Glossary of Terms
Capital Area Workforce Development Board (CAWDB): The body responsible for planning and oversight of the workforce system for the City of Austin/Travis County workforce development area.
Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment System (CASAS): Assessment system for adults with low literacy skills.
CHOICES: (formerly JOBS) A Texas Workforce Commission program that assists TANF applicants and recipients to gain the necessary skills to obtain long-term employment and self-sufficiency. CHOICES also targets TANF teen parents and non-exempt youth to assist them in educational services. Local workforce development boards administer CHOICES.
Collaboration: A mutually beneficial and well-defined relationship entered into by two or more organizations to achieve common goals without duplicating services. The relationship includes: commitment to mutual relationships and goals; a jointly developed structure and shared responsibility; mutual authority and accountability for success; and sharing of resources and rewards. (source: Peterson, A.H. Wilder Foundation)
Community: A group of individuals or families that share certain values, services, institutions, interests, or geographic proximity.
Community-based Services: Services provided to individuals, family members, or other caregivers in the community, e.g. schools, churches, etc., rather than in an institution. These services are an alternative to facility-based services or institutionalization.
Continuum of Care: A comprehensive array of services available at any intensity or level of need required to adequately address the needs of an individual so that they may attain their maximum potential.
Critical Conditions: Community condition indicators that can be assessed and evaluated.
Eligibility: The meeting of specific qualifications to receive certain benefits; the criteria used by public assistance programs to determine which people may receive help. For example, to be eligible for the Food Stamp program, a person must meet certain income requirements and to be eligible for Medicare a person must be above a certain age.
Food Stamp Program: Provides basic food needs to low-income families.
Livable Wage: The self-sufficiency earning level.
Medicaid: Provides medical care for eligible low-income people.
Outcomes: Specific, measurable desired changes in conditions (knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviors) resulting from strategies.
The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996: The Federal welfare reform law that established the Temporary Assistance for needy Families (TANF) program which transforms welfare into a system that requires work and provides for time-limited financial assistance.
Personal Responsibility Agreement: An agreement signed between the welfare recipient and the State of Texas. Agreement also has strict rules which welfare recipients must adhere to. (see Personal Responsibility Agreement in Appendix)
Secretarys Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS): A Labor Department initiative to study employer needs in the marketplace. It categorizing specific employee skills required by employers.
Supportive Services: A variety of services provided to a participant or a participants household to enable them to live as independently as possible.
Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF): Formerly Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC). Purpose is to provide temporary assistance to families with dependent children who are deprived of basic support due to death, desertion or unemployment of one or both parents.
Texas Works: A statewide welfare-to-work initiative of the Texas Department of Human Services. Its purpose is to assist welfare recipients in their transition into employment by providing educational assistance and training. The effort is closely linked with TWCs CHOICES program.
Transitional Benefits: Child care and Medicaid benefits given to a recipient for a period of time after their time limits have expired. Recipient is usually employed at this time.
Supplemental Security Income: Federal program administered by the Social Security Administration to provide support for elderly and disabled low-income people.
Work I: Austin Community College term for entry level jobs and wages.
Work II: Austin Community College term for livable wage jobs.
Working Poor: Individuals working below the livable wage level. They are often one emergency or one missed paycheck away from needing public assistance.
WorkKeys: A national ACT system for teaching and assessing workplace skills places an emphasis on skills not education levels. It connects "knowing with doing and learning with earning."
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