The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) has published these four Notices of Funding Opportunity (NOFOs) to support fathers, strengthen families, and empower youth across the nation.

• Family, Opportunity, Resilience, Grit, Engagement – Fatherhood (FORGE Fatherhood): ACF announced its plan to solicit applications for the competitive award of grants that support "activities to promote responsible fatherhood" under each of the three broad categories of promoting or sustaining marriage, responsible parenting, and economic stability activities authorized under Section 403(a)(2) of the Social Security Act. This funding will be targeted exclusively at projects designed for adult fathers, defined as fathers that are age 18 and older. Eligible fathers (or father figures) must have children who are age 24 or younger. Fathers will include those in the general population (or "community fathers"), as well as fathers who are returning, or have returned, to their families and communities, following incarceration. 

   

• Helping Every Area of Relationships Thrive - Adults (HEART): ACF announced its plan to solicit applications for the competitive award of grants that support "healthy marriage promotion" activities as authorized under Section 403(a)(2) of the Social Security Act. This funding will be targeted exclusively to projects designed for adult individuals or adult couples, defined as persons who are age 18 and older. Applicants will be asked to submit proposals that are designed to implement programs that include a broad array of service provision strategies. These include curriculum-based skills development and services designed to support family strengthening activities through one or more of seven activities specified under the authorizing legislation: marriage and relationship education/skills (MRES); pre-marital education; marriage enhancement; divorce reduction activities; marriage mentoring; public advertising campaigns; and activities to reduce the disincentives to marriage. 

   

• Relationships, Education, Advancement, and Development for Youth for Life (READY4Life): ACF announced its plan to solicit applications for the competitive award of grants that support healthy marriage and relationship education activities including parenting, and job and career advancement activities as authorized under Section 403(a)(2) of the Social Security Act. The Relationships, Education, Advancement, and Development for Youth for Life (READY4Life) grants will be targeted exclusively to projects designed to provide healthy marriage and relationship education skills, parenting (for young fathers and mothers as applicable), financial management, job and career advancement, and other activities, to youth that are high-school aged (grades 9-12) or in late adolescence and early adulthood (ages 14 to 24), including parenting and/or pregnant youth. Grants awarded will support family formation and healthy marriage promotion activities under the authorizing legislation, through marriage and relationship education/skills (MRES). Applicants must provide evidence of organizational capacity to implement their proposed project for the specified community.

   

• Grants for Coordination of Tribal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Child Welfare Services to Tribal Families at Risk of Child Abuse or Neglect: ACF announced the availability of funds under the Grants for Coordination of Tribal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Child Welfare Services to Tribal Families at Risk of Child Abuse or Neglect. The purpose of this program, as prescribed by the statute (section 403(a)(2) of the Social Security Act, as amended), is "to fund demonstration projects designed to test the effectiveness of tribal governments or tribal consortia in coordinating the provision to tribal families at risk of child abuse and neglect of child welfare services and services under tribal programs funded under this part." 42 U.S.C. 603(a)(2)(B)(i). The award must be utilized for one or more purposes that are specifically outlined by statutorily-prescribed uses: (1) To improve case management for families eligible for assistance from a Tribal TANF program; (2) For supportive services and assistance to tribal children in out-of-home placements and the tribal families caring for such children, including families who adopt such children; (3) For prevention services and assistance to tribal families at risk of child abuse and neglect. In recent cohorts, recipients have engaged in activities such as revising intake and assessment procedures, developing informed consent documents that will allow staff to share information across program lines, providing cross-training for TANF and child welfare staff, developing joint case management procedures, and developing information technology systems to enhance coordination. Successful awardees will be required to articulate the methodology employed, as well as the anticipated deliverables and impacts. As this constitutes a pilot award, recipients are expected to disseminate key insights to the wider Tribal TANF and child welfare community.

   

All applications must be submitted electronically by Tuesday, July 29, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. ET. 

The New York State Fiscal Year 2024-2025 Budget appropriated $55 million in TANF funds to support the 2024 New York State Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP). The SYEP is an important platform to introduce youth into the workforce and help them acquire skills that can be used to improve school performance and become responsible adults. Since many low-income youths face the prospect of a challenging transition to work, constructive workforce experiences can provide great benefits. This Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance resource highlights allocation information and program guidance, including participant eligibility and allowable activities and services such as work subsidies for youth; supportive services such as transportation; case management; incentive payments; and education and training.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program’s Office of Employment and Training hosts a bi-annual national conference to bring state agencies and employment and training (E&T) stakeholders together. Attendees discover innovative ideas for increasing skills and employment among households. This session of the SNAP E&T 2024 National Forum explores how Colorado integrated the Goal4 It! coaching model into its case management approach for SNAP E&T, alongside other programs as part of a state-wide initiative to improve the consistency and quality of workforce development services.

The Empowering Families program, as a part of the Strengthening Relationship Education and Marriage Services (STREAMS) evaluation, a large multisite evaluation conducted from 2015 to 2022 to identify strategies for improving the delivery and effectiveness of healthy marriage and relationship education program, included an eight-session workshop that integrated Healthy marriage and relationship education (HMRE) content with information on financial literacy and job and career advancement. The HMRE content came from Family Wellness, a relationship skills and parenting curriculum designed to promote healthy family interactions. The program supplemented workshops with one-on-one services, including case management, financial coaching, and employment counseling. This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation report describes the impact of the Empowering Families program after one year. The report also provides information on program implementation and costs.

The National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse released a toolkit which presents a compilation of resources that highlight the challenges and key issues associated with launching and sustaining a successful fatherhood program. This toolkit reflects the commitment of the Office of Family Assistance to improving outcomes for fathers, children, and families by providing strategic guidance to organizations that offer responsible fatherhood services.

This Administration for Children and Families resource is a compilation of their funding opportunities that may be of interest to organizations and agencies seeking funding opportunities to support work in the areas of mental health and substance use, collectively referred to throughout this document as “behavioral health.”

Based on input from state TANF programs during the 2023 National TANF Directors’ Meeting, the Office of Family Assistance (OFA) developed five virtual Learning Collaboratives (LCs) on topics best addressed through a cohort-based, peer learning format. These LCs were designed to be a progressive series of interactive meetings that facilitated reflection, peer sharing, connection with experts, and human-centered design and planning activities to deeply explore facets of the collaborative topic. Sessions were held monthly from March to August 2024 for 60-90 minutes.

The Overcoming Barriers to TANF Participation LC gathered TANF program leaders motivated by the many families facing barriers to accessing TANF or needed financial support despite their eligibility. The LC provided the opportunity for states to connect with each other while learning new strategies that may increase TANF participation for greater family well-being. It was designed to encourage participants to take steps to identify a priority barrier to participation in their TANF program. Participating states and territories included New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, Virgin Islands, Pennsylvania, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Mississippi, Minnesota, New Mexico, Hawaii, and Wyoming.

This OFA resource highlights the Strengthening Overcoming Barriers to TANF Participation LC, including key takeaways and resources from each session as well as overall themes and future considerations for follow-up.

This Office of Research, Planning and Evaluation resource shares three strategies, identified from the Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency-Next Generation project report published earlier this year, to help program staff understand client needs better and improve client engagement. The resource uses examples from the report that details the approach that Monroe County in New York took to improve attendance at activities required by the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program.

Social Policy Research Associates (SPR) partnered with the Washington Employment Security Department to evaluate a workforce development model and poverty reduction initiative, the Economic Security for All (EcSA) initiative. EcSA provides increased skills development, supportive services, and coaching that helps low-income families move out of poverty, an approach that SPR termed “WIOA Plus.” This SPR resource highlights their findings, including that participants’ median quarterly wages increased by 71 percent after completing EcSA. Although the new program has not yet been rigorously studied, the evaluation of its first few years suggests that its model of increased service intensity and individualized case management is a promising approach to addressing the needs of low-wage workers that could be adopted elsewhere.

Child Trends partnered with Generation Work, an initiative that connects employers to young adults, especially young people of color and those from low-income families, with stable jobs. As a result, they developed a series of three case studies to explore how employers can use positive youth development practices to better support young workers. These case studies highlight discussions from focus groups at Generation Work sites in Chicago and Birmingham and interviews with workforce development practitioners.