Nevada in line for extra $2.2 million for welfare progress

Brendan Riley

Tuesday, Dec. 7, 1999 | 8:23 a.m.

CARSON CITY - Nevada will get $2.2 million of $200 million in bonuses earmarked for the 27 states in which people have moved from welfare into jobs.

State Welfare Director Myla Florence said Monday the money for Nevada is the maximum possible - 5 percent of this year's $44 million federal grant for public assistance programs.

Florence said Nevada got the money for its fourth- and fifth-place rankings in two categories dealing with numbers of welfare recipients who got jobs between 1997 and 1998. Her agency has been placing former welfare recipients in jobs at a rate of about 300 to 400 a month.

"Now our challenge is job retention," said Florence. "I was disappointed in our job retention rate."

Plans for using the bonus money haven't been worked out yet, other than a general proposal to use it in a way that furthers welfare reform goals. The funds cannot be used for non-welfare projects. It can be used to pay for childcare or vans to take people to jobs.

The $200 million was announced Saturday by President Clinton. The biggest award, $45 million, went to California and the smallest, $500,000, went to South Dakota.

Clinton said next year's contest also will reward states that get medical benefits and food stamps to low-income families. He said states will be rewarded, too, when more children live in two-parent families.

The president also said the number of people collecting monthly checks is now less than half that of 1994. Fewer than 6.9 million people - about 2.5 million families - collected aid in June.

The number of Nevadans getting assistance has dropped from a high of more than 42,000 to less than 17,000.