TO:	Commissioners; TA & FS Directors; WMS Coordinators; CAP Coordinators

FROM:  Russell Sykes, Deputy Commissioner, Division of Employment and Transitional Supports

SUBJECT:	TA Grant Diversion Particpants Not Eligible for TBA FS

EFFECTIVE DATE:	October 30, 2006

C CONTACT PERSON:	FS Questions – Food Stamp Bureau at 1-800-343-8859, extension 3-1469

The purpose of this GIS is to remind districts of the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) policy designating that food stamp households participating in an employment program that is funded, at least in part, through diversion of the household’s entire Temporary Assistance (TA) grant, are not eligible to receive Food Stamp benefits under the Transitional Benefits Alternative (TBA) while participating in the grant diversion employment program.  Specifically, this GIS, as well as the policy cited above, are both clear designations that food stamp households participating in an employment program funded by diverting the food stamp households' entire Temporary Assistance grant to fund the employment program are ineligible for TBA, while participating in the grant diversion employment program, pursuant to the authority set forth in the federal Food Stamp Act at 7 U.S.C. 2020(s)(5).

These households may be eligible for regular, non-TBA food stamp benefits while participating in the grant diversion employment program.  Like any other TA-FS household, these households may be eligible, in accordance with current rules governing TBA eligibility, for TBA food stamp benefits after leaving the grant diversion employment program.