Department of Children and Families - W-2 ARRA Survey

URGENT!! IMMEDIATE RESPONSE REQUESTED

Introduction
The American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) created a $5 billion Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Emergency Contingency Fund (ECF). Wisconsin may be eligible to receive up to $93.45 million of the ECF. The additional funding is available based on increased expenditures for:

• basic assistance, e.g., CSJ and W-2 T payments;
• non-recurrent short term benefits, e.g., emergency assistance and emergency payments;
• subsidized employment, e.g., Trial Jobs and Real Work Real Pay.

The Department of Children and Families is interested in accessing the ECF in order to serve more children and families who are experiencing hardship due to the current economic downturn. In order to determine the amount of funding that is needed we are asking you to complete this brief survey. We ask that you please complete the survey using the assumption that more resources will be available to meet the identified need.

Please complete and return this survey at your earliest convenience. We will be compiling the results during the week of August 17th, so we would appreciate receiving your response by Monday, August 17, 2009.

Once we have received the results of this survey we will compile the expenditure information and submit a request to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families to apply for ECF. For detailed information about the process to request funding please refer to the TANF Program Instruction, which is the PDF document attached to the e-mail you received with this survey link.

Thank you for completing our survey.
Name: 


  1. Please tell us about yourself.
    a. Name
    b. Title
    c. Agency Name
    d. E-mail address
    e. Phone Number



  1. For basic assistance expenditures, e.g., benefits for CSJ, W-2 T, and Caretaker of an Infant participants:
    a. What did/will you spend for July - September 2009?
    b. What do you think you need to meet the need for October - December 2009? Assume that more resources will be available to you.



  1. For non-recurrent short term benefits (benefits to low income families defined as cash, in-kind or voucher payments that are designed to meet a specific crisis situation or episode of need that are not intended to meet recurring or ongoing needs, and will not extend beyond four months) e.g., W-2 emergency payments, emergency assistance, transportation assistance, work related expenses, one-time payments for families expenses, e.g., back-to-school costs:
    a. What did/will you spend for July - September 2009?
    b. What do you think you need to meet the need for October - December 2009? Assume that more resources will be available to you.




  1. For all costs related to subsidized employment, e.g., Trial Jobs and Real Work Real Pay, including, but not limited to, staff time for planning and operating the program, wage subsidies, and supportive services:
    a. What did/will you spend for July - September 2009?
    b. What do you think you need to meet the need for October - December 2009? Assume that more resources will be available to you.