December DPA Stars
Seasons Greetings to all! Following the Thanksgiving holiday, it is more than appropriate to say 'Way to GO! and THANKS' to our two latest DPAStars!
Better than Average Payment Accuracy Campaign Update
It is an odd calendar we follow in the Food Stamp Program Quality Assessment process. Each federal fiscal year about 380 cases are randomly picked for review. The last of the 2004 sample was selected in September and the QA staff is finishing the last of those reviews now. We set our target at 93% payment accuracy and through your good work we are close to achieving that goal.
Take a quick look at the attached charts that show how your office and region has performed, and interestingly displays the weight each office has on statewide QA sample. Every case does matter and every office does contribute to our success. Still, you can see that the performance of some offices have great influence on our payment accuracy rate because of the number of cases drawn from there or the size of the allotments.
Report: Employment reduces chronic drug use
Funded by NIH grant, College of Pharmacy researchers show welfare recipients benefit from 'work therapy'
HOUSTON, Nov. 30, 2004 – It's said that "idle hands are the devil's workshop." A pair of University of Houston professors studying employment and drug use now provide support for that proverb. Led by Isaac D. Montoya, clinical professor at the UH College of Pharmacy, this National Institutes of Health (NIH) study found that employment reduces the chronic drug use of female welfare recipients.
Report: Higher education for single low-income moms benefits society
University Park, Pa. –- In encouraging low-income single mothers to earn a college education, federal and state governments, along with higher education institutions, will make a solid, long-term investment for the whole society, a Penn State researcher says.
Some policymakers object to using tax dollars to subsidize a college education for single mothers on partial welfare, notes Dr. Donald E. Heller, associate professor of education. They apparently believe that this discriminates against working-class, tax-paying Americans who earn an adequate wage but whose income still leaves them out of reach of a college education.
Report: Poor Find It Hard to Afford Heart-Healthy Foods
A new study finds that recipients have trouble with access, transportation and time.
TUESDAY, Nov. 9 (HealthDayNews) -- A small study conducted in a Boston neighborhood highlights the difficulty of affording heart-healthy food when you're a beneficiary of food stamps.
A family of four receiving food stamps came up $227 short for the month, while seniors living alone came up $103 short.