Since 1996, states and communities have had new opportunities to use federal welfare funds to create jobs for low-income parents. A number of states and localities have used their new discretion to develop programs that provide "transitional" jobs and a number of jurisdictions are investigating this opportunity. This new generation of public job creation programs provide paid work and learning opportunities for individuals with few work-related skills and little or no recent work experience. They are designed to improve participants' skills and employability so that they can move into unsubsidized employment within a six- to 12-month timeframe. Programs' success along these lines have been quite promising. For additional information on transitional jobs, visit the Transitional Jobs Network site.

CLASP has provided support to officials in a number of states and cities in connection with the design and implementation of these jobs programs for TANF recipients. Managers and staff from 14 programs--two statewide programs, 10 urban programs (including Chicago, Detroit, and St. Paul), and two rural programs (including one in Southeastern Ohio)--met for the first time in October 1999. CLASP has continued to provide technical assistance and support to this emerging peer support network.

We expect that jobs programs will continue to grow in popularity as a strategy for increasing the employability of individuals who are unable to find unsubsidized employment. Such programs also have great potential as interventions for families reaching TANF time limits, who are no longer eligible for cash assistance, but for whom transitional jobs can be created with TANF and state maintenance of effort funds. As a result, we expect to see continued growth in the number and size of these programs. CLASP expects to expand the work we do in providing technical assistance to these programs and in facilitating learning among these programs.

In addition to responding to requests for information about research and best practices, we expect to broaden our efforts to identify programs that combine paid work with education, training and/or other services (whether funded with TANF, WIA, Welfare-to-Work, or other "rehabilitation" funding sources), as well as similar programs in Europe, and to share the experiences of these programs with the existing network.

Finally, we will attempt to use the success of these programs in serving TANF recipients as a springboard in promoting their use for other disadvantaged adults who do not have access to cash assistance of any sort and who cannot secure or maintain employment in the unsubsidized labor market.

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