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WASHINGTON, Sept. 10

(Juneau) - Governor Frank H. Murkowski has directed that the attached briefing paper be distributed to foster a better understanding of the administration's human resources enterprise integration project. This project will consolidate and integrate human resources managers and personnel functions under a single agency, the Division of Personnel within the Department of Administration.

"We appreciate the cooperation and hard work of our human resource managers in implementing this new system," said Murkowski." I would also like to recognize the professional conduct of all of those involved with these changes. Alaska is well served with public employees such as these."

A Ketchikan-based organization that helps struggling commercial fishermen obtain training for work in the maritime industry may be in dire straits due to decreased federal funding.

SEALink Inc. received $500,000 in federal Workforce Investment Act funds this year for its low-income adult dislocated worker program, compared with $1.78 million last year, said Ralph Mirsky, the group's executive director.

Here are the results of the DPA Food Stamp Accuracy Rate survey. The response from DPA staff was amazing and the suggestions are now being used to formulate strategies to lower the error rate.

This survey document has answers organized by question but otherwise it is a straightforward list of responses. Thank you to everyone who took the time to answer the survey.

HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson announced today that both the number of individuals and the number of families receiving assistance under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program declined between March 2002 and March 2003.

Totals for these quarters show that the number of recipients (defined as individuals) in March 2003 was 4,963,771, a decline of 4.3 percent since March 2002 and 59.5 percent since August 1996, when the TANF law was signed into law. The number of families (defined as family units with children) receiving TANF declined about 2 percent during the same period, to 2,039,917 in March 2003. Since August 1996, the number of families receiving TANF has fallen by 53.7 percent.

When Mark* and Lisa

Recently, DPA received a letter from USDA region X Director Dennis Stewart telling us that we have the worst food stamp accuracy in the nation. We are using this opportunity to kick off a campaign to bring our accuracy in line with the national norm by 2005.

On August 14th from 1:30-3pm we will be convening the DPA Leadership Workgroup to address this issue. This group is comprised of staff from all levels of our organization and we will be seeking their thoughts and opinions as to how we can improve our error rate.

Mary Lorence of Juneau began her new position this month in Anchorage and has more than 19 years of experience in delivering services to children and their families. "We

Anchorage, Alaska, July 24 - Some 7,000 elderly Alaskans have already applied for help from a new state program. The Senior Assistance Program will pay seniors $120 a month for 10 months.

With the current number of applicants, the program will cost the state $8.4 million.

The Alaska Housing Finance Corp. board has approved a pilot program to make home ownership more accessible to low-income Alaskans with disabilities. The Anchorage-based state housing agency manages more than 4,000 Housing Choice Vouchers statewide that help low-income Alaskans with their rent. The pilot program allocates 10 rental vouchers instead to the agency's HCV Homeownership program, letting people with special housing needs due to disabilities use the voucher payments as mortgage payments, AHFC said.