The U.S. Conference of Mayors’ Welfare-to-Work Task Force met June 11, 1999 to establish future priorities for the Task Force. "Today, we will examine the impact of federal welfare reform strategies on cities and further develop our future agenda," said Trenton Mayor Douglas H. Palmer, Chair of the Welfare-to-Work Task Force. The Welfare-to-Work program was passed by Congress in August 1997 and has created significant challenges for cities and those citizens living in them.

The purpose of the Task Force is to:

• Analyze national welfare-to-work policies which give local governments critical responsibilities for ensuring that recipients move from welfare-to-work.
• Examine and highlight successful local welfare-to-work initiatives to increase sharing and replication of best practices; and
• Advocate for federal funding to adequately support the achievement of employment goals driving national reform.

In addition to mayors, the Task Force meeting was attended by representatives from the U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, and others from the employment and training community.

Mayor Palmer challenged the Task Force to explore specific welfare-to-work issues which have a direct effect on cities. While declining welfare caseloads are viewed as evidence that welfare reform is working nationally, the trend is less evident in cities. Cities are experiencing a much slower rate of decline in caseloads, leaving a disproportionate share of hard-to-place recipients with deficient workplace skills on city welfare rolls, explained Mayor Palmer. He believes that exploring ways to find jobs for the hard-to-place recipients should be one of the major goals of Task Force.

Mayor Palmer asked the mayors if there were other issues the Task Force should address. In response, the mayors urged the Task Force to explore eligibility rules which hamper service to many recipients of welfare living in cities. The mayors also asked that a survey be undertaken to gain a more precise understanding of the impact of welfare-to-work policies in cities.

In addition, mayors pointed out that the Task Force should advocate that:

• Unused TANF funds be reinvested in welfare-to-work programs,
• An extension of the welfare-to-work program be authorized,
• Funding levels in the new program be appropriated at $1 billion, and
• Congress appropriate targeted funds to cidties so they can provide service to hard-to-place recipients.

After a short discussion during which mayors prioritized these issues, the Task Force outlined a plan of action. First, the Task Force agreed to write a letter to Congress endorsing H.R. 1482 "Welfare-to-Work Amendments of 1999.î A draft of the letter was circulated among the members of the Jobs, Education and the Workforce Committee and all mayors attending the New Orleans Conference of Mayors meeting.

H.R. 1482 reauthorizes the Welfare-to-Work program to provide additional resources and flexibility to improve the administration of the program. Specifically, it would correct eligibility rules which hamper cities from providing service to a significant number of welfare recipients. The bill also proposes a $1 billion reauthorization of welfare-to-work funding which is needed to provide service to the hard-to-service population. Lastly, the bill expands services to non-custodial parents and allows unallotted funds from 1999-2000 to be used for competitive grant awards in the next year.

The Task Force also voted to support two resolutions that will be presented to the Jobs, Education and the Workforce Committee. The first resolution, Resolution No. 22, "Welfare-to-Work," is an endorsement of H.R. 1482; the second is a new resolution, Resolution No. 81, "Publicly-Funded, Transitional Jobs for the Hard-to-Employ." It supports publicly-funded, transitional jobs for welfare recipients.