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POLICY INSIGHT
BEYOND THE NUMBERS

Jobs Fund Countdown: Eight Days Until It Dies

As I mentioned yesterday, today begins our countdown to the September 30 expiration of the TANF Emergency Fund, a 2009 Recovery Act fund that states across the country have used to provide 250,000 Americans with subsidized jobs. Below, Amy Mullins explains in a letter to a county official how Colorado’s jobs program, Hire Colorado, has helped her medical testing business not only survive but grow and create permanent jobs despite the recession.

The reason I’m writing is to let you know what a blessing the Hire Colorado program has been for my company. From the time we instituted it to today, we have seen an increase in revenues of 31.6 percent. . . . I truly believe that my ability as an owner to get out and promote my business as well as hire a salesperson have been major contributing factors to our recent success. I was able to get out from underneath the minutia of everyday paperwork and go find customers. Because of this, I have 2 new employees that are going to be able to stay on with my company indefinitely. These are employees that in May, I would not have been able to hire on my own, nor possibly entertain keeping. For that I thank you, and your program.

Tomorrow I’ll describe what a rural county in Tennessee whose unemployment rate was cut nearly in half by the Emergency Fund has to say about how it has helped the community and what its end will mean for them.