The National Women's Law Center (NWLC) released a report that provides a gender analysis of national and State poverty and income data for 2012, released by the Census Bureau in September 2013. The National Women's Law Center supplies this analysis because little information broken out by gender is available directly from the Census Bureau's series of reports titled "Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States." The report found that poverty rates among women, like poverty rates overall, remained at historically high levels last year. Women's poverty rates were once again substantially above the poverty rates for men. The data also show that income supports such as Food Stamps/SNAP benefits kept millions of Americans out of poverty last year. The wage gap remained unchanged in 2012, with women working full time, year round typically earning 77 cents to every dollar paid to their male counterparts – the same level at which they have remained for a decade.

The Child Support Enforcement (CSE) program was enacted in 1975 as a federal-state program (Title IV-D of the Social Security Act) to help strengthen families by securing financial support for children from their noncustodial parent on a consistent and continuing basis and by helping some families to remain self-sufficient and off public assistance by providing the requisite CSE services. Over the years, CSE has evolved into a multifaceted program. While cost-recovery still remains an important function of the program, its other aspects include service delivery and promotion of self-sufficiency and parental responsibility. In FY2012, the CSE program collected $27.7 billion in child support payments and served nearly 15.7 million child support cases. However, the program still collects only 63% of current child support obligations for which it has responsibility and collects payments for only 59% of its caseload. (author abstract)

This article provides a historical look at federal policy as it relates to the employment of people with disabilities over the last 40 years. Of particular interest to TANF stakeholders is the descriptions of integrated employment and EmploymentFirst, two strategies that the Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) has promoted to help individuals with serious disabilities connect with work.

Offered by the Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP), this Web site lists a wide variety of guides and toolkits for professionals interested in connecting individuals with disabilities with employment. Each publication can be viewed online, or a free copy may be ordered through the mail. Publications include posters, brochures for individuals with disabilities, and tips sheets for professionals.

This short paper examines the effects the Great Recession had on both TANF and SSI take up rates. It also examines the effect that welfare reform had on SSI rates and concludes that since welfare reform in 1996, SSI has been playing a larger part in the general safety net for low-income individuals and families.

This article briefly reviews research on transition challenges for youth with disabilities in the juvenile justice system and supports needed to become self-sufficient. Profiles of four State programs are provided, including program models, results, funding, and evaluation efforts. From the four example States, common themes are identified for future work.

A study released by the RAND Corporation addresses challenges that reserve component service members and their families face after deployment, and the factors that contribute to successful reintegration, a process that is critical to the well-being of the individual and their family. The report provides a series of recommendations for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Brookings released a paper touching upon the opportunity gap faced by Americans, and the difficulty for those individuals in the bottom ranks to move up. Children born into the top fifth of the income distribution have twice as much of a chance of becoming middle class or better in their adult years as those born into the bottom fifth. Suggestions are given on how to beat those odds, including the importance of a college degree and its implications on future career choices, mobility, and economic self-sufficiency.

This report summarizes the short term effects of four current demonstration projects from the Social Security Administration (SSA) on the self-sufficiency of recipients of SSI and SSDI. The random assignment evaluations of these projects will measure long term effects of the demonstration projects when completed. The short term impacts show a slight increase in employment for this population and highlight some of the common challenges these individuals face.

Workforce One developed the Workforce System Strategies' Community Colleges and Workforce Partnership resource page. This page provides research sources related to education and training for unemployed and underemployed adults, with topics and target populations ranging from Community Colleges, Career Pathways, Limited Skills, and Online Trainings.