Tulsa World: About $118 million in federal stimulus money expected to pass through DHS

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About $118 million in federal stimulus money expected to pass through DHS

DHS Director Howard Hendrick

By GINNIE GRAHAM World Staff Writer
Published: 4/28/2009 6:52 PM
Last Modified: 4/28/2009 6:55 PM

OKLAHOMA CITY — About $118 million in federal stimulus money is expected to pass through the state Department of Human Services to programs in child care, food stamps, senior nutrition, commodity assistance and child support enforcement.

Oklahoma does not qualify for money out of the stimulus contingency fund for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, DHS Director Howard Hendrick said at a commission meeting Tuesday.

The program provides cash assistance for the poorest families and underwent significant changes in the 1990s by placing requirements on participants such as working or attending school.

Oklahoma has not seen significant increases in clients for the program. However, low-income, working people who are out of work may be among the record-number of residents receiving unemployment benefits, Hendrick said.

“If the economy malaise continues for an extended period of time, when unemployment benefits run out, they will come and see us for TANF,” Hendrick said.

Oklahoma has started to receive $16.2 million in the stimulus allocation for food stamps for this fiscal year and expects $64.8 million in the 2010 fiscal year.

The number of food-stamp recipients has been consistently climbing since March 2008, with a current record high of 450,057 residents, or about 12.5 percent of Oklahoma’s population.

The increase bumps the average from $3 a day to $3.40 a day per recipient.

“This probably is not going to slow down for a little bit,” Hendrick said.

The Child Care Development Block Grant will receive about $15.1 million for this year and another $15.1 million next year. It can be used to increase access to child-care or increase quality care available.

“Oklahoma is one of the most aggressive states in child care,” Hendrick said. “A lot of states are going to be getting basic services with this. But we can get creative with the use of this part of the stimulus.”

DHS has not outlined the use of the funding.

Hendrick cautioned that the stimulus is one-time funding, so uses must not require ongoing support.

Child support enforcement programs will receive $2.7 million by June 30 and about $2.8 million is expected next year.

For the first time in state history, child support collections exceeded $300 million, which hit about $324 million in March, Hendrick said.

Commodity assistance, which includes support to food bank and nutrition programs, expects to receive about $678, 000 next year.

Senior nutrition programs will receive about $500,000 next year. Those monies go to contracted agencies that provide nutrition sites and hot meals to older residents.

In addition, the stimulus is temporarily enhancing the rate provided in the federal Medicaid Administration Percentage, which impacts the amount of reimbursement for disability services, adoption and foster-care assistance programs, and the Advantage Waiver program.

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Reader comments for this story have been moved to the most updated version of the story, now under the headline "$118 million in stimulus available to state DHS," which was published on 4/29/2009. So far, 3 comments have been made.