By Rob Moritz
Arkansas News Bureau
LITTLE ROCK — To make sure Arkansas’ needy get appropriate public assistance, the state Department of Human Services plans to hire 112 temporary family support specialists with federal stimulus money, DHS officials said Tuesday.
The jobs, which will pay $27,858 a year, will end Dec. 31, 2010, when the stimulus money runs out, said Joni Jones, director of the agency’s Division of County Operations.
DHS plans to hire the workers using about $2.9 million plus a federal Medicaid match for a total of $6.1 million, Jones said. Job advertisements began running last week on the state’s jobs Web site. The deadline to apply is June 5.
“These are eligibility workers for the most part,” said DHS Director John Selig. “They’ll do eligibility for the Temporary Assistance of Needy Families (TANF) program, for food stamps, for Medicaid.”
The additional workers are needed because “in part, we’re seeing our rolls grow, the number of applications, but also we want to anticipate that growth as the economy takes a downturn,” Selig said.
Jones said those hired will be asked to sign a document indicating “they understand this is being paid for with the stimulus funds” and the jobs will end when the federal funds run out.
She said the 112 jobs will help the state on several levels.
“Certainly it stimulates the economy because it’s going to give some job opportunities to people,” she said, adding they also will provide the necessary personnel to meet the needs of the growing number of people who need public assistance.
Also, considering a high turnover rate for state caseworkers and clerical staff, she said, the 112 new people will be trained and ready for other positions within DHS if they should become available.
“This is really a good opportunity,” Jones said. “We know we’re going to see some increases in the work load, we’ve already seen that.”
DHS is one of several state agencies to receive part of the $2.9 billion the state expects from the $787 billion federal stimulus package.
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