Background Information

A pilot project will be conducted by Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation (MDRC) in Montgomery County and is referred to as the Work Advancement and Support Center (WASC) project. The goal of the project is to combine job retention and advancement services delivered by the Workforce Investment Act One-Stop system, with delivery of supports for low-income workers such as food stamps, child care assistance, Medicaid, and State Child Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). The WASC project is limited in scope and is not a demonstration involving all county residents. It will compare the experiences of approximately 1600 participants. Approximately 800 treatment group participants will receive WASC services and procedures and approximately 800 control group participants will receive the same program procedures as other county assistance groups (AGs). The WASC project will be conducted for forty-two months.

To operate this project in Montgomery County for this limited number of WASC participants, Ohio has been granted approval from the Food and Nutrition Service to waive federal regulations at 7 CFR 273.14 (b)(3) and 275.23 (c)(1), (2) and (3) regarding face-to-face interviews at recertifications (reapplications) and Quality Control (QC) computation of the various state QC error rates.

It is anticipated that the WASC project will reach many low-income working AGs that are not currently receiving or applying for food stamps even though they may be eligible to participate in the Food Stamp Program. The anticipated outcome is to demonstrate that easing program policies and procedures can be accomplished without risk of impact on the QC error rate while increasing and retaining low-income AGs' participation in the Food Stamp Program.

For the duration of this pilot project, a new food stamp rule, 5101:4-2-10 of the Administrative Code, has been developed. This new rule applies only to Montgomery County WASC treatment participants. The rule outlines the mandatory verification requirements for this group which are less stringent than the mandatory verification requirements for the remainder of the food stamp population and meet the minimum federal verification requirements. This rule also eliminates the face-to-face interview requirement at reapplication(s) for the duration of this project. WASC participants will have a face-to-face interview at initial application and a telephone interview at each reapplication while participating in the WASC project. With the exception of the mandatory verification requirements and waiver of the face-to-face interview at reapplications, all other aspects of determining eligibility and level of benefits will be the same for this group as they are for other food stamp applicants and participants.

WASC treatment group cases that may be reviewed through a regular federal QC drawing process will not be included in the computation of any of the active case error rates (including case error rate, payment error rate and underissuance error rate). QC and Montgomery County staff have developed an alternate active case QC review process that will include a sample of WASC treatment and control group cases enrolled in the Food Stamp Program. This alternate process will provide information on payment accuracy impacts of WASC processes which Ohio and other states can rely on as they consider adopting similar enrollment and retention policies for the broader caseload in the future.

Implementation

Rule 5101:4-2-10 will be effective with initial applications of AGs that have signature dates on or after 08/25/2005 and that have been selected by Montgomery County to participate in the WASC project.

Fiscal Impact Analysis

This project is only being implemented in Montgomery County. They are already staffed for this project. No additional supplies, equipment or travel is involved.

Instructions