Many low-income households lack the savings to weather financial shocks like layoffs, and SNAP plays a crucial role in helping them manage essential expenses during difficult times.
This report examines the extent to which proposed options included in the Student Food Security Act, Let Students Eat proposal, and the EATS Act impact specific demographics of students, either by increasing access or by streamlining the process for qualifying students to demonstrate eligibility.
This paper discusses the country’s chronic underinvestment in children and resulting outcomes, including new data on poverty rates among young children, is inextricable from the prospects of young children; and the remarkably comprehensive pandemic-era response policies, including which changes contributed most to reducing child poverty.
This study tracked Medicaid enrollees in Wisconsin and found that 20% lost coverage at the 12-month renewal deadline, with 37% regaining coverage within 6 months. The likelihood of losing and regaining coverage was influenced by age, healthcare use, and other personal characteristics.
This brief offers a new, anti-racist vision for transforming the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) into a program that actively pushes back against structural racism and advances racial equity and economic prosperity for all families.
CMS finalized a rule in May 2024 that requires states to implement Medicaid Advisory Committees (MACs) and Beneficiary Advisory Councils (BACs) to ensure Medicaid enrollees are better represented in decision-making — this guide provides tips and examples to help guide the process.
While millions of workers have gained access to PFML, the lack of uniformity in mandatory PFML programs created a growing patchwork of state laws, differing on nearly 30 policy components across four key areas: substantive benefits, financing, eligibility, and administrative requirements.
Through analyzing hundreds of research studies and surveying thousands of Americans this report identifies 28 life experiences that drive lifetime income, called mobility experiences.
The flexibility of the TANF block grant allows states to use TANF funds to provide cash to families through additional mechanisms, at least for brief periods, with fewer requirements.
In the early stages of the Aligned Customer-Centered Ecosystem of Supports & Services (ACCESS) Initiative, professionals in the health, human services, and labor sectors overwhelmingly expressed a deep desire for alignment to increase workforce capacity, streamline processes, and, above all, improve service delivery to those accessing services and programs. Through the ACCESS project, key collaborators have shared insights into current and future opportunities for alignment within their agencies, including potential enablers for and barriers to alignment activities.
American Public Human Services Association (APHSA)
In 2017, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services began the TANF Data Innovation (TDI) project. Its goal was to expand TANF agencies use of TANF administrative and employment data to improve program services and outcomes for families with low incomes. This report focuses on the TANF Data Collaborative (TDC) component of the TDI. TDC provided technical assistance (TA) and learning opportunities to two groups: all TANF agencies serving families on or eligible for TANF, and a select few agencies chosen for the TDC Pilot Initiative.
