DSS partners with employers to hire TANF clients through a state-contracted temporary agency and to subsidize their wages for a specified time. To participate in the program, employers must have the capacity to hire. The goal is that the employer partner will hire the TANF client after the subsidized period.

Details of the subsidized-wage program:

Employer Pay Rate - up to $10.99, Subsidized Employment Time Frame - Up to 4 Weeks, Weekly Hours 30

Employer Pay Rate - up to $12.99, Subsidized Employment Time Frame - Up to 8 Weeks, Weekly Hours 30

Employer Pay Rate - up to $13.00 and over, Subsidized Employment Time Frame - Up to 12 Weeks, Weekly Hours 30

Other elements of the program include:

Job training: DSS contracts with employment-and-training vendors to prepare clients to enter or re-enter the workforce. 

Transportation: Under certain agreements, DSS will transport hired workers to and from job sites for an agreed-upon period.

Support services: DSS provides support services for hired workers for as long as needed. This includes regular contact with workers and employers to assess attendance, performance, behavior and other workplace issues and to identify and address barriers to successful employment.

Employer partners: We work with more than 30 employers who have agreed to hire our clients. As of October 2019, more than 100 clients are employed with about a dozen employers. Among our employer partners are UPS, Pepsi, Piedmont Airlines, Goodwill, and Dot Foods.

In January 2018 the Division of Social Services and the Division of Libraries partnered to begin stationing DSS personnel in libraries to help increase patrons’ access to benefits and services. The program was a response to the growing need to respond to library visitors’ requests for a variety of assistance as libraries evolved into community centers.

“Connecting people to services as easily and efficiently as possible is what we aim to do every day, and this program is a great example of that,” Ray Fitzgerald, DSS director, said when the program launched. “Library patrons will receive face-to-face contact with [DSS staff] who can help them on the spot and, as needed, connect them to other beneficial services and programs. We hope this will ease the process for those seeking services while freeing library staff to concentrate on patrons’ other needs.” 

The program started in seven libraries and has grown to 21 libraries statewide as of fall 2019. Staff members from DSS’s Community Partner Support Unit visit the libraries weekly or biweekly to answer questions and connect individuals to services including employment & training, Medicaid, food benefits, child care subsidies, housing, and help paying rent or energy bills.

More than 1,700 library visitors have been helped since the program began. 

To see when and where you can find DSS staff in libraries, go to https://lib.de.us/socialworkers/.