Atlanta picked for new program to help welfare recipients

ATLANTA - Atlanta is one of only ten urban areas picked for a new program to help welfare families become economically independent. <br> <br> The new program will allow the federal government to help people on welfare learn how to become self-sufficient. <br> <br> Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson says the program was designed as a way for urban areas to create welfare reform after Congress did not pass an administration-supported welfare reform bill this year. <br> <br> Besides Atlanta, Baltimore, Miami, Minneapolis, Detroit, St. Louis, Omaha, Seattle, Oakland, California and the Dallas-Arlington-Fort Worth metro area in Texas also were selected for the program.