Reach Up
Reach Up helps young families with children by providing services that support work, cash assistance for basic necessities, and health insurance. Parents involved in Reach Up through The Family Place are usually younger than 24 years old and have one or more children living with them.
Reach Up offers:
- A case manager to help find your place in the working world
- Transitional cash assistance to help pay for basic living expenses
- Medicaid health insurance
Reach Up helps with:
- Identifying your skills, abilities, interests, training or education needs
- Preparing you for work
- Childcare costs
- Transportation costs or car repairs
- Work-related costs such as clothing, tools, and supplies
What’s the first step?
Eligibility depends on your income, resources, living expenses, who lives with you, your ability to work, and other factors. A Reach Up case manager will assess your work readiness. This means looking at your skills and abilities, job interests, and training or education. We also look at anything that makes it difficult to work, such as childcare, transportation, and health or personal problems.
How will Reach Up help you get a job?
Your case manager will help you create a personal Family Development Plan (FDP) to map out your goals and the steps you’ll take to achieve them. These steps might include activities such as:
- Getting a GED or high school diploma
- Training and education
- On the job training/work experience
- Job search
- Employment
What is a work requirement?
Your Reach Up case manager will explain what your work requirement is. You’ll need to spend a certain number of hours a week either working or participating in approved activities that lead to a job. The number of hours varies depending on your family situation. We’ll look at the activities in your plan and see what support services you need to be successful.
What help is available after you go to work?
Support services may continue even after you go to work. Getting a job is just one part of the big picture. If you still need some help after you get a job or after Reach Up cash assistance ends, you may still qualify for other services.