Families First

Families First

Families First provides cash grants, education, job training, child care, employment assistance, and transitional benefits to poor or low income Tennesseans working toward a lifestyle without welfare. This program was one of the most significant changes within the 60-year history of the Department of Human Services (DHS).

Families First, which went into effect on September 1, 1996, was approved by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), before Congress passed its version of federally mandated welfare reform. At the request of Governor Don Sundquist, a special Welfare Reform Task Force convened in the summer of 1995 to design a welfare reform plan that would be fair, reasonable, and require work. The plan that emerged was reviewed, debated, and scrutinized thoroughly.

More than 30 formal legislative hearings were held, and more than 40 amendments were added before the Families First bill won overwhelming support from the General Assembly and was signed into law by Governor Sundquist.

The next hurdle for the program involved HHS, which had to approve the state's waiver request before Families First could be implemented. On July 25, 1996, Vice President Al Gore delivered the news in person to Governor Sundquist and former DHS Commissioner Linda Rudolph. Families First had been approved.

(Above information courtesy of TN DHS Families First website.)

ETSU Families First works in conjunction with the Tennessee Department of Human Services.

For more information, contact Dr. Judith Hammond, Director, at (423) 439-6062 or via e-mail.