Kentucky Works Program


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Newsletter   |   Jan 13, 2022

Tommy Wheatley, Kentucky Works Program Director

The Kentucky Works Program supports the Kentucky Transitional Assistance Program (K-TAP) and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in the following Kentucky counties: Anderson, Breckinridge, Bullitt, Franklin, Grayson, Hardin, Henry, Larue, Marion, Meade, Nelson, Oldham, Shelby, Spencer, Trimble, Washington, and Woodford.

Covid-19 continues to have a significant impact on both of our programs. While there is a current state of emergency, the state of Kentucky has implemented a “Good Cause exemption” where clients are not required to participate in the programs. This good cause exemption is currently in effect through 2-28-2022 but could be extended beyond that date until the vaccines can be more widely distributed.

  • We currently have 4 clients that are employed in the K-TAP Program. Our Employment Specialists continue to follow up with each of these clients and track the hours they are working.
  • On the SNAP Employment and Training program we continue to reach out to these clients and complete assessments when they are referred to us. We had 166 referrals for the SNAP program during this quarter
  • We continue to stay in touch with employers and if we do get referrals we match the clients skills with the employer needs to have a good match. We call new employers each week and keep a current job listing for each county we serve.
  • We continue to see an impact with Covid on our Work Experience Program sites as many of them are either closed or unable to accept our referrals. We updated them and the numbers taking volunteers has improved. We have 135 sites in our 17 counties that we send our clients and as of now, 59 are open and/or willing to accept referrals due to Covid-19. This is similar to last quarter
  • Our staff continues to stay in touch virtually to discuss all relative matters in the program.
  • We started a new case management system in July and staff have been trained for this system. There have been issues with the system that the state is trying to fix.
  • We continue to offer a wage subsidy program where if an employer hires one of our K-TAP clients they will be reimbursed for a portion of their wages during the first six month of employment.