my name is heather reynolds and i'm president/ceo of catholic chair tizz ft. worth. let me get right to my main point. poverty is complex and often cyclical. poor parents have poor children, and poor children often become poor parents. the cycle continues unless it is broken. case management is the critical element in moving someone from government dependency to self-sufficiency. that is why we believe that case management has got to be an integral part of the conversation on how we reform our approach to poverty. first, case management allows us to work with a client in an individualized way. every day in ft. worth, texas, we have over 300 people coming to our organization for help. each individual's poverty looks very different but we typically see three main types of poverty. chronic poverty which results from a combination of factors such as age, significant disability, or mental illness. people who are going to need safety net services the rest of their life. the second type of poverty is situational poverty caused by divorce, unexpected health care expenses, an

my name is heather reynolds and i am president of catholic charities fort worth. let me get right to my main point. poverty is complex and often cyclical. parents have poor children and poor children often be, poor parents. the cycle continues unless it is broken. case management is the critical element in moving someone from government dependency to self-sufficiency. that is why we believe that case management has got to be an integral part of the conversation on how we reform our approach to poverty. first, case manager allows us to work with that client and individualized away. every day in fort worth, texas, we have over 300 people coming to our organization for help. each individual's poverty looks different but we mainly see three main types. chronic poverty which results from a combination of factors such as age, disability, or mental illness. people who will need safety net services throughout the course of their life. the second type is situational poverty. cost of idle divorce, unexpected health care expenses and the loss of a job. this type is often the

that is why i'm excited to hear from heather reynolds, the president of catholic charities of fort worth putting together a pilot project to test how case management can expand opportunities for working families. as she urges ms. reynolds program sees people as whole human beings who deserve time and care not just another client to usher through the door. and the results speak for themselves. in 2013, 90% of the people in the refugee program became self-sufficient within six months. i would also like to welcome jennifer tiller from america works. america works has pin nired two key concepts that are crucial to real reform. work first and accountability. they get paid only if they succeed. i can't find beater definition of success than their own definition. success is an individual moving to employment, maintaining a self-sufficient lifestyle and progressing in their desired career trajectory. i think we should insist on the same kind of accountability from our federal programs as we do from these community groups. one last thing. at a previous hearing some of at a previous hearing some o