LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE ON CIVIL RIGHTS (LCCR)
WELFARE TASK FORCE

TANF Reauthorization Legislative Priorities

Working draft

For nearly half a century, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights has fought and continues to fight for equal opportunity and economic and social justice to ensure full participation in American life for all. Therefore, the Leadership Conference, which is the nation’s oldest and most broadly based civil rights coalition comprised of 180 national organizations, is deeply interested in welfare reform. Welfare reform should increase the chances for all families in need to become economically independent, and do so on a fair and nondiscriminatory basis. As welfare reauthorization moves forward, the Leadership Conference has identified the following priorities that we believe must be a part of any serious discussion:

1. Poverty Reduction

• Modify TANF’s goals to make poverty reduction a priority, and consider ways to incorporate measures of poverty reduction into broader program measures.

2. Full Funding for TANF Block Grants

• Ensure full funding for TANF programs with an appropriate inflationary increase, and provide special funds to under funded states.

3. Nondiscrimination, Fair Treatment, and Civil Rights Enforcement

• Ensure that welfare clients who participate in jobs are covered by the appropriate employment laws consistent with other workers.
• Strengthen labor enforcement of civil rights and employment laws and require states to demonstrate their compliance efforts.
• Ensure that states:
  • have clear policies on non-discrimination and applicable grievance procedures.
  • are required to adopt procedures to communicate policies and laws effectively to clients and caseworkers (e.g., through posting of notices and ongoing training on eligibility rules, available services, and proper application of civil rights and employment laws).
  • adhere to non-discrimination and other rules that ensure proper client assessments.
• Enhance data collection provisions to ensure:
  • the collection of data broken down by race, ethnicity, gender, disability and primary language for all members of household to uncover potential disparities and ensure even application of rules and procedures (such as information on assessments and services provided, sanctions, and time limits).
  • tracking of type of assistance provided and program outcomes broken down by race, ethnicity, gender, disability, and primary language.
  • grants for analysis of data to evaluate differences in services and outcomes for different communities.
• Adopt policies targeted at addressing unique barriers faced by special populations.
  • demonstration grants or other funds for states to pursue promising practices that focus on tackling discrimination barriers (such as barriers facing language minorities or individuals with disabilities).
  • pursuing specific strategies to address language barriers, such as:
    • making ESL classes and other language activities available to clients and count as a separate work activity.
    • providing more TANF resources to states to recruit, hire, and train bilingual/bicultural staff, to provide for the translation of materials and documents, and to combine English language programs with vocational training.
• Restore of benefits for legal immigrants
• Reject policies that disfavor certain types of families, such as single-parent families, or coerce clients to structure their family in a certain way.
• Rescind the drug felony conviction ban.
• Ensure that employees and beneficiaries of TANF-funded programs are not subject to any discrimination, including religious discrimination.
• Ensure that nothing in the TANF law would have the effect of preempting any local, state, or federal civil rights or health and safety laws.

4. Strategies to tackle employment barriers and facilitate a successful transition from welfare to work and economic security.

• Improve access to education and training, and provide more flexibility in having that participation count as a work activity, including greater access to postsecondary education.
• Adopt performance measures, or provide grants, to improve the quality and scope of training programs.
• Improve access to support services such as child care, transportation, and counseling and other services to address domestic violence, physical and mental health, and substance abuse problems.
• Create a public jobs program that offers welfare clients access to real wages, real opportunities to build skills, and access to programs focused on job readiness, basic education, vocational skills, and other barrier-removal services based on individualized plans.
• Identify policies and comprehensive work supports--such as child care and good cause policies that permit time off from work to care for a sick child or deal with a family emergency--that enable welfare clients to balance their work and family obligations.

5. Provide the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the territories with the necessary TANF resources and adequate TANF funding to provide support to families living in poverty in their local communities.