Speaking on Florida's Work and Gain Economic Self-Sufficiency (WAGES) Program (PDF)

Don Winstead is Welfare Reform Administrator with the Florida Department of Children and Families. He began his career as a social worker in 1971 and has worked in a variety of direct service, administrative and managerial positions. The first 17 years of his employment in social services was spent in the Jacksonville area and the past 10 years has been in the central office in Tallahassee.

Don has worked on many of the welfare related bills that have passed the Florida Legislature including the Family Transition Act of 1993 which authorized Florida’s time-limited welfare reform demonstration pilots and the Work and Gain Economic Self-Sufficiency (WAGES) Act which passed unanimously in the 1996 legislative session in anticipation of national welfare reform. In addition to working on state welfare reform issues, Don tracks national welfare reform legislation and analyzes the potential impact of federal changes on Florida’s programs.