Despite the significance of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) to the nation’s social safety net, advocates argue it is in desperate need of modernization. Many of its program rules have not been updated in four decades, despite dramatic changes in the country’s attitudes about and policies meant to support full community inclusion of people with disabilities. Applying for SSI can be a lengthy and complicated process, program eligibility and payment requirements can be confusing, and asset limits discourage saving for life’s unexpected events. Mathematica and the National Academy of Social Insurance will host a virtual event on October 8, 2024, at 1:00 p.m. ET to examine the state of SSI 50 years after the program's first payment and to discuss evidence-based reforms that could strengthen the program for the next 50 years.

In 2021, the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) began a community engagement effort called Community-Driven Policies and Practices (CDPP). CLASP facilitated a series of power-building sessions in Baltimore, Las Vegas, and Tribal Nations in the Pacific Northwest to establish a safe space for people experiencing poverty to dream up policies with the potential to deliver economic justice and strategies to advance them. The sessions culminated in an advocacy plan to implement a policy goal that each group believed would advance their vision for economic justice. This CLASP report summarizes CDPP, including the project’s guiding principles, planning team, and engagement strategy. It also spotlights the advocacy plans that community members drafted while participating in CDPP power-building sessions.

The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) annual block grant dedicates $16.5 billion in federal funds for states to support families with financial need, for instance through monthly cash assistance and through nonrecurrent short term benefits (NRSTs). While ongoing cash assistance comes with several restrictions, including work requirements, NRSTs have more flexibility, both in terms of who is eligible and what actions are required of recipients. Research has shown that cash payments can have strong positive outcomes for parents and children, including improved health, reduced child abuse and neglect, better education and work opportunities, and increased food, housing, and financial security. This Urban Institute summary provides an overview of key facts and considerations related to using TANF funds to support certain types of cash transfers to families with low incomes.

This Mathematica brief describes the activities of the Mississippi Action Learning Network (MALN) from May 2022 to December 2023 and includes takeaways related to how facilitators planned and facilitated meetings, meeting attendance, how sharing and learning occurred, what participants learned and collaboration examples, and progress the group made towards its goals. MALN is a Mississippi state initiative where leaders share and learn best practices, innovations, and solutions for improving economic mobility.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has published details of a new process for victims and survivors of trafficking to block adverse information from their credit reports that resulted from their trafficking experience. This Polaris Project guide was created to provide survivors and advocates with additional information about this process.

Just Science hosted a Human Trafficking Policy and Research Analyses Project mini season and sat down with RTI International in episode two of the podcast to discuss a project which focuses on economic empowerment for those who have experienced human trafficking. For those who have experienced human trafficking, economic or financial consequences are often inextricably linked to their trafficking experience and may leave those people without the skills, resources, or social capital to meet their needs in the community. As part of the project, researchers are developing a guide to help service providers understand fundamentals and important considerations of implementing economic empowerment programs for people who have experienced human trafficking, including programming related to financial education, financial abuse, and supporting employment. This podcast episode describes promising practices related to economic empowerment programming for people who have experienced human trafficking, the experience of incorporating trauma-informed practices in human trafficking research, and recommendations for other researchers interested in this work.

Capturing a clear picture of Americans’ financial lives involves looking at not only financial metrics but also the circumstances that shape people’s everyday lives, such as access to health care and affordable childcare. However, creating this holistic understanding can be difficult. Researchers and local officials must navigate a fragmented data landscape, which makes it challenging to understand people’s financial lives, much less develop solutions to improve them.

The Urban Institute’s Financial Well-Being Data Hub developed a tool to address the challenge by allowing users to browse financial well-being metrics across publicly available datasets. The tool’s more than 300 metrics include core measures of financial well-being, such as the value of household assets and debts, and contextual factors that shape people’s financial lives, such as disruptions due to climate-driven events. Users can filter metrics by data source, geography, and topic.

The Survey of Household Economics and Decision-making is the survey from the Federal Reserve Board of Governors for tracking the financial circumstances of low- and moderate-income families and potential risks to their financial health. This year’s survey continues to track key topics related to financial outcomes, such as the effects of inflation on household finances, emergency savings, housing, returns to education, and retirement. New topics have been added on food sufficiency, caregiving, employment of those with a previous arrest or conviction, and homeowners’ insurance.

The Federal Reserve Board of Governors will be hosting a virtual event on June 20, 2024 from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET, where researchers will share findings from the survey on trends in financial well-being and answer any questions on the financial conditions among low- and moderate-income populations based on the survey results.

Qualitative data indicate guaranteed income programs—which provide cash directly to beneficiaries—provide real stability to people in need. But, while waiting for the quantitative data to come in, researchers are brainstorming on how to maximize this approach. This Abt podcast episode discusses two outstanding questions that researchers have: What do we still have to learn about cash transfers as a means of empowering people, and can making payments directly to households be a more effective way of providing rent subsidies?

Individuals can better meet economic challenges with higher wages, expanded employment opportunities, knowledge of financial concepts, and access to affordable and safe financial products and services. To help support the financial well-being of people with low incomes, government agencies fund both employment and training (E&T) programs and financial capability interventions. This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation research brief describes the experiences of individuals with low incomes who participated in programs that integrate E&T and financial capability services. The brief is intended for E&T program administrators, client-facing staff, and financial capability service providers seeking to learn more about the successes and challenges of delivering integrated services from the perspective of participants. By incorporating these insights into service delivery, practitioners can improve program structures, strengthen engagement, and enhance supports to foster financial well-being for individuals with low incomes.