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Participation Rate Basics

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The Agreement

FEDERAL Federal government

provides a TANF block grant to states =

$562,340,120 Florida is also one of 17

states to receive Supplement=

$60,405,668

STATE Florida must provide

“maintenance of effort” with state funds at 80% of amount state spent in FFY 1994.

MOE Requirement drops to 75% if participation rate met= $368,363,477

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Monthly Formula

Number of families receiving assistance that include a work-eligible individual who is engaged in work

(Numerator)

___________________________________

Number of families receiving assistance that include a work-eligible individual

(Denominator)

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Same general formula applies for all family and two parent family rates

Annual participation rate is average of the monthly rates

Rate (percentage) is compared to federal minimum rate requirements:

All Family rate=50% Two Parent rate=90%

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Work Eligible

The term Work Eligible includes: Adult (or Minor Head of Household) receiving TCA or non-recipient parent living with a child receiving TCA– Sanctioned adults receiving TCA for children

through protective payee– Adults denied hardship but children receiving TCA

due to Family Safety determination of “at risk”

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Work Eligible (cont.)

The term Work Eligible excludes: Minor parent not head of household An alien ineligible for TCA due to immigration status At state option on C-b-C basis a parent recipient of

SSI or SSDI A parent providing care for a disabled family member

living in the home Florida option—single parent with child under 3

months; federal—under 12 mo.

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Who Gets Counted in All Family Participation Rate?

All Families Receiving TCA with work eligible adults* *Includes two-parent families as wellSingle eligible adults with a child over 6 and two-parent families when one parent is disabled or caring for disabled child count if they participate a minimum of 30 hours per week with at least 20 hours in “core” activities

Single custodial parents with a child under 6 or teen parents count if they participate at least 20 hours per week

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Who Gets Counted in Two Parent Rate?

Households with two work-eligible adults receiving federally funded child care count if they participate a combined average of at least 55 hours per week—with 50 hours in “core” activities

Households with two work-eligible adults NOT receiving federally funded child care count if they participate a combined avg. of at least 35 hours—with 30 hours in “core” activities

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Special “Requirements and Limitations”

Vocational education may only count for a total of 12 months for any individual.

No more than 30% of individuals (including those under age 20 engaged in educational activities) may be counted as participating in vocational education.

Participation in job search/job readiness may count for only 6 weeks in 12-month period and no more than 4 weeks consecutively.

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Caseload Reduction Credit

Shortfall in participation rate may be reduced by caseload reduction credit or by state contribution of “excess” MOE

Caseload reduction credit is earned on the caseload decline between current year and caseload in 2005

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Potential Impacts of Failure to Meet Minimum Participation Rates

Overall (or all family) rate— penalty of up to 5% of block grant based on severity of failure (up to $28+M)

Two-parent rate—penalty proportional to the size of two parent caseload in relation to total caseload.

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Impacts (cont.)

If either all-family or two-parent rate not met:

Maintenance of Effort percentage goes to 80% (rather than 75%) of FFY ’94 state expenditures=$24.5 M.

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Florida’s Track Record

No penalties to date; no increase in MOE ’96—2005: High caseload decline earned sufficient

credit for us to meet rate 2006-2008: Caseload reduction plus excess MOE

earned sufficient credit for us to meet rates (Excess MOE provisions have changed; no longer available in Florida)

2009-2011: DRA provision helps us meet rates

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TANF EXTENSION(DEC. 3—SEPT. 30, 2011)

Will require two new reports related to Participation:

1. Snapshot of participation in month of March, due by May 31;

2. Snapshot of participation in quarter April-June, due August 31.

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Report Content

For every work-eligible individual, whether they engaged in any activity directed toward gaining self-sufficiency, and if so, what specific activity broken out into:1. Does not qualify as a work activity countable under TANF but is reasonably calculated to help family toward self-sufficiency2. Would be counted toward participation rate except for the fact that:

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New Reports Cont.

a. The work-eligible individual did not engage in sufficient hours of the activity to count;b. Work-eligible individual has reached the maximum time limit allowed in the activity to count (Job Search, Voc. Ed.)c. The number of work-eligible individuals exceeds a limitation in the activity (Voc. Ed.)

Failure to report=up to 4% penalty to block grant.