Policy & Program Development

Performance Data

I will be visiting as many offices as I can in the coming weeks to personally share our 2004 Strategic Plan with you. I am also excited to share many new, innovative ideas that your managers have adopted to revitalize and improve the DPA continuous improvement process. Clearly our goal is to improve our service and performance.

Program Manual Changes Arriving Soon!

Four program manual changes are going in the mail today and will be arriving in your office soon. These are: ATAP Manual Change #10;
APA Manual Change #7; Food Stamp Manual Change #13; and Medicaid Manual Change #26.

These manual changes have also been posted to our website at http://dpaweb.hss.state.ak.us/node/view/15 and are available for immediate use. Some of the links, however, are not working yet and may not be fully operational until sometime next week.

Alaska receives big bucks and it is all because of you!

A press release will come out soon announcing that Alaska will receive over $6.3 million in Federal TANF High Performance Bonuses for federal fiscal years 2001 and 2002. In FFY01 Alaska placed first in the nation for Job Entry and received a bonus of over $3.1 million for that achievement. For FFY02 Alaska was 6th in the nation for Job Entry and was awarded about $2.3 million. Bonus payments were also made for Success in the Work Force ($590,000) and for enrollment in Medicaid ($258,000). Alaska received the maximum bonus payment (5% of our TANF block grant for each fiscal year). These bonus payments must be directed toward cash assistance for the families we serve and will help relieve some of the pressure caused by the budgetary challenges we are currently facing.

Seasonal Benefit Reduction

From the Policy and Program Development Team

Summer is here and that means more employment opportunities for Alaska Temporary Assistance recipients. It also means that the July, August, and September benefits for most two-parent families will be reduced by 50 percent.

Informing Families

We are mailing two letters informing two-parent families of the upcoming seasonal benefit reduction: a letter from Director Anthony Lombardo on May 20th and EIS notice X067 on May 30th. Both letters encourage families to contact their case manager for additional help in finding work. These letters also market the array of services we have available to help support employment opportunities. Copies of the letters being mailed are attached.

Exempt Native Village Changes

This message is to let you know of changes to the time-limit exemption status for a number of Native communities. These changes are being made based on the 2000 census data, and are effective May 1, 2003. These changes affect communities in the Southeast, Northern, and Coastal regions; there are no affected communities in the Central region.