The Office of Family Assistance published this Dear Colleague Letter to address how states may use TANF funds to expand educational choice and support families who choose educational alternatives to governmental entities, including private and faith-based options. State agencies and other interested parties may find it helpful to review prior guidance, TANF-ACF-PI-2005-01, which provided information about when and how federal TANF and state maintenance-of-effort funds may be used for early childhood education, school readiness, kindergarten, and other public education programs. 

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Employment and Training (E&T) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) have a shared goal of helping individuals/families achieve economic independence through employment. Coordinating SNAP E&T and TANF programs can enhance service delivery and improve employment outcomes for families with low incomes.

Generally, States cannot provide TANF cash assistance and SNAP E&T services to families simultaneously. However, four state agencies—Colorado, Utah, Vermont, and Wisconsin—are authorized under 7 CFR 273.7(d)(1)(ii)(H) to use SNAP E&T funds to support individuals who receive TANF cash assistance. This fact sheet highlights the work of Utah and Washington as well as explains how the integration of program administration, funding, and service delivery can enhance efficiency and may improve outcomes for participants.

This Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services webpage highlights faith and community partnerships, including services ranging from faith-focused counseling, family programming, faith-based programming, and more.

In this Defending Ideas podcast episode, the Alliance for Opportunity talks with Sutherland Institute to give an overview of some of the proposals currently in Congress through the lens of potential reforms to federal welfare programs. They discuss whether it is possible to save taxpayer dollars while improving outcomes for families who truly need help getting back on their feet.

There are impoverished families who are discouraged from pursuing upward mobility through work, reacting to what they perceive as perverse incentives woven into the government safety net – or “benefit cliffs.” This Sutherland Institute report evaluates the economic decision-making of safety net participants based on their understanding of the programs they use. The report answers these questions: 

1. Are Utahns who participate in government assistance programs changing their economic behavior in response to benefits cliffs, and if so, what actions are they taking regarding work/earned income?
2. Which government assistance programs are these Utahns most concerned with losing? In other words, which benefits are they trying to preserve?
3. What is the level of awareness of alternatives to government assistance programs in the event of a program participant losing a given benefit?

The American Enterprise Institute hosted a discussion on child welfare priorities, where experts examined how to reform a system facing a decline in foster homes and competing priorities between family reunification and child protection. This webinar recording highlights the panelists’ conversation on the importance of distinguishing between “complex poverty”—which involves substance abuse and mental illness—and material poverty.

The Office of Family Assistance (OFA) held the Linking Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Families to Employment and Economic Opportunities Meeting in August 2017. This meeting allowed TANF program representatives from around the country the opportunity to learn about promising practices and actionable implementation strategies to improve employment outcomes and economic independence among TANF families. This session offers popular curriculum models for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention program grantees, including abstinence education and Personal Responsibility Education Program, one of the largest federally funded programs designed to address adolescent pregnancy and prepare youth for successful transition to adulthood.

The Office of Family Assistance (OFA) held the Linking Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Families to Employment and Economic Opportunities Meeting in August 2017. This meeting allowed TANF program representatives from around the country the opportunity to learn about promising practices and actionable implementation strategies to improve employment outcomes and economic independence among TANF families. This session included the efforts of the Office of Adolescent Health to Coordinate adolescent health initiatives across HHS, including Teenage Pregnancy Prevention programs.

The Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) is one of the largest federally funded programs designed to address adolescent pregnancy. PREP legislation requires grantees incorporate into their programs content on at least three of six adulthood preparation subjects (APSs): adolescent development, healthy life skills, educational and career success, parent-child communication, financial literacy, and healthy relationships. This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation report presents conceptual models for each of the six APSs, and a unified framework that identifies commonalities across the models and provides guidance for including a positive youth development approach in APS programming.

The Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) is one of the largest federally funded programs designed to address adolescent pregnancy and prepare youth for successful transition to adulthood. PREP grantees have flexibility in designing and implementing programs, provided they adhere to certain requirements specified in the legislation, including educating youth on at least three of six adulthood preparation subjects (APSs): adolescent development, healthy life skills, educational and career success, parent-child communication, financial literacy, and healthy relationships. This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation brief offers guidance to grantees who want to or already address financial literacy in their PREP program.