The 2011 Annual Region X Tribal TANF Conference was held in Tulalip, Washington at the Tulalip Resort from September 27-29, 2011. The Conference provided Tribal TANF programs from Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington an opportunity to discuss and strategize methods for improving their programs and services to better serve their families and communities. Best practices and lessons learned were shared throughout the conference on a wide range of topics, including asset building, child care, child welfare, economic development, program evaluation as a method for program enhancement, and subsidized employment.

Current statistics show that one in three adults is obese, and from 1980 to the present, the number of obese children has tripled. Obesity is particularly a problem in low-income communities of color, and research is showing that low-income communities have little access to healthy food establishments. This resource, from Policy Link, offers four solutions for increasing healthy food establishments in these areas, which include developing new grocery stores, improving small stores, connecting farmers to low-income communities, and sustaining farmers markets in such areas.

From the Center for the Study of Social Policy, this Financing Community Change Brief discusses the role of housing in fostering well-being for children and families, given the collapse of the housing market from the current economic recession. Research shows that living in a distressed neighborhood increases the effects of family poverty on individual educational achievement, economic prospects, and individual health because such areas often lack the supports, services, and opportunities to help provide a safety net for residents. Authors discuss how Federal housing policy has helped such families in the past and how it can support families in the future by fostering community development.

The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, created in 1996, is one of the key federal funding streams provided to states to assist low-income families. A critical aspect of TANF has been its focus on employment and self-sufficiency, and the primary means to measure State efforts in this area has been TANF's work participation requirements. When the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA) reauthorized TANF, it also made changes that were generally expected to strengthen these work requirements. Given the impending extension or reauthorization of TANF, this testimony primarily draws on previous GAO work to focus on (1) how the welfare caseload and related spending have changed since TANF was created and (2) how States have met work participation rates since DRA. To address these issues, in work conducted from August 2009 to May 2010, GAO analyzed State data reported to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS); surveyed State TANF administrators in 50 States and the District of Columbia; conducted site visits to Florida, Ohio, and Oregon, selected to provide geographic diversity and variation in TANF program characteristics; and reviewed relevant federal laws, regulations, and research. In July 2011, GAO updated this work by analyzing State data reported to HHS since that time. In addition, GAO gathered information on caseload changes through its forthcoming work on TANF child-only cases.

Families across the nation have been hit hard by the recent economic recession and TANF families and other low-income families have disproportionately witnessed increased poverty, unemployment, and underemployment. The Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance, Regions VI and VIII convened the Improving Families’ Well-Being during Challenging Times: 2011 Bi-Regional TANF and Tribal TANF Directors ’ Conference in Denver, Colorado, on August 1-4, 2011 to discuss the impact on TANF programs and foster peer dialogue around practical solutions to challenges facing TANF programs and recipients. This year’s conference provided State and Tribal TANF Directors from Regions VI and VIII with the opportunity to engage with Federal, State and Tribal partners through interactive sessions and discussions around promising program models and strategies for improving service delivery to families. Over the conference's four days, attendees engaged in a variety of sessions that included specific topic areas such as the impact of the recent recession on low-income families and State policy responses to the recession. The participants also engaged in discussions and informative workshops on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, increased program efficiencies and streamlined services, enhancing career pathways, TANF Flexibility and Reauthorization, effective assessment and service options for domestic violence survivors, Tribal and State TANF child welfare and kinship care, improving State-Tribal relations, preventing fraud, waste and abuse, and Tribal TANF program accountability and implementation.

The Child Welfare Information Gateway, through the Administration for Children and Families’ Children’s Bureau, authored these tip sheets to provide parenting skills, such as bonding, attachment, dealing with temper tantrums, raising grandchildren, and supporting teen parents. The compilation of tip sheets were created with input from experts in national organizations that work to protect children and strengthen families.

From the National Center for Children in Poverty, this resource provides a comprehensive overview of adolescent substance use, which can hinder adolescent developmental growth into adulthood. Substance use in adolescence can lead to the risk of dependency and addiction, and adverse health outcomes. In 2009, 10 percent of 12 to 17 year olds were illicit drug users, and 26 percent of 16 to 17 year olds reported drinking alcohol. Authors conclude with policy recommendations for prevention and treatment programs for this population.

In September 2009, the Administration for Children and Families convened a meeting of experts to discuss subgroup analysis in child care research. The meeting consisted of presentations on innovative practices for conducting this type of research and how to interpret and use subgroup analysis in research. The three panels included: Laying out the State of the Field; Framing Questions, Design, and Analysis; and Reporting and Interpreting Subgroup Differences. Each session at the meeting was videoed, which is archived on this Web page.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly food stamps) currently reaches 45 million people, which is an increase of 69 percent since the current economic recession began. From the Urban Institute, this fact sheet discusses how SNAP caseloads and unemployment have increased both nationally and by State. Authors provide a map of the United States, which shows the concurrent increase in SNAP and unemployment across the country.

The National Poverty Center at the University of Michigan authored this policy brief, which offers lessons learned from New York City’s conditional cash transfer program, Opportunity NYC: Family Rewards. The program was targeted to six of New York’s highest poverty neighborhoods with high rates of intergenerational poverty and offered cash assistance to reduce immediate hardship, which was conditioned on efforts to support children in school, gain family health care, and support parents’ job training and skill building. The evaluation revealed that the program had short-term positive impacts for families experiencing intergenerational poverty.