Home Contact FAQs Search

National Center for Law and Economic Justice Inc
Skip to Content About NCLEJ NCLEJ Advocacy Key Issues In the Courts Support Our Work News from NCLEJ Jobs & Internships

Policy Advocacy

NCLEJ uses its expertise to identify and promote the adoption and proper implementation of creative and effective policies and programs to support individuals and families in their efforts to move out of poverty.

Recent efforts include:

  • Working with Arizona, Kentucky, New Jersey, New York, Virginia and other states to modify state policies affecting public benefits for persons with disabilities. While the Americans with Disabilities Act requires a wide range of reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities, most public benefits programs around the country fall short. An example of the improvements we have made can be found in New Jersey’s ADA policy – county welfare agencies must review a client’s records and take other measures before closing a case or sanctioning benefits, to ensure that the agency is not taking action against a client with a disability who needed an accommodation that was not provided.
  • Assuring that youth aging out of foster care in New York City are assured continuation of health care and other benefits required for them to safely transition into independent living – a result achieved after several years of advocacy. Work to improve access to housing and other benefits is underway.
  • Assuring that mothers needing child care subsidies for employment will no longer have to take days off work in futile efforts in court to collect child support payments, by achieving a change in New York law enacted in 2009 after years of advocacy by many organizations.

 

NCLEJ Releases 2010 Edition of ADA-TANF Manual

NCLEJ has just released the 2010 edition of Using the Americans with Disabilities Act to Protect the Rights of Individuals with Disabilities in TANF Programs: A Manual for Non-Litigation Advocacy, authored by Cary LaCheen, a national expert on the application of federal disability rights laws to public benefits programs. The manual has been updated to address developments that have occurred since the manual was first issued in 2004, including:

  • The ADA Amendments Act, enacted in 2008,
  • Reauthorization of the TANF program in 2005 and issuance of final regulations implementing those changes,
  • Issuance of a Frequently Asked Questions piece by HHS in 2007 reiterating the obligation to comply with the ADA and Section 504 in TANF programs, and
  • Adoption by a number of state welfare agencies of comprehensive ADA policies applicable to their welfare programs.

The 2010 edition also includes an expanded discussion of the obligation of welfare agencies to provide effective communication with individuals with disabilities and the obligation of welfare agencies to have web sites that are accessible to individuals with disabilities. The 2010 edition of the manual contains the following chapters which were not in the 2004 edition:

  • Chapter 5: A closer look at TANF work requirements and the ADA
  • Chapter 8: Welfare agencies’ obligation to communicate effectively with individuals with disabilities
  • Chapter 9: Accessibility of welfare agency web sites
  • Chapter 14: Summaries of selected state welfare agency ADA policies

The 2010 edition is currently available free of charge


Highlights of NCLEJ Advocacy:

 

Disability Rights

 

Privatization and Modernization

 

Health Care

 

Supporting Employment