This report is a technical supplement to the 36-month impact report for the Building Strong Families (BSF) evaluation (Wood et al. 2012). It provides additional detail about the research design, analytic methods, and variable construction that were used for the 36-month analysis, as well as a discussion of the subgroup analysis that was conducted. Additionally, the report discusses the treatment-on-the-treated (TOT) impact analysis, an analysis of BSF’s effects on couples who actually attended BSF group sessions. The full set of impact results generated as part of the 36-month analysis is included in the appendices of this volume. Restricted use data files and documentation are available through the Inter-University Consortium of Political and Social Research. (author abstract)

The Pew Charitable Trusts released an interactive resource that allows users to sort and analyze data related to various fiscal, economic, and demographic trends in the 50 States. Users may browse data related to state revenue, spending, economy and people, long-term costs, and fiscal policy.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service released a report that examines the effects of disabilities on household food security. The research focuses on adults who are unable to work due to their disabilities and adults with disabilities that do not necessarily prevent employment. Results indicated that food insecurity was more prevalent among households with working-age adults with disabilities.

Services to help people find work are a common element of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and other programs, but evidence on the effectiveness of different approaches is limited. This report presents options for designing a rigorous evaluation of the impact of job search assistance for low-income workers. It describes several broad designs, using both individual- and group-randomized experimental designs, and concludes with a discussion of the tradeoffs when considering research questions, technical merit, practical merit, and policy relevance. Abt Associates prepared the report. (author abstract)

How can federal programs support low-income and low-skilled individuals find and keep employment? Searching for a job is a universal experience for nearly all Americans, but for some low-income and low-skilled individuals, job search may be especially difficult. To support these individuals as they look for employment, many federal programs offer short-term and relatively low-intensity services, known as job search assistance. This brief describes an overarching framework for thinking about job search assistance programs, including an overview of service delivery methods, key program components, and the steps that make up the job search process. Abt Associates wrote this brief. (author abstract)

This article provides an overview of available research on children who experience homelessness, the impact of homelessness on children's physical and educational development outcomes, as well as policies and programs established to help address the issue of child homelessness. TANF is highlighted as a potential solution and applicable research is shared about job readiness services for homeless individuals. This article would be helpful to TANF programs interested in gaining a better understanding of the needs and more fully serving homeless families.

This brief from the National Center on Family Homelessness provides an overview of ways TANF can be used to help homeless families find and maintain stable housing. It explains the difficulty which some homeless families experience when attempting to access TANF while also offering examples of state programs effectively building partnerships between TANF and homeless service providers. While it is intended for housing service providers and gives a basic overview of TANF, the suggestions for collaboration would be useful to TANF stakeholders seeking to address the needs of homeless families with local service providers.

In April 2014, the Institute for Research on Poverty released a discussion paper that explores the receipt of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) among low-income households. The research is based on data from the first two waves of the Michigan Recession and Recovery Survey (MRRS), a panel survey of working-age adults in the Detroit Metropolitan Area. The study examined how low-income families in the Detroit Metropolitan Area combined SNAP with other forms of public assistance during the Great Recession and analyzed the relationship between the receipt of SNAP assistance and food shopping behaviors.