This session will explore the emerging research on an expanded Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for single adults. The EITC, a refundable tax credit for low- to moderate-income working individuals and couples, is an effective way to make work pay for low-wage workers. However, many childless adults are ineligible for benefits. This session will explore emerging evidence on how expanding the EITC may improve self-sufficiency for low-income, single adults, including non-custodial parents. Carson Hicks (New York City Center for Economic Opportunity) will moderate this session, and Vicki Turetsky (Administration for Children and Families) will serve as a discussant.

• Paycheck Plus: Testing an Expanded EITC for Single Adults in New York City

Cynthia Miller (MDRC)

• Effects of an Expanded EITC on Labor Market Participation for Black and Latino Young Men

Ronald Mincy (Columbia University)

• Strengthening Families with Non-Custodial Parents: Effects of an Expanded EITC on Child Support

Elaine Sorensen (Administration for Children and Families) (conference program description)

These presentations were given at the 2014 Welfare Research and Evaluation Conference (WREC).

Insights from behavioral economics, which combines findings from psychology and economics, suggest that an improved understanding of human behavior and decision-making could inform program design and improve outcomes. OPRE’s Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self Sufficiency (BIAS) project designs and tests behaviorally-informed program innovations for ACF programs. This session will share early findings and lessons learned from BIAS’s work with child support agencies in Texas and Ohio. (conference program description)

• Behavioral Economics and Social Policy: Designing Innovative Solutions for Programs Supported by the Administration for Children and Families

Lashawn Richburg-Hayes (MDRC)

The presentation gives an overview of how behavioral concepts are being applied to social policy within the context of the Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency (BIAS) Project.

• Using Behavioral Economics to Help Incarcerated Parents Apply for Child Support Order Modifications

Mary Farrell (MEF Associates)

Michael Hayes (Texas Office of the Attorney General)

The presentation describes the Texas pilot of the Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency (BIAS) Project, a program designed to increase the number of incarcerated, non-custodial parents who apply for child support order modifications.

• Using Behavioral Economics to Increase Timely and Regular Child Support Payments

Peter Baird (MDRC)

Susan Brown (Franklin County Child Support Enforcement Agency

The presentation describes the Franklin County, Ohio pilot of the Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency (BIAS) Project, an initiative to increase the total amounts of child support collected and the frequency of payments.

These presentations were given at the 2014 Welfare Research and Evaluation Conference (WREC).

Released by The Institute for Research on Poverty, this policy brief focuses on hard-to-employ individuals and the different ways to improve work opportunities, earnings, and incomes for this target population. The brief includes detailed analysis of child poverty trends in the U.S. as well as policy recommendations on stabilizing the income of the hard-to-employ.

This study sought to examine the effect of prenatal poverty on the birth weight of infants (as birth weight can be a predictor for a range of outcomes for children) and subsequently, the effect that work-based welfare assistance, such as the EITC and TANF, has on maternal and infant health. The study found that there is a causal link between prenatal poverty and low birth weights, finding that state EITCs relieve prenatal poverty and indicated increased birth weights in babies born to mothers who received an earned income tax credit. However, the study found mixed results for TANF receipt and its effect on birth weights.

This brief from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities provides a broad overview of research and evidence of the positive effect of public benefit programs on poverty rates in the U.S. Programs highlighted include SNAP, Medicaid, and refundable tax credits with a discussion of the current support for low income working families (versus historical policies which did not incentivize work). To conclude, the brief provides research citing improved long-term outcomes for children whose families are supported by public benefit programs. Two appendices provide charts with the number of people kept above the poverty in each state; an interesting and potentially helpful resource for policymakers and program administrators.

From the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, this report provides an overview of benefits to the proposed expansion of the Child Tax Credit- such an expansion could benefit 13 million children across the country. The families that would benefit from the expansion would include children in families where a parent works throughout the year and children in families that include individuals with disabilities.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, in partnership with ICF International, released a toolkit that intends to equip frontline program staff with fundamental financial empowerment principles, an understanding of consumer financial protection, tools and information to help clients take steps to build and apply money management skills, and a referral guide to link clients to local financial empowerment services. Financial empowerment trainers can use the toolkit to train case managers and other frontline staff that are working with clients in a variety of contexts: asset building programs, TANF and workforce programs, Head Start, refugee resettlement services, programs for at-risk youth, programs serving people with disabilities, and more.

This study reviews results of a pilot employment program in New York, a part of the Strengthening Families Through Stronger Fathers Initiative. The program provided employment-oriented services, fatherhood/parenting workshops, case management, and other support services to nearly 4,000 parents behind in their child support in four New York communities. The evaluation shows that these programs successfully helped participants find work and increase their earnings.

The University of Kentucky's Center for Poverty Research released a discussion paper that explores whether the safety net reduces food insecurity for families and children who receive any of the five major safety net programs: Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and Medicaid. The results indicated that the various safety net programs do improve food security.

The Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood Initiative released a guide that includes an alphabetized list of resources for practitioners to use in topics related to marriage and relationships, fatherhood and parenting, and financial education.