When Congress reformed the nation’s welfare program with passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act in 1996, Abraham Williams seized on the word “opportunity.” Twenty-two years later, he still likes the sound of that word.

Williams was in his first year as the Housing Authority of Bowling Green’s executive director when the new law hammered out by then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich and then-President Bill Clinton took effect with its “welfare-to-work” component.

The law was the impetus for Williams to create the housing authority’s Reach Higher program, which started with an $80,000 grant and has grown to help hundreds of southcentral Kentucky residents end their dependence on government assistance.

“They (Congress and the Clinton administration) were telling people to get off welfare,” Williams said. “But you just can’t go from the couch to full-time employment. You have issues like child care and transportation to deal with.”

Williams said Reach Higher served 15 people that first year. This month, the housing authority was approved for a $597,000 Kentucky Works grant through the Department for Community Based Services that will fund the 22nd year of the Reach Higher program and serve more than 55 families.

The program has grown, Williams said, because it has addressed the issues that help wean people off the Kentucky Transitional Assistance Program. “We try to take away every barrier they face,” he said. “This program has made them believe in themselves. They see that there is a way to get off welfare and into the workforce.”

Designed to serve a minimum of 55 people per year, Reach Higher routinely reaches 70 or more, according to Williams. Participants in the program must be receiving KTAP benefits, which means they are single parents or in a family with neither parent working.

Reach Higher places these parents in 30-hour-per-week jobs paying minimum wage and helps them with day care and transportation costs. Each Friday for six months, participants in the program spend the morning at the housing authority learning such skills as interviewing and resume writing while hearing motivational speeches from local business and education professionals.

“The goal is for them to get some job skills and work on things like budgeting, parenting, health and hygiene,” said Renea Covington, the housing authority’s community initiatives director. “We want to help you get a job and remove barriers to retaining that job. If your home life is messed up, you’re not going to be 100 percent on the job.”

Reach Higher serves the 10 counties covered by the Barren River Area Development District, working with businesses and nonprofit organizations to place clients in jobs that might not be available without the grant funding.

“Some of these places might not have the budget to hire these people,” said Covington, a former KTAP recipient who has been with the housing authority for six years. “Some do have the budget, and they may go ahead and hire them (Reach Higher clients).”

Covington said 84 percent of Reach Higher participants find employment after completing the program, and the majority of those find work paying above minimum wage.

One such client, Barren County resident Amanda Monroe, is now the housing authority’s service coordinator for the elderly and disabled. Monroe, who has also been offered a job as a preschool teacher, said Reach Higher helped her turn her life around.

“I was ready to give up on a lot of things,” said Monroe, a single mother of three children. “This program helped me understand about setting goals and helped me be the best employee and parent I can be.”

Covington said the reputation of the Reach Higher program has opened doors for the program’s participants, especially in the current climate of low unemployment and high demand for workers.

“I’ve had some companies and some nonprofits calling me, looking for people to hire” she said. “They know they’re going to get quality employees.”

– Follow business reporter Don Sergent on Twitter @BGDNbusiness or visit bgdailynews.com.