Author: Michael Swayze

Thank You Juan Cabanela

Every once in a while we need to stop what we are doing and say “thank you” to a fellow human being. This country is filled with men and women who day in and day out are doing remarkable things. The other day – on Labor Day – in fact, it became known to me that a particular website is no more.

For a number of years a website known as Contacting The Congress was operated by a public citizen, Juan Cabanela. While checking for broken links on this site it was discovered that his website had been shut down after twenty-one years of operation. Imagine, a website operating for twenty-one years, providing a very up-to-date citizen’s congressional directory, due to the efforts of one individual. Amazing.

Juan Cabanela was not a politician or a paid political operative seeking to capitalize on his Contacting the Congress website. Instead, he is a faculty member in the Physics and Astronomy Department at Minnesota State University.

Although his site was shutdown last week, he has left us a dozen links to the U.S. Congress, so we won’t feel so lost or abandoned. Thank you, Dr. Juan Cabanela, for your activism and your efforts these past two decades.

September 7, 2016
OFA Peer TA Network
For a number of years both the New Jersey Community Resources website and blog has highlighted a number of resources for social work professionals. The purpose of today’s article is to bring to the attention of social workers and county welfare agency personnel and their partners in community agencies a website operated on behalf of the Office of Family Assistance (OFA) within the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) in the Department of Health and Human Services.

To quote from the OFA Peer Technical Assistance Network website: “The goal of Peer TA is to establish linkages among TANF agencies and their partners serving TANF and low-income families at the state, county, local, and tribal level. The Peer TA website acts as a dissemination and communications vehicle, supporting the Peer TA Network in the provision of technical assistance, facilitating a dialogue among organizations serving TANF and low-income families, and helping organizations learn about innovative programs and the latest research around effective strategies to successfully support TANF and low-income families on a path to self-sufficiency.”

Each week OFA Peer TA distributes a newsletter to its subscribers, informing them of new developments, programs, position papers, etc. on a wide variety of subjects. If you wish to subscribe, visit their newsletter sign up page. You will find it useful to stay up-to-date with federal programs and policies or if a social work student doing research.

Below is a sampling of just a few articles appearing in their newsletter or website within the past few months. They include:
- GetMyFuture.org , a recently launched U.S. Department of Labor website that helps youth plan their careers
- Assessing and Serving TANF Recipients with Disabilities – describes different approaches to disability-related needs assessment used by some TANF programs
- Life After Welfare: Disconnected Leavers Who Reconnect – a “disconnected leaver” is a defined as a TANF client whose case is closed and is not in the workforce
- Poor, Unemployed, and Not on Welfare: The Prevalence of “Disconnected Families” by State – a research brief published by childtrends.org
- Who is Poor in the United States? – a June, 2016 report issued by The Brookings Institution
- Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Final Rule – final federal regulation of the law signed July 22, 2014
- Online Services for Key Low-Income Benefit Programs: What States Provide Online With Respect to SNAP, TANF, Child Care Assistance, Medicaid, CHIP and General Assistance – listing updated July, 2016 and published by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
- TANF Work Participation Rates, Fiscal Year 2014 – indicates fewer states failed the work requirement in FY2014 than in FY2013
OFA Peer TA often hosts webinars on a number of topics. Announcements of future webinars and webcasts appear in their email distributions.

For readers interested in New Jersey welfare statistics, the Division of Family Development still maintains a monthly report titled DFD Current Program Statistics, previously mentioned in a 2010 blog article.

For further information, please email Michael Swayze at michael.swayze@njcommunityresources.info.
August 16, 2016
Expungement Information Session
City of Elizabeth Hosts Expungement Information Session – August 11

The City of Elizabeth will host an Expungement Information Session on Thursday, August 11 from 6pm to 8pm at the Elizabeth Public Library, 11 South Broad Street. The purpose of the meeting is to explain changes to the expungement of criminal records, based on legislation that took effect in April, 2016, following a two-year effort.

Advocates and attorneys representing such groups as Legal Services of New Jersey, Community Health Law Project and Make the Road New Jersey will be present to answer questions.

The information session coincides with the recent launching of a Facebook page,
City of Elizabeth Reentry Program. The site already provides a number of links on the expungement process. Persons interested in volunteering to assist at the meeting – greeters, registration – may call Deshawn Pierce at 908-820-4052.

Related links on expungement include:
- P.L. 2015, chapter 261 issued by the New Jersey Administrative Office of the Courts
- Clearing Your Record: A Six-Step Guide to Expunging Criminal Records in New Jersey
- LSNJLAW – Expungement
- NJ Community Resources – Prisoner Re-entry
August 3, 2016