SD12 - Welfare Reform in the Culpeper and Lynchburg Regions


Executive Summary:
As Virginia counties and cities have implemented welfare reform initiatives and are empowering Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients to find and maintain employment, questions about long-term effects and resource availability remain. The following study arose from concerns about how the first two Economic Development Districts, the Culpeper and Lynchburg regions, have succeeded in helping TANF recipients become self-sufficient. This study has found that creative approaches to community resources and services have enhanced the successes of welfare reform and that transportation, daycare, employment, and health insurance problems have not become as pervasive as expected.

The following draft represents the initial findings. Extensive data collection and analyses are currently being conducted by Mathematica to examine the impact of welfare reform on TANF recipients. Preliminary findings will be available in January 1999, with the final report available to the General Assembly in April 1999.