As states continue to examine how public assistance programs support employment and self-sufficiency, understanding existing work requirement policies is critical. This Congressional Research Service report provides a detailed look at how work requirements are structured across Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), housing assistance programs, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), helping practitioners understand the broader policy landscape that affects the families they serve.

For TANF programs, this report can support policy planning, staff training, and collaboration with partner agencies. It helps TANF practitioners identify similarities and differences across programs, anticipate how policy changes may affect participants, and develop strategies to reduce administrative burden for families who are managing multiple benefit programs at once.

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs often serve families who are participating in multiple public benefit programs at the same time. Understanding how work requirements differ across programs can help staff provide more accurate guidance and reduce confusion for participants. This Congressional Research Service issue brief offers a side-by-side overview of work requirements in TANF, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Medicaid, and rental assistance programs, making it easier to see where rules align and where they differ.

TANF administrators, case managers, and workforce staff can use this brief to strengthen cross-program coordination, improve participant communication, and help families navigate multiple requirements. It is especially useful for identifying potential challenges that may arise when families are working toward employment while maintaining access to essential supports such as food, healthcare, and housing.

Too often, accessing public benefits requires families to travel to offices during business hours, wait in long lines, and navigate systems that were designed around administrative convenience rather than client need. The San Francisco Human Services Agency decided to try something different. Their Mobile Benefits Center was built around a simple idea of bringing human services directly to communities that face barriers getting to agency buildings and was designed in close partnership with clients of different ages, backgrounds, and experiences, as well as frontline staff and community partners. This American Public Human Services Association practical case study covers what it means to design with communities rather than for them. It raises important questions worth asking about your own Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program: Where are clients actually located? What barriers are we asking them to overcome before they even walk in the door? And what would it look like to meet them there instead?

Families caring for relatives’ children often rely on multiple supports, including nutrition assistance. The Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network will host a webinar on May 19, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. to explain how the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program fits into that broader system and how kinship families can access it. For Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) practitioners, this webinar will clarify how to coordinate benefits and reduce gaps in support for grandfamilies. It is particularly valuable for helping staff guide families through multiple programs without duplication or confusion, improving overall service delivery.

Coordinating services across multiple public benefit programs can significantly improve how families access supports and navigate human services systems. This toolkit, funded by the Administration for Children and Families, was designed to help state and local agencies better align programs and services to support whole families.

The resource provides practical tools and structured guidance for identifying coordination challenges, developing shared goals across agencies, implementing cross-program strategies, and tracking progress over time. By helping agencies move away from siloed service delivery and toward integrated approaches, the toolkit aims to reduce administrative barriers, improve the experiences families have when seeking multiple benefits, and strengthen outcomes for children and parents. For TANF programs, these strategies can support stronger coordination with programs such as workforce services, SNAP, childcare, and child welfare — helping families access the full range of supports needed to achieve long-term stability and economic mobility.

The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Contingency Fund was created to provide temporary supplemental funding to states during economic downturns. This issue brief examines how the Fund’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) caseload benchmark and maintenance-of-effort requirement result in routine eligibility, with most states qualifying regardless of current economic distress and funding concentrated among a small number of states.

This Center on Budget and Policy Priorities tool includes a compilation of state-by-state eligibility, operations, and outcome data across all 50 states and D.C. on Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). It pulls data from a variety of reports on program eligibility criteria, waivers, and other metrics.

Without enough diapers, children are at risk of serious health problems like rashes and infections, and parents may miss work or school, undermining family stability and economic mobility. Federal programs that help families purchase food and nutrition supports and provide cash assistance in times of need, like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), do not cover diapers, requiring parents to pay high out-of-pocket prices. This Urban Institute factsheet sheds light on the widespread and often hidden crisis of diaper insecurity, its impact on family well-being, and the gaps in public support.

The American Public Human Services Association has released a three-part series on the use of Artificial Intelligence in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) case processing. This brief examines customer experience, potential risk, and the importance of human oversight through the lens of perspectives shared by SNAP customers.

The American Public Human Services Association will release a three-part series on the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) case processing. This brief details the rapidly changing policy landscape surrounding the use of AI in SNAP and explores potential enabling policy actions to support this use.