Christine Kelleher and Susan Webb Yackee Meeting Challenges: North Carolina Responds to Welfare Reform

Presentation 1)Welfare Reform Overview 2)Tracking County Responses to Welfare Reform Project 3)Selected Survey Results – Goals, Roles, and Relationships 4)Tracking the Money

Welfare Reform in Context What is devolution? “…The movement of authority and responsibility for public policies and services from a national to a local level of government.” (Kellogg Foundation Website) 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act 1997 NC legislation allowed selected counties to develop/administer county-specific policies

Devolution in North Carolina 1)State Goals (e.g. caseload reduction) 2)Block Grants a)All counties received block grant funds. b)Each county devised a plan to dispense their block grant funds in accordance with state welfare reform goals. 3)Standard versus Electing Counties a)For benefit levels, Standard counties follow the state plan. b)Electing counties could (but didn’t) determine welfare requirements, including eligibility and benefit levels.

Project Goal To understand better the decentralization of policy-making powers and autonomy in North Carolina counties after the “devolution” of power by the 1996 National and 1997 State legislation Meeting Challenges: North Carolina Responds to Welfare Reform,

23 Focus Counties Phase 1 UNCW UNCG NCCU NCSU ECU UNCP UNCC UNC-CH UNCA WCU ASU Project Information

Phase 2 – Survey of County Officials –99/100 Counties Responding –County Commissioners (29%) –County Managers (65%) –DSS Directors (67%) –DSS Board Chairs (65%) –Work First Administrators (70%) Project Information Goals, Roles, and Relationships

Sources of Innovation by Type of Official

The Degree of Change in Work First Administrators' Responsibilities

Future2000

Future Perspectives on the Past, Present, and Future Level of Welfare Policy-Making Authority

Goals, Roles, and Relationships GOALS In no case, did the achievement of goals measure up to their relative level of importance. Lack of differences, between the perceptions of officials in Standard Counties versus Electing Counties. ROLES Social Services Team (DSS Directors, DSS Board Chairs, and Work First Administrators) and Policymakers/Managers (County Commissioners and County Managers). DSS Directors, and the Social Services Team, were looked to as sources of innovation.

Goals, Roles, and Relationships RELATIONSHIPS County officials, on average, observed increased policymaking authority after It is important to consider the perspectives of county officials, especially as the reauthorization approaches.

$$ $ Tracking the Money $ Phase 3