A new report titled "FY04 Work Servicess Standards and YTD Performance Summary" was posted on the Performance Measures website. We will update this report monthly with year-to-date performance.

Campaign starts September 29, 2003 and ends December 12, 2003. (Late donations are always welcome)

The SHARE Campaign is an annual event for support of voluntary community programs that meet established criteria and provides a method by which voluntary financial support from State of Alaska personnel may be achieved through the state payroll system.

Over the past several months, the division has been considering the Food Stamp Program's simplified reporting option that was introduced in the Farm Bill. We have been talking with staff around the state to hear feedback regarding this option, as well as communicating with states that have implemented this change.

Based on communications with staff and other states, we have decided to move forward with a Simplified Reporting option. In using the FY 03 QA data, we estimate our FS accuracy rate may improve by as much as 2.5% overall. This policy option benefits FS recipients in that it stabilizes benefits, and has shown a marked improvement in accuracy rates in the 20+ states that have adopted the policy.

People who surf the 'net to find information about their state's welfare program and other social benefits may find themselves adrift in confusing Web sites that don't always deliver.

All 50 states use Web and Internet technologies to provide basic information about state welfare, unemployment and other social safety net programs, but only a few states, such as Pennsylvania and Washington, provide "one-stop shopping" that connects citizens to everything for which they may qualify.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 12 -- New government figures show a profound change in welfare spending, shifting money from cash assistance into child care, education, training and other services intended to help poor people get jobs and stay off welfare.

Cash assistance payments now account for less than half of all spending under the nation's main welfare program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, federal officials say.