It has been a year since we began our Better Than Average Food Stamp Program accuracy campaign. At that time, we set what seemed a lofty goal for ourselves, improving our payment accuracy rate from the worst in the nation to 93% in one year. I remember a distinct feeling while meeting with you last fall to kick off the campaign of my doubts quickly shifting to a strong belief that "we can do this". Every office acknowledged the importance of work quality and was confident that we could improve it. And indeed you have! Our food stamp accuracy rate now stands at 93.6%.

Over 700 visitors representing a wide range of ages and cultural diversity passed through the first-ever Public Safety Career Fair held on September 29th at the Anchorage Job Center - Muldoon. The event was presented by the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development. The event drew recruiters from across the United States from as far away as Washington DC, Chicago, Kansas City to Juneau, AK.

HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today announced welfare caseloads dropped in the first quarter of 2004 to fewer than two million families for the first time since February 1970.

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) caseloads dropped 1.3 percent for individuals and 0.8 percent for families between December 2003 and March 2004. As of March 2004, there were 4,798,986 individuals and 1,992,143 families receiving TANF cash benefits.

Have your clients meet nearly 40 recruiters from municipal, state and federal law enforcement agencies, fire department, emergency medical services, U.S. military, reserve, guard and private investigative and security agencies!

Wednesday, September 29, 2004
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Anchorage Job Center Muldoon
1251 Muldoon Road

To be worry-free about having enough food is not the norm in the United States, says a Cornell University sociologist.

"Rather, the need to use food stamps is a common American experience that at least half of all Americans between the ages of 20 and 65 will face," says Thomas A. Hirschl, professor of development sociology at Cornell who has completed a study of food stamp use.

Race and education, Hirschl says, have dramatic links to food stamp use: More than 85 percent of African Americans will use food stamps some time between the ages of 20 and 65, compared with 37 percent of white Americans; about 64 percent of adults with less than 12 years of education will use food stamps, compared with 38 percent of adults with 12 or more years of education.