Work Support Strategies: Streamlining Access, Strengthening Families

Work Support Strategies: Streamlining Access, Strengthening Families provides a select group of states with the opportunity to design, test, and implement more effective, streamlined, and integrated approaches to delivering key supports for low-income working families, including health coverage, nutrition benefits, and child care subsidies. The Ford Foundation, the project’s lead funder, has committed $21 million over five years, and the Open Society Foundations, The Annie E. Casey Foundation, and The Kresge Foundation have provided crucial additional support.  The combined resources will be invested over a five-year period to build on recent state and federal innovations by providing states with expert technical assistance, peer support, and financial backing to take their efforts to the next level. The initiative consists of two phases: a one-year planning phase and a three-year implementation phase.  An in-depth evaluation will describe state activities and lessons learned, track results, and analyze impacts of the initiative.

In early 2012, six states were chosen to receive reinvigorated support in three-year grants as they take up the challenge of implementing their innovative strategies to streamline services aiding low-income working families.

Lessons from the Work Support Strategies Initiative: Phase I State-specific and Cross-cutting reports

Despite tight budgets and different perspectives about the role of Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps), and other safety net programs, state agencies participating in the Work Support Strategies (WSS) project, funded largely by the Ford Foundation with three other funders, reported numerous early gains in its debut year. Read more

Press Release

Politically diverse state governments can find common ground in a commitment to improving access to work support programs for eligible low-income families, a new Urban Institute report demonstrates.