Economic empowerment is often a critical need for people who have experienced human trafficking, from their moment of exit through their long-term recovery. An increasing number of anti-trafficking service providers are beginning to address these needs, offering programs focused on financial literacy, job training, cash assistance, and more. Yet there is little guidance for practitioners as they support the economic well-being of anti-trafficking program participants. This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation guide is intended to serve as a foundation for organizations considering starting, expanding, or refining programs addressing economic empowerment of people with lived experience of human trafficking.

LifeSet is an intensive case management program that prepares young people in foster care for the transition to adulthood. LifeSet specialists meet weekly with youth to provide individualized, intensive services as youth work towards self-defined goals in areas such as housing, employment, education, and money management. This Chapin Hall report presents findings from the Phase II evaluation of LifeSet’s implementation by three child services providers in Illinois. Phase II evaluation activities included focus groups with LifeSet specialists; interviews with LifeSet supervisors, licensed program experts, and young people who participated in LifeSet; and an analysis of both Department of Children and Family Services administrative data and GuideTree program data from Youth Villages.

Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Accounts are tax-advantaged savings accounts that are available to eligible individuals with disabilities. ABLE account funds can be used for "qualified disability-related expenses" (QDE). A QDE is any expense the beneficiary incurs because of the disability. These may include expenses related to education, housing, transportation, employment training and support, or other expenses that help improve health, independence and/or quality of life. This Social Security Administration blogpost explains who is eligible for an ABLE account, what the funds are used for, and the effect it has on Social Security disability benefits.

This U.S. Department of Labor brief explores how states use financial incentives to expand Registered Apprenticeship (RA) Programs and achieve targeted goals. Incentives are additional financial supports used to increase the number of RA programs and offset the cost for employers in the form of state tax credits or subsidies to apprenticeship sponsors, related technical instruction providers, and other entities responsible for developing RA programs. The brief highlights findings from focus groups conducted with the following eight states: Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, and Mississippi.

The Administration for Native Americans (ANA) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families has awarded $9 million to 32 Native American Tribes and Native organizations to help improve the social and economic well-being in their communities. Every year, ANA supports Native-led, community-based projects across the United States, Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands. Funds will be awarded across three Notice of Funding Opportunities: Social and Economic Development Strategies (SEDS), Social and Economic Development Strategies Alaska (SEDS-AK), and Environmental Regulatory Enhancement Grant Awards (ERE). This ACF press release announces the new FY 2023 SEDS, SEDS-AK, and ERE community partners and highlights three tribal projects that will be supported with this funding.

Research clearly demonstrates that youth and young parents experience poverty at a disproportionate rate with severe consequences to not only their current and future well-being (mental, physical, and financial), but also for the overall health of the family unit. Organizations specifically designed to serve youth often are not equipped to utilize a consistent, evidence-informed approach. They may lack the tools needed to effectively support economic mobility. This EMPath paper provides an overview of the evidence surrounding the impacts of poverty on youth and young families, and the benefits of promoting family economic stability and mobility for these populations. It highlights the experiences and learnings from the cohort of youth-serving organizations to effectively engage and support their program participants with economic mobility coaching.

Watch a Video Held in Conjunction with this Paper Release

Some employment coaching programs and other human services programs offer financial incentives to reward desired behaviors such as engaging in specific activities or achieving certain goals. Employment coaching involves trained staff working collaboratively with participants to help them set individualized goals, directly or indirectly related to employment, and providing motivation, support, and feedback as participants work toward those goals. By addressing financial needs, the incentives can reduce some of the stress related to having low income and thus help participants focus on reaching their goals. This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation brief highlights lessons learned from studying the experience of two employment coaching programs serving adults with low incomes that offered financial incentives: (1) LIFT and (2) MyGoals for Employment Success.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Administration for Children and Families (ACF) proposes to improve the effectiveness and integrity of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) regulations. This Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) would help families experiencing the greatest economic hardships benefit from the services that Congress intended for the TANF program to provide.

Specifically, the proposed rule puts forward for public comment seven changes to the current regulations that would increase program integrity, clarify allowable uses of TANF, and reduce obstacles for individuals trying to access support. These are:

• Establish a ceiling on the term "needy";
• Clarify when an expenditure is "reasonably calculated to accomplish a TANF purpose";
• Exclude as an allowable TANF maintenance-of-effort (MOE) expenditures cash donations from non-governmental third parties and the value of third-party in-kind contributions;
• Ensure that excused holidays match the number of federal holidays, following the recognition of Juneteenth as a federal holiday;
• Develop new criteria to allow states to use alternative Income and Eligibility Verification Systems (IEVS) measures;
• Clarify the "significant progress" criteria following a work participation rate corrective compliance plan; and
• Clarify the existing regulatory text about the allowability of costs associated with the disseminating program information.

Comments on these proposed rules from all TANF partners and affected parties are due to HHS by December 1, 2023 and can be submitted via this form. 

According to 2022 Census data, the rate of child poverty in the United States has more than doubled, from 5.2 percent in 2021 to 12.4 percent in 2022. The increase follows the expiration of many of the COVID-era programs that resulted in unprecedented reductions in child poverty. Despite high rates of unemployment during the pandemic, child poverty declined by 25 percent in 2020 and by nearly 50 percent in 2021, due to stimulus payments and temporary expansions to government programs. The expiration of these programs reverses the progress of the last two years. This Child Trends blogpost discusses how to prevent further loss of the progress made in reducing child poverty.

Future of Wealth Discussion Series events are live, one-hour virtual convenings that are open to the public and bring together leaders across sectors and disciplines to consider wealth-building objectives that the Aspen Financial Security Program considers critical to creating widespread household financial well-being. Aspen Institute will host an episode of this series, “Boosting Income and Benefits for Household Stability” on September 27, 2023 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. ET. During this event, public benefits leaders will discuss how the end of the public health emergency is creating challenges for the benefits infrastructure, and the opportunity to fundamentally transform these systems to create real onramps to wealth building.