From the Ct. site (that dispaceed2007 posted)

Welfare Reform

Jobs First –
Connecticut’s Welfare Reform Program
Introduction

On January 1, 1996 the state of Connecticut began a transformation of its welfare program from a system of dependency to one of personal responsibility and self-support. The Jobs First program revolves around the employment and potential employment of the client. The emphasis has been placed on encouraging able-bodied individuals to actively seek, obtain, and retain employment.

These reforms are designed to break the cycle of poverty and promote work and responsibility. The program is structured to provide strict consequences for failure to pursue employment but also considerable reward for finding and keeping a job.

I think the last part of the quote from the site says a lot.

“Financial Assistance

The financial assistance programs provide income support to individuals and families to meet their basic needs while encouraging their maximum degree of independence. The programs are:

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
See Also: Welfare Reform"

I see the “bill views” keep rising now here. I think many of the old “lurkers” are coming back now unemployment is running out.

More and more will be looking for help and advice.

Sorry, I had another poster on my mind NGOL, I had a really hard day.

No Hope. MA gives much more help than CT to their people. I learned that when I worked there.

I am going to be dead serious with this post.

If you do not have a place to live when the last of your money is gone you better start reading about survival NOW.

In Ct. we will “probably” get the extra 7 weeks next month, but any hope of additional help from Washington may be a long ways away, and state help is almost nothing for most. If you end up homeless here in most areas you better hide somewhere, or you will be arrested.

Anyone that has been around here for a while should realize by now how slow the wheels turn in Washington.

This pattern has changed in recent years and jobs lost in recessions are much slower to return, if they come back at all. In the 2001 slump, unemployment peaked 19 months after the recession ended, and it was another three years before the jobless rate came close to pre-recession levels.

In the current recession, economists say high unemployment is likely to persist at least another four years. In Michigan, home to the battered U.S. auto industry, nearly 13 percent of jobs may be wiped out, according to research firm IHS Global Insight, and the state’s labor market probably won’t return to its pre-recession strength until after 2015.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090803/ts_nm/us_usa_unemployment_3

Unless Obama figures out how to repair the job market, the can-do attitude sparked by his election may be replaced by despair, leaving deep economic and social scars that undermine his political goals.

GONE FOR GOOD

Joblessness typically rises during recessions as weak demand prompts companies to cut production and jobs. Normally those workers are rehired once the economy recovers.

For example, in the back-to-back recessions of the early 1980s, the jobless rate peaked at 10.8 percent. Thanks to a strong recovery, that receded to 8.3 percent one year after the downturn ended.

The price of U.S. recession is paid in jobs

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Long after President Barack Obama’s first term ends in 2013, millions of U.S. families will still be paying the price for the recession.

From auto workers in Detroit too old for retraining, to Hispanic migrants in Arizona with no homes to build, to new college graduates competing with experienced workers for scarce jobs, more and more people are facing long-lasting unemployment.

Since the recession began in December 2007, the jobless rate has climbed 4.6 percentage points to 9.5 percent, the biggest jump since the Great Depression. Worse, the mean duration of unemployment is now almost 6 months, the highest on record.

Although Obama frequently points out he inherited the recession from his predecessor, George W. Bush, the fallout will frame his legacy, presenting a quandary for a president elected on a slogan of “Yes We Can.”

Sorry, I can’t help you with that one Hope.

I will tell you what I know of what help besides unemployment benefits is available in Ct.

If you are a single mother, you can get welfare for a limited number of months, section 8 housing assistance and many other things. If you are a family with a man in the house, or single, all you can get are some food stamps, and that almost worthless SAGA medical insurance.

At one time there was a program called “General Assistance”. It would pay for a hotel room, give you a few bucks in your pocket (you had to work for it), food stamps, and medical insurance. In other words they would not let you end up homeless.

Bill Clinton, and welfare reform ended that.

Thanks a lot Bill.

To: Everyone
Does anyone know of a good HIPPA forum. I have been trying to find reasonable medical insurance for myself and no luck. I don’t qualify for individual health plan because I take prescriptions. Thanks

P.S. Sorry this is not about unemployment.

Well…….I just got home from a brutal day of work. I am lucky to have a couple days again this week. It’s not enough to pay all the bills, but it is better than nothing.

While I was waiting for my men in the commuter parking lot I bought the local paper from the machine there just to see what jobs were in it. There was only one. In all of my life before this, there was always at least a couple pages of jobs. Things are getting really scary around here, and we are in a state that is “supposedly” doing better than most are.

I never got the chance to congratulate you on your work for PA…CONGRATS!

We need more people like you.

Thank you so much DannyDog! I am so thankful we won’t be missing any weeks. I am just anxious to find out when we can file so I can have a rough idea as to when we will see a check. My mortgage company is willing to work with me but I need to give them some dates. Hopefully soon we can have a rough idea….

Thanks again!

PAGirl,

The bill will be retroactive to July 1st. So we should not miss any weeks.

PENNSYLVANIA UPDATE …

An email from advocate attorney Sharon Dietrich sent at 1:30PM to me is pasted below.

In case you are interested in the politics abour HB 1770, the UC Extended Benefits bill, here you go.

I am told that the bill is expected to be on a House supplemental agenda for concurrence today. Concurrence was needed because of a technical amendment to make it retroactive to when people started to get cut off. The Governor’s Office will then try to get the Senate to sign it right away, so he can sign it and get it done.

Checks should be coming soon.

Sharon M. Dietrich
Managing Attorney for Employment and Public Benefits
Community Legal Services, Inc.
1424 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19102
(direct) 215-981-3719
(fax) 215-981-0434
sdietrich@clsphila.org

Hello PA Friends,

I haven’t been able to post on the new site but I have been reading. I had to go elsewhere to make a post.

Has anyone heard any new updates on the additional 7 weeks? I am hoping to find out some details (I.e. when we can start to file again). I was searching and couldn’t find anything.

Thanks so much….
I hope you are all well!

JJFINECT

I hear you, I’m in the same boat.

We have to wait till August 20th to find out what is going to happen? If it stays at 8% or go’s higher (which it should due to more layoffs in the state) then we will get the additional 7 weeks – As Patriots mentioned , I wouldn’t be surprised if it doesn’t starts until the 1st week in September?

What’s even more depressing is the fact if they don’t revise HR 3404 bill and take out the 9% We wont get the possible 13 weeks extension?

Here is the page for the new bill:
http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h3404/comments?comment_page=3&navtab=comments&page=1#comments

John

CT has this website listing help for “other adults”? (healthy single adults)

http://www.ct.gov/dss/cwp/view.asp?a=2345&Q=304930&dssNav=|

Has anyone from TX. rec’d their letter re: EB?

I thought we didn’t get EB because Perry denied funds?

I have IE8, the “post comment” button was there, then the next day it vanished? I’m using firefox now and the “post comment” button is now visable

I’m not sure. The first time I called the number that 211 gave me everytime I got through they kept hanging up the phone! I’m serious. I don’t know if that is what they think is cutting the budget. Then when I called this time they told me that I needed to apply down at their office and that it would take up to 60 days to process. We are in a budget crisis so maybe that is why? They were not that helpful.

Doesn’t CT have emergency assistance? During the break between extensions before, I went to the nearest MA welfare office, filled out forms, waited about 20 minutes, talked to someone, was given a card and had $176 dollars in foodstamps the next day and was approved for 3 months. You might want to call first to see what types of info you have to bring. I brought everything required which may be one reason I was processed so quickly.

If you are a single person without children 211 is of almost no use except for food stamps and medicaid, but to even qualify for those it will take up to 60 days of processing! What does a person do until then for money for food???

Why the heck does a state have to hit 9% to qualify for the extension congress is talking about. Lord knows if CT will hit that high. All I know is that we have hardly any jobs and so many people out of work.

Thanks!

I ran out of benefits. It is so scary not to have that check coming in.

Has anyone heard any new updates on CT? If not does anyone know when we will find out if we get the last part of the EB extension?

I updated to browser 8 so I can communicate with you guys again!

Thanks!

This is mainly a gut feeling, based on little things, so I don’t really feel like debating it endlessly. But I will make another “declaration,” slightly symbolic I guess—I will keep reading this forum, but will refrain from posting here (unless I can’t help myself!) in favor of looking to the future and posting over on the new forum for 3404. (I’ll bet OC will be happy if they can retire this overloaded blog and move us over there to newer territory!) HR 3404 can use the attention, even though I really think the opposition to an extension will come mainly in the Senate, if anywhere.

Good-bye, 6867!

In spite of the incredible odiousness of it all, the mistakes made in the process in both Bush’s and Obama’s admins, I really do think, as much as I seriously despise many of the players involved, that stabilizing the banking system may have averted us all from a fate much worse (hard to imagine) than what we are in now. With that, private sector can at least have the possibility of coming back, even if not with as much gusto as before. I guess what I’m saying is my intuition and observation tell me that we’re not facing a total world economic meltdown for my later years, some “Thunderball” scenario, something I thought quite possible these past months.

I have no illusions that if the economy climbs out of this hole that we will all return to “normal,” since that norm was based on an illusion anyway (the series of bubbles that made so many rich but also so many downtrodden). I never spent big sums on credit for fancy stuff other than just survival and over-priced health insurance, and I never bought a house I couldn’t afford, or any of that. But I always made the assumption that I would continue with whatever level of lifestyle I had because I could always find a job. Even with a recovery, I think we all know it will be limited in many ways due to many types of jobs that will never come back, the effect of debt, both national and personal. The “new normal” may not be what we had or still want, but we can probably adapt more easily now to what much of the industrialized world has been living with for decades.

All winter I watched as job search keywords piled up ridiculously short and irrelevant lists of jobs not worth applying for. But in the last month or so I’ve seen a slight but encouraging difference, especially for this time of year. More relevant job openings, even if not all in Florida are showing up; I’ve had two interviews and one relevant recruiter solicitation in the last month, no job yet, but encouraging. At my age and particular skills niche, it still may be quite a while before I snag something, but at least I’m getting less depressed at reading the job ads than I was in the winter and spring.