JANESVILLE, Wis. -- Wisconsin will be receiving $34 million in federal stimulus funds to help people find work and bring more jobs to the state, and more than $700,000 of that money will be spent helping Rock County residents.

Wisconsin Department of Children and Families Secretary Reggie Bicha announced Friday that Community Action, a nonprofit organization that serves families in need in south-central Wisconsin, was selected as one of 17 agencies in the state to receive this money.

Bicha said the Transitional Jobs program will help the economy stabilize by putting people back to work.

"For those with little work history, this will provide them with a paycheck while they gain valuable experience and training. It will give them the work record and skills they can transition to unsubsidized work as this economy continues to recover," Bicha said.

At a news conference Friday, Beloit resident Reggie Smith spoke about how a similar program helped him re-enter the job market and get caught up on his past child support payments.

Lisa Furseth, of Community Action, said the money will help the organization get mostly full-time jobs for about 50 area residents.

"The program is designed to help people at 150 percent of the poverty level, who don't qualify for (the Wisconsin Works program), meaning noncustodial parents, and people who don't qualify for unemployment who've been unemployed for at least four weeks. So these are people who haven't been working, who don't have access to a safety net but are interested in working," Furseth said.

The jobs start at minimum wage and the types of positions will vary based on the people in the program and the businesses that choose to participate.

Officials said they are hoping to have the program up and running by September. Community Action said its goal is to have people working sometime in October.

Anyone interested in signing up for the program can call Community Action at 608-755-2770 for more information.