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Effective date: September 1, 2020
Priority of service must be assessed for each Adult Program applicant at the time of eligibility determination and may be updated during participation if a change in an individual's status allows them to receive a higher priority of service.1 Individuals may fall into one of five Priority of Service categories.2
NOTE: Career planners must record each participant's Priority of Service Category in an ASSET case note.
Priority of Service Category | Acceptable Documentation |
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Category 1: Veterans and eligible spouses who are low-income or basic skills deficient3 | Eligible Veteran Status4
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Category 2: Individuals who are low-income and/or basic skills deficient but are not Veterans and eligible spouses | Documentation of low-income status or basic skills deficiency as outlined below |
Category 3: Veterans and eligible spouses who are not low-income or basic skills deficient | Documentation of veteran status as outlined above, and no determination of low-income status or basic skills deficiency |
Category 4: Anyone who does not belong to one of the groups above, but who belongs to a priority population established by DWD-DET or the local WDB.7 | Documentation of state or locally established criterion. See local policy. |
Category 5: Everyone else. | File contains no indication of veteran status, low-income status, or basic skills deficiency. |
For each Adult Program applicant, a determination of income status must be made.
Income status cannot be used as an eligibility criterion in the Adult Program but does impact an individual's priority of service category and is required for federal reporting8 purposes.
Family Size | Acceptable Documentation |
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Family size for determining low-income status9
Family size must be correctly determined and documented in order to correctly establish a low-income determination. NOTE: Information used to establish Family size is different from the information used to establish a household composition for the purposes of determining Economic Self-Sufficiency. NOTE: Family size is determined as of the date of eligibility determination. Family members who may have comprised part of the family during the past six months but no longer meet the definition of family should not be counted. |
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Low-Income Criterion | Acceptable Documentation Documentation should be provided for each applicable includable income source received by the applicant and each Family member for the six-month period immediately preceding the eligibility determination date. |
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FoodShare (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP))10 |
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Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)11 / Wisconsin Works (W-2) |
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Supplemental Security Income (SSI) / Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI)12 |
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Other Income-Based Public Assistance (Other Public Assistance Recipient)13 |
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Family Income at or Below the Current Federal Poverty Guidelines or 70 Percent of the Lower Living Standard Income Level (LLSIL) Guidelines14
Family size must be accurately determined prior to making a low-income determination. See Income Guidance for included and excluded income types and the time span for calculating income. |
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Homeless (Homeless participant, Homeless Children and Youths, or Runaway Youth at Program Entry)15 |
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Receiving or Eligible to Receiving Free or Reduced-Price School Lunch16
NOTE: Applies only to the applicant, not other family members. NOTE: Does not apply where school districts do not use individual eligibility criteria, but instead have the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010.17 |
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Individual with a disability18 whose own income does not exceed the higher of the Federal Poverty Guidelines or 70 Percent of the Lower Living Standard Income Level (LLSIL) Guidelines. |
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All individuals applying for the Adult Program must be assessed for basic skills deficiency.20 Consistent with the Basic Skills Deficient Guidance this assessment must be conducted using the Basic Skills Screening Tool (DETW-18156-E).
Basic skills deficiency cannot be used as an eligibility criterion in the Adult Program, but it:
Basic Skills Criterion | Acceptable Documentation |
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Basic Skills Deficient22 |
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English Language Learner23 |
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