country: A National Forum Sunday, October 18, 1999 Myrtle Beach Convention Center Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Welfare Reform Reauthorization
Initially passed in 1996, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (Public Law 104-193), better known as Welfare Reform, gave tribes the authority and flexibility to administer some welfare related programs. Unfortunately, the statute did not include much-neededresources for start-up costs, administration, Management Information Systems and technology, as well as sufficient supportive services andeconomic development/job creation funding. The 107th Congress will be responsible for reauthorizing welfare reform, and tribes will have an opportunity to amend sections addressing the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, the Child Care Development Fund (CCDF), the Native Employment Works (NEW) and Welfare-to-Work programs, and the Child Support Enforcement program. Amendments relating to Food Stamps, Medicaid and a host of Child Welfare programs may also be considered during welfare reform reauthorization.
Documents
National Public Radio Programs on Welfare Reform in Indian Country
Transcripts
Comments on Proposed Regulations
In consultation with tribes, NCAI provides comments on proposed federal regulations. The proposed rule on Tribal TANF/NEW (45 CFR Parts 286 and 287) was published in the Federal Register on July 22, 1998. After an extension of the comment period, comments were due to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on November 12, 1999. This rule has not been published in final yet.
The Proposed Draft Regulation on BIA Financial Assistance and Social Service Programs (25 CFR Part 20) was published in the Federal Register on May 6, 1999. After an extension of the original comment period, the comment deadline was September 7, 1999.
Documents
W.K. Kellogg Foundation Devolution Initiative
At its 55th Annual Session in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, NCAI announced their award of a three-year grant from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation. NCAI is one of 19 grantees that Kellogg has funded under their new Devolution Initiative, which seeks to take advantage of current devolutionary trends, create an objective information base which is relevant and useable by a variety of policy stakeholders, and explore ways to engage citizens in public policy processes and decision-making.
Devolution Has a Major Impact on Local Communities and Indian Tribes
In the past two years, the federal government has devolved many fiscal and jurisdictional social service program responsibilities to the state and in some cases Tribal governments. The former Aid to Families with Dependant Children (AFDC) program -- now, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program; Food Stamps; Medicaid/Medicare; child care; child support programs and many others have been affected by this devolutionary trend. Federal funding for many of these programs is now in the form of discretionary block grants to states.
Many tribes fear welfare reform is an attempt to devolve the federal trust responsibility to the states. Under this paradigm, welfare reform has monumental implications for its effect on tribal/state relationships; tribes and states are now called upon to interact in new ways and to forge a mutually beneficial working relationship in order to serve needy families and children. To the extent that such interactions will be unprecedented in their scope and breadth, welfare reform and other devolved programs are having a dramatic impact on tribes, on tribal/state relations and on social service delivery systems.
NCAI's Grant Proposal
Under its Kellogg grant, NCAI will study and address the process of devolution, its impact on Indian communities, and tribal options to work within the arena of welfare reform for the benefit Indian communities. NCAI will broaden its efforts beyond welfare reform to examine a wide range of auxiliary issues necessary to convert a welfare dependent population into a self-sufficient and economically productive community. To this end, a variety of strategies will be employed to assist Indian communities mitigate the potentially devastating impact of this law and facilitate the involvement of Indian tribes in the formulation of state and local policies under welfare reform that affect them.
NCAI will focus on two of the five Kellogg focus states, as well as gather information from, and disseminate information to, all tribes nationally. The NCAI devolution grant provides for multiple areas of work: 1) networking/coalition building with other national and state non-Native governmental, professional and advocacy organizations; 2) serving as an information clearinghouse and technological information service provider, including identifying and sharing model tribal integrated social service programs that may be adaptable for use by other tribes; 3) advocating on behalf of Indian tribes by continuing to foster direct consultation and negotiation between tribal governments and agencies implementing/overseeing devolved programs; 4) partnering with tribal colleges and national organizations to develop a tribal college curriculum on welfare reform, and devolution 5) assisting in developing and advocating for uniform tribal data collection efforts; and 6) conducting an intensified public education campaign targeting non-Native organizations; Congress; the Administration; and the general public.
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