Welfare Transition Program

Program Description

Florida’s Welfare Transition Program enables welfare recipients to move from welfare to work by emphasizing self-sufficiency and personal responsibility.

Florida Recipients of Temporary Cash Assistance must register for work and participate in assigned work activities.

Program History

In October of 1996 two acts (one Federal and one State) were passed that dramatically changed welfare programs in the state of Florida.

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), Public Law 104-193 eliminated the open-ended federal entitlement program, Aid to Families with Dependent Children, and replaced it with the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families block grant. This legislation changed the nation’s welfare system from the receipt of cash assistance as an entitlement to one that requires work in exchange for time-limited assistance. The block grant also included flexibility in funding that allows states to develop programs to meet one of the four purposes of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families:

1. Provide assistance to needy families so that children may be cared for in their own homes or in the homes of relatives;
2. End the dependence of needy parents on government benefits by promoting job preparation, work and marriage;
3. Prevent and reduce the incidence of out-of-wedlock pregnancies and establish annual numerical goals for preventing and reducing the incidence of these pregnancies; and
4. Encourage the formation and maintenance of two-parent families.

Florida enacted the Work and Gain Economic Self-Sufficiency Act.  The act was developed to implement the requirements of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and to emphasize work, self-sufficiency, and personal responsibility.

In October of 2000, Florida passed the Florida Workforce Innovation Act (Senate Bill 2050), which redefined Florida’s welfare delivery system by replacing the former Work and Gain Economic Self-Sufficiency Program with the Welfare Transition Program. This legislation also consolidated the state workforce and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families programs under one board, CareerSource Florida. The act created the Florida Department of Commerce, which provides administrative and program guidance for workforce programs. Workforce, welfare, and employment services are delivered by the 24 Regional Workforce Boards via the local CareerSource Florida centers.