The paper from Jobs for the Future reviews and make recommendations about the community-focused approach to federal policy and investments. Also known as “place based,” community-focused efforts have two objectives: 1) improve the integration, coordination, and customer-service orientation of federal support for communities; and 2) provide a framework for comprehensive solutions to interrelated challenges. This policy and investment strategy brings federal, state, and local organizations together with community members to break down barriers that prevent individual and community success. Because the design of community-focused programs is responsive to local needs and priorities, the results and strategies vary based on the location.

This qualitative review by the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation seeks to understand the experiences of children in poverty as part of an initiative to learn more about low-income children and families from their own perspectives. After conducting in-depth interviews, several salient themes around benefit receipt, stigma, and the effects of poverty emerged. Even young children perceive the gap between themselves and peers’ material status and feel the double stigma of being poor and receiving benefits. Parents also feel stigma concerning benefits, but also often feel they are not sufficient, have strict requirements that create added pressures, or that other recipients are benefitting unfairly. Lastly, parents try to shield their children from the family‘s true situation in poverty, which can inform policies for welfare offices around sensitivity training, rule clarity, or customized services.

In accordance with federal interests, the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation funded a report on the challenges of and potential solutions for measuring TANF employment outcomes. Creating national standards would be a significant challenge due to the flexible nature of TANF funding; states have implemented many different programs within diverse local contexts and with unique eligibility criteria. Instead, federal agencies could help individual states design metrics to assess their employment outcomes, connect program leaders across states, and allow states to demonstrate their own processes as a learning tool for others. Understanding the breadth of programmatic diversity and range of potential state-specific solutions may allow for the most effective evaluation of TANF employment outcomes.

In this video, Josh Barnes, Acting Director of Disaster Recovery for HHS’s Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR), describes his passion for helping people rebuild their communities after disasters. ASPR focuses on providing health and social service needs following a disaster, closing the distance between resources and the people who need them. Teams are constantly preparing for the next recovery effort, constructing plans for a wide range of disaster types. Following the 2017 hurricane season, one of the most devastating seasons on record, HHS employees from many agencies joined hurricane response and recovery teams. Barnes himself has responded to over 30 disasters recovery missions throughout his career.

The Disaster Assistance Improvement Program (DAIP) offers a search tool by ZIP code for areas designated for Individual Assistance. The website also offers a “Find Assistance” tool where the user can answer an anonymous questionnaire to receive a personalized list of possible assistance.

Ready.gov’s Ready Campaign created a variety of informative advertisements and public service announcements for use in donated media space. Their collection of Preparedness Videos includes Alerts, Build-a-Kit videos, Communication Plans videos, and Preparedness videos for pets, persons with disabilities, military families, and the elderly. Selected videos are also available in Spanish.

The FEMA Public Assistance Fact Sheet offers information on the FEMA Public Assistance Program, including the local codes, standards, and ability of relocation during disaster. The sheet answers basic questions on applicant eligibility and the benefits of hazard mitigation.

While much attention is given to healthy family care of children, non-parental care is talked about far less. This October 16 webinar from the Annie E. Casey Foundation will be directed toward kin caregivers and professionals who work with kin caregivers. Presenters will focus on the ways in which kinship care can be different from nonrelative care and on helping relatives navigate children’s emotions around their parents in a healthy way. For more information on Annie E. Casey Foundation resources for kinship families and professionals, visit the webinar registration page or the foundation’s website.

Historically, low-income students have been identified in schools by receipt of the federal free or reduced lunch program, but this measure is becoming irrelevant and misleading as more districts offer “community eligible” free lunches to all students. As a result, some states have begun to identify low-income students by family participation in programs like TANF, SNAP, Medicaid, and foster care. The post’s authors at the Brookings Institution applaud these methodological changes because they will yield more accurate data on the achievements of disadvantaged students without including non low-income students who may be receiving free or reduced price lunch. This post highlights practices and data from states, such as Delaware, Massachusetts, New Mexico, and Tennessee, as well as the District of Columbia, as exemplary initiatives of linked data measure systems.