ADDENDUM 3

CRITERIA FOR ALASKA NATIVE VILLAGE EXEMPTION

FROM THE 60-MONTH TIME LIMIT

In order for an Alaska Native Village to be identified as exempt from counting months towards the Temporary Assistance 60-month time limit, the following criteria must be met:

1.  The village must be federally recognized as an Alaska Native Village, and

2.  50% or more of the adults in the village were not employed according to the most recent census data, or as found by a labor market survey conducted for this purpose by the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development.  

In addition, if the Alaska Native Village is located less than 20 miles one way by road from an urban area or cluster (as defined by the U.S. Census Borough) with a population of 2,500 or more, or is within or contiguous to a larger Alaska Native Village, the unemployment status of the larger community will be used for both.

The following Alaska Native Villages are NOT exempt from the 60-month time limit because they are within 20 miles one way by road from an urban city:

Salamatof, Saxman

HOW ALASKA NATIVE VILLAGE EXEMPTIONS FROM THE 60-MONTH TIME LIMIT ARE DETERMINED

The initial determination of exemptions were made effective July 1997 based on 1990 census data and labor market surveys by the Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

The exemption status for Alaska Native Villages was re-determined effective May 2003 based on 2000 census data and again in September 2020 based on 2010 census data.

The American Community Survey (ACS) data was used to redetermine exempt Alaska Native Villages effective May of 2014 and again in September 2020.  The ACSAmerican Community Survey is an ongoing statistical survey that is administered by the U.S. Census to gather employment and other economic data that was previously captured in the 'long-form' of the U.S. Census' decennial survey.

Alaska Native Villages have also been reconsidered for exemption from the 60-month time limit on a case by case basis using the reconsideration process below.

RECONSIDERATION PROCESS

If a village is not exempt based on the above criteria and there is reason to believe that 50% or more of the adults in the village are not employed, the exemption status may be reconsidered through the following process:

1.  A request for reconsideration will be submitted to the Division of Public Assistance, Department of Health in writing and include an explanation of the circumstances that have changed in the community since the last census data was collected.

2.  The request for reconsideration must be made by a recognized local community entity, such as a municipality, native local government entity or village corporation.

3.  Requests for reconsideration received by December 1 each calendar year will be evaluated by means of a survey done under the supervision of the Department of Labor and Workforce Development (DOLWD).  The survey will collect data consistent with the seasonal time period in which the original census data for the exemption criteria was collected (February to April).  

4.  Villages will conduct the survey of employment in the format provided by DOLWDDepartment of Labor and Workforce Development.   DOLWDDepartment of Labor and Workforce Development will determine the time period of the survey and the size of the sample population for the survey, select the sample, provide the survey questions, instruct the community in collection of the survey information and analyze the data collected.  The community is responsible for collection of the survey data from the sample population specified by DOLWDDepartment of Labor and Workforce Development.  The expense associated with data collection will be borne by the community.

5.  The Director of Division of Public Assistance will make decisions on a community by community basis.  The effective date of the exemption will be determined by DOLWDDepartment of Labor and Workforce Development analysis of the survey data.

6.  Urban areas as defined by the 2010 Census: "all territory, population, and housing units located within urbanized areas (UAs) and urban clusters (UCs), both defined using the same critera. The Census Bureau delineates UA and UC boundaries that represent densely developed territory, encompassing residential, commercial, and other nonresidential urban land uses. In general, this territory consists of areas of high population density and urban land use resulting in a representation of the urban footprint."

Urbanized Areas (UAs) -- An urbanized area consists of densely developed territory that contains 50,000 or more people. The Census Bureau delineates UAs to provide a better separation of urban and rural territory, population, and housing in the vicinity of large places.

Urban Clusters (UCs) -- An urban cluster consists of densely developed territory that has at least 2,500 people but fewer than 50,000 people. The Census Bureau first introduced the UC concept for Census 2000 to provide a more consistent and accurate measure of urban population, housing, and territory throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Island Areas.

According to the 2010 Census data, the area listed in the table below are considered urbanized areas and/or urban clusters and cannot be considered for exemption status: