TANF at 30
Landmark Dates for TANF
From the Director of the Office of Family Assistance:
- Thirty Years Later, Welfare Reform Needs Its Own Reform
- TANF and Work: The Gap Between Perception and Reality
- TANF and Work: The Caseload Reduction Credit and How States Exploit It
- The Prevalence of TANF Child-Only Cases Involving Immigration-Status-Ineligible Parents
- Safeguarding TANF Assistance: State Options for EBT Location and Purchase Restrictions
Families are Stronger Together
Supportive services—such as childcare, transportation, housing assistance, and career coaching—can make the difference between participating in employment services and successfully reaching long-term goals. This National Skills Coalition resource…
Young people leaving foster care often face financial challenges as they transition to adulthood, including managing money, securing housing, and planning for future goals. This Annie E. Casey Foundation brief introduces their financial…
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs have long supported families in building economic stability. This Dear Colleague Letter by the Office of Family Assistance explores how TANF funds may now be used to support Trump Accounts,…
Young people aging out of foster care may face a stark reality. They leave the system at 18 with little financial cushion and few of the family safety nets on which most young adults rely. To address this, federal guidance has been issued by the…
Too often, accessing public benefits requires families to travel to offices during business hours, wait in long lines, and navigate systems that were designed around administrative convenience rather than client need. The San Francisco Human…
Many families do not enter the child welfare system all at once; they arrive there after a series of crises that no one stepped in to address early enough. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs can be a part of that early…
Work Innovations
Tailored for Success: How Two Programs in Los Angeles Customize Employment Services for Young People
This MDRC report explores how two workforce programs in Los Angeles adapted employment services to better meet the needs of young people. For Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) practitioners serving youth and young parents, this…
As workforce needs continue to change, career and technical education programs are adapting to prepare individuals for new opportunities. This MDRC podcast explores how education and training programs are responding to shifts in the labor market…
Workforce Pell was created in response to a simple truth: a great education and a better life do not necessarily require a four-year college degree. Whether through apprenticeships, hands-on Career and Technical Education, or certificate programs…
This AIR resource explores how Workforce Pell could expand access to short-term education and training programs that lead to employment opportunities in high-demand industries. For Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs, many…
This Office of Family Assistance Information Memorandum (IM) highlights how Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds can be used to support families with childcare needs, including parents and caregivers who provide care at home. It…
The American Public Human Services Association will host a webinar on May 7, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. to explore how childcare systems and TANF programs can better align in a shifting policy and operational environment. TANF programs can use these…
Promoting Healthy Marriages and Two-Parent Families
This resource by Study.com provides practical family conflict resolution activities that help people recognize what is driving disagreement, see situations from different perspectives, and work through problems in a more structured way. For…