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…

A paper from Economic Mobility Pathways discusses the importance of setting high goals and standards when helping families navigate their way out of poverty. Coach-navigator programs that seek to build resiliency and decision making view high…

A seven-year government project that researched ways to strengthen social services using principles from behavioral science, called Behavioral Insights to Advance Self-Sufficiency (BIAS), recently ended and published a case study based on their…

Studying large public social programs can be a challenge for social scientists. Recent technological developments have allowed researchers to use big data — data sets that combine survey and administrative data — to examine how social programs work…

The Urban Institute was contracted by a Washington State housing authority to evaluate its 2013-2016 Student and Family Stability Initiative that provided supportive housing and employment to homeless or vulnerable families with elementary-aged…

This study was commissioned by the Colorado Department of Human Services and conducted by ICF to better understand the economic impact of thousands of refugees who now call Colorado home. It specifically focuses on the impact of the public support…

This report from the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation is a required annual report to Congress on indicators and predictors of welfare dependence. The report provides data on benefits provided only by Temporary Assistance…

This report from the Urban Institute shares the experiences of women who have received TANF cash assistance for more than five years in the District of Columbia. Recently, the District changed their policy to do away with the five-year time limit…

This report from the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE) describes major welfare and family self-sufficiency research that was sponsored by OPRE in Fiscal Year 2017. The five areas of research explored by OPRE projects are: Temporary…

In this Brookings Paper on Economic Activity, the authors focus on children within the safety net programs of Medicaid, EITC, CTC, SNAP, and TANF, and how federal money has shifted over time to currently benefit families with earnings above the…