	Questions?
	Privacy
	Site Index
	Contact Us

Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities Program

EZ/EC Home | EZ/EC Information | HHS Support | EZ/EC Grants | Information for Round 3 EZ and RC Applicants

Renewal Community and Empowerment Zone Applicants

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is pleased to offer support and assistance to localities for adding a human services and welfare-to-work perspective to their Empowerment Zone (EZ) or Renewal Community (RC) applications.

The EZ and RC programs are good opportunities for collaborative work involving economic development agencies and human services organizations, particularly agencies that administer the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. We encourage local leaders to use the EZ and RC planning process to reach out to human services agencies, work with them to create strategies for enhancing services for needy residents, and incorporate those strategies into their EZ strategic plans and RC course of action documents.

Why Plan to Enhance Services for Needy Residents?

The best EZ and RC economic development plans will feature a strong commitment to supportive services that help neighborhood residents become economically independent. Simply put, services like accessible and affordable child care, after-school activities for youth, family support and health care are necessary components of truly comprehensive business development strategies. These services are critical for residents. They are also vitally important to the long-term success of local businesses.

Many families who live in neighborhoods that are eligible for EZ or RC designation are struggling to enter the workforce. Often, those with jobs earn very little -- in fact, many have incomes too low or too erratic to escape poverty. These residents rely on the availability of a number of key services to help them raise their families and become productive members of their local workforce. Clearly, many need a "hand up" to succeed.

Supportive services for residents are also important to neighborhood businesses. The availability of high quality services for low-wage employees has a significant effect on business' bottom-line success. Emerging and new businesses -- including ones that will expand into EZ and RC neighborhoods -- demand well-trained, skilled and dependable employees. Businesses depend on the local human service and workforce development systems to ensure that employees have skills needed to do their jobs and to do them well. Employers also count on human services providers to help employees cope with family obligations while fulfilling their job responsibilities.

The TANF Program

The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program is the federal government's principal source of funding for assisting needy families. This year, HHS will grant States more than $14 billion for TANF program activities.

State governments have enormous flexibility in their uses of the TANF resources. Many of them are using TANF funds to support innovative employment and training strategies and to provide community-based supportive services that enable residents to get a job, keep a job and improve their economic circumstances. In addition, many States are using TANF resources to fill gaps in local service delivery systems and coordinate, supplement and enhance services for low-income residents. States may adjust how they administer their TANF funded programs in order to support community-based iniatives like the comprehensive renewal activities that accompany an EZ or RC designation.

Local renewal strategies should include a commitment to enhance supportive services for residents. Such a commitment will help ensure that residents benefit directly from the improved business environment in their neighborhood. It will also help increase the likelihood that economic revitalization can be sustained for the longterm.

Steps for EZ and RC Applicant Localities

Here are some stategies that local economic development agencies can use to add human services and welfare-to-work dimensions to their EZ or RC applications:

Learn about your State's welfare program, its workforce development components, and the local human services systems. Explore what agencies administer key aspects of the overall system. Look to see whether there are gaps in the existing service delivery system. The accompanying list of State TANF program agencies includes hyperlinks to web pages with details about each State's program.

Reach out to top officials of your State and/or county TANF agencies and other key organizations responsible for your State's and locality's human services and workforce development projects. To facilitate communications among local EZ and RC applicants and their State TANF agencies, HHS has alerted officials of those agencies about the new EZ and RC competitions.

Work with State and/or county leaders to develop a plan for enhancing job-related supportive services for needy families in nominated neighborhoods. The strategy should include a clear statement of goals, a description of approaches being considered, an identification of roles and responsibilities for each partner agency, and a time frame for action. HHS has developed a Template Agreement Document that local leaders may find helpful for establishing a collaborative partnership between their economic development offices and TANF program agencies.

HHS Resources for Applicant Localities

Staff Assistance

HHS Regional and Headquarters Office staff are available for advice, referrals to State or local agency contacts and to facilitate communications between local economic development agencies and State/county human services community services providers.

Publication

"Helping Families Achieve Self-Sufficiency: Funding Services for Children and Families Through TANF" This downloadable guidebook includes background information about the TANF program. It highlights how States may use federal funds and their own resources to provide supportive services for needy families, promote job preparation, and so on.

Web Site

HHS Office of Family Assistance website includes a wealth of information about the TANF program including links to the federal authorizing statute and regulations. It also features examples of promising strategies in States and localities for enhancing services that enable low-income families to enter the workforce and become economically self-sufficient.

Additional Resources

Welfare Information Network (WIN) is a service that develops and distributes information about key welfare topics, implementation strategies, policy analysis and technical assistance. The WIN network's web site includes numerous links to additional sources of information and assistance.

Welfare to Work Partnership is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization created by the American business community to provide innovative workforce solutions for companies through hiring, retaining and promoting welfare recipients and other unemployed and low-income workers. The partnership's web site features best practices, resource materials and so forth.

EZ/EC Home | EZ/EC Information | HHS Support | EZ/EC Grants | Information for Round 3 EZ and RC Applicants

If you have questions or comments, please e-mail James Gatz of the Office of Community Services.
Return to ACF Home | Return to OCS Home | Return to HHS Home

This page is Bobby approved.

This document was last modified 6/13/2001 3:57 p.m. EST