Many States offer low- and moderate-income families an additional Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) in addition to the Federal EITC. In this brief from the University of New Hampshire Carsey School of Public Policy, the effect of these additional benefits on families in need is explored. Findings show that State EITC benefits help families out of poverty, and children benefit the most from these economic gains.

When the Aid to Families with Dependent Children legislation was replaced with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) in 1996, the following years saw a decrease in the number of families receiving cash assistance. In this report from the Congressional Research Service, TANF caseload numbers over time are examined and trends in child poverty are highlighted.

This brief from the University of New Hampshire’s Carsey School of Public Policy discusses demographics in Southwestern Minnesota, a rural area where the population is aging and becoming more diverse, particularly among youth. The goal of the brief is to analyze the circumstances youth face in this region, including consideration of economic, educational, and social indicators. Also discussed is the increasing inequality of opportunity, as well as the strengths of the region that could facilitate improvements to social circumstances and youth opportunities.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation hosted this webinar in October 2016; the webinar recording is available online. The webinar is part of a series discussing lessons learned from the Foundation’s Learn and Earn to Achieve Potential (LEAP) initiative, which is working with youth, especially those who have been justice system involved, homeless, or in the child welfare system, to address the challenges that make it difficult for them to achieve degrees or maintain jobs. LEAP sites have aimed to make their services responsive to youth who have experienced trauma, since research shows that suffering extreme stress and adverse experiences in childhood can impair physical development in ways that have long-term consequences. On the webinar, three LEAP sites discussed how they have made their services trauma-responsive.

This research brief from the University of Maryland School of Social Work attempts to characterize former clients of Maryland’s Temporary Cash Assistance (TCA) program who have left TCA and been able to make gains toward self-sufficiency. In acknowledgement that sustaining self-sufficiency is hard for many TCA leavers, the brief compares the characteristics of more and less self-sufficient families, both demographic and regional, and also compares the TCA involvement histories of successful leavers versus the histories of clients that are struggling with economic stability. Researchers also study the work histories of economically stable leavers and the industries in which they work. The goal of this brief is to provide information that may lead to strategies for improving family self-sufficiency after leaving the welfare system.

Housing and Housing Finance is a research focus of the Urban Institute. On this webpage there are links to various resources related to housing, such as Affordability, Credit Availability, Homelessness, and Multifamily Housing. Researchers at Urban analyze housing market trends as well as the efficacy of housing assistance programs to provide current information about the impacts of housing policy and finance to both policymakers and the public.

The Department of Labor-funded Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) grants aim to build the capacity of community colleges to develop and run training programs that lead to career pathways and future workforce success for participants. This toolkit discusses program sustainability, with practical strategies that programs can use to sustain elements of TAACCCT after the grant funding ends. Also discussed is the concept of sustainability planning, including worksheets to assist programs in developing an individualized sustainability plan.

In this portfolio, the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE) summarizes the work funded by their Division of Economic Independence in the field of welfare and family self-sufficiency in fiscal year (FY) 2016. OPRE funds both research and evaluation efforts, as well as efforts to circulate recent research, across five areas within this topic: Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Employment and the Labor Market, Education and Training, Behavioral Science, and Cross-Cutting and Other Safety Net Research. In addition to reviewing FY 2016 work, the portfolio identifies key findings from several of these OPRE efforts.

IMPACT 5000 is the District of Columbia Housing Authority’s (DCHA) initiative to increase support for the 5,000 children living in its properties. These children face several challenges, including food insecurity, economic uncertainty, and health issues. This resource includes materials from an event at Urban Institute at which a panel presented findings from a community needs assessment of residents of DCHA family properties.

This post from the Chronicle of Evidence-Based Mentoring is part of a series on toxic stress. In this post, the authors highlight what professional staff need to know about toxic stress to best serve vulnerable youth and families.