The Pew Charitable Trusts released an interactive resource that allows users to sort and analyze data related to various fiscal, economic, and demographic trends in the 50 States. Users may browse data related to state revenue, spending, economy and people, long-term costs, and fiscal policy.

This article provides an overview of available research on children who experience homelessness, the impact of homelessness on children's physical and educational development outcomes, as well as policies and programs established to help address the issue of child homelessness. TANF is highlighted as a potential solution and applicable research is shared about job readiness services for homeless individuals. This article would be helpful to TANF programs interested in gaining a better understanding of the needs and more fully serving homeless families.

The Institute for Research on Poverty recently released a short report that provides an overview of the evidence on employment instability in the United States. The report also includes information about some opportunities and challenges facing policymakers and researchers interested in promoting employment stability in the current economic and political context.

On December 12, 2013, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Region X held a webinar, "Strengthening TANF and Low-Income Families through Strategic Non-Custodial Supports." The webinar, open to State TANF Directors and staff, local TANF agencies, and contractors, focused on how promoting the financial and personal responsibility of non-custodial parents (NCPs) can increase their participation in the lives of their children, improve their employment and career path outcomes, and improve the long-term outlook for children in single-parent families. The presenters highlighted specific programs and provided an overview of innovative ways to serve NCPs, improve their engagement with TANF families, and develop partnerships that meet their needs.

On November 21, 2013, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Region X held a webinar, "State TANF Redesign/Human Services Modernization Efforts" that was open to all State TANF Directors and staff, local TANF agencies, and contractors. The webinar featured the following speakers: Babette Roberts, Washington State Department of Social and Health Services; Lorie Young and Catherine Scardino, State of Hawaii Department of Human Services; and Deborah Carroll, District of Columbia Department of Human Services. For nearly 20 years, Federal and State governments have been working together in earnest to simplify, streamline and enhance publicly financed, human services programs. Most States have embraced increasing access and simplifying policies, have streamlined processes, made procedures more client-friendly, reduced paperwork, and sought to increase outreach to potentially eligible individuals. As a result, millions of at-risk individuals who might not have obtained vital human services supports now do. This moderated webinar provided an overview of State TANF redesign efforts, including the process, lessons learned, and progress made thus far in Washington, Hawaii, and the District of Columbia.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development recently allocated $120 million in rental assistance to State housing agencies to prevent homelessness and unnecessary institutionalization for people with disabilities. HUD's support of these State agencies is made possible through the Section 811 Project Rental Assistance program, which enables persons with disabilities who earn less than 30 percent of their area's median income to live in integrated mainstream settings.

The Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation released the HPOG Annual Report to highlight information regarding the program after its second year of operation. The report provides an overview of HPOG grantees, characteristics of participants, activities in which participants were engaged, training and employment outcomes, and how grantee programs continued to evolve in the second year of the program. The report was developed as part of the HPOG Implementation, Systems, and Outcome Project, which is being led by Abt Associates in partnership with the Urban Institute.

The National Center for Children in Poverty released a policy report offering a summary of the various approaches States are taking or propose to take to balance their budget. The report highlights revenue and spending side approaches that are protective of low-income families and endeavor to identify some best practices that other States might adopt. The report closes by drawing some lessons in fiscal management that may help States better weather future downturns without putting their most vulnerable populations at risk.

The Institute for Research on Poverty released an article discussing a new policy being tested in New York City that adopts the conditional cash transfer principle and that is extended to a broader set of family efforts to build human capital. Opportunity NYC-Family Rewards seeks to boost family income in the short-term while building families' capacity to avoid poverty in the long-term without increasing their reliance on government assistance. In this article, a summary of the results of a published random assignment evaluation is provided, showing that the program had more modest effects than had been anticipated.

The Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE), Administration for Children and Families released a report outlining their portfolio of research related to welfare and family self-sufficiency projects for the fiscal year 2013. OPRE's research focuses on four major areas: TANF and the Safety Net, Employment and the Labor Market, Education and Training, and other relevant cross-cutting research.