The social safety net includes numerous programs that families with lower incomes can access to obtain cash income, resources for food, and help with housing, child care expenses, and energy costs. However, many people who are eligible for these programs do not receive help. This Urban Institute report uses the Analysis of Transfers, Taxes, and Income Security microsimulation model to hypothetically assess the aggregate benefit dollars and reductions in poverty if there was 100% participation in the following means-tested programs:

• Supplemental Security Income;
• The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program;
• The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children;
• Temporary Assistance for Needy Families;
• Child care subsidies supported by the Child Care and Development Fund;
• The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program; and
• Public and subsidized housing programs.

Results are provided nationally and at the state level, as well as by age group and race and ethnicity.

Benefits cliffs refer to the sudden and often unexpected decrease in public benefits that can occur with a small increase in earnings. This happens when families receive benefits through a public assistance program, earn a raise, and then become ineligible to continue receiving benefits despite being unable to sustain their household. This National Conference of State Legislatures report provides an overview on the Federal income eligibility requirements for public assistance programs, including housing assistance, utility assistance, food and nutrition assistance, direct cash assistance, child care, and health insurance. Additionally, it highlights work requirements for these public assistance programs and state policy strategies and legislation related to benefit cliffs.

Latino parents with low incomes were especially hard-hit by COVID-19 pandemic-related closures and disruptions to their jobs and to their childcare arrangements — challenges exacerbated by Hispanic workers’ structural concentration within industries and occupations that offer few benefits and flexibilities needed to respond to childcare disruptions. This Hispanic Research Center brief presents findings on employment patterns among these parents and on workplace flexibilities adopted (or not) by the industries in which they are employed and discusses potential programmatic and policy interventions to support family well-being and childcare needs moving forward.

Many effective services promote healthy development in early childhood and support families’ well-being that are located across sectors. These include high-quality childcare and early education (CCEE), and support for other family health, educational, and financial needs. It can be challenging for families to benefit from all these services because they all function separately, typically in different locations and with differing eligibility, enrollment, and service provision requirements. Potential roadblocks can exacerbate disparities because they affect marginalized families the most. This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation study provided an in-depth look at different approaches to coordinating CCEE with other health and human services.

Finding and maintaining quality childcare is a challenge for many parents, and those living in low-income households often face even more obstacles. The Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin at Madison will host a virtual session on October 4, 2023 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. ET to introduce and discuss the current landscape of early care and education (ECE) as it pertains to low-income families. The panel will focus on policies and practices that offer support to low-income parents, an assessment of the current childcare subsidy program, and potential future measures could help to ensure access to affordable, high-quality ECE for all.

This blogpost illustrates food insecurity data and the impact of relief measures on food insecurity. The most recent annual U.S. Department of Agriculture report shows that some 13.5 million households with 33.8 million people were food insecure at some point during 2021. The data tell two stories: on one hand, food insecurity remains too high, being higher both for households with children than without, and for those with members of color than for white households. But overall food insecurity in 2021 was statistically unchanged from 2019 and 2020, even amid a pandemic; it improved for households headed by a Black adult, and it reached a two-decade low for households with children. The rate held steady during the COVID-19 pandemic and is not significantly different from the 10.5 percent rate for 2019 and 2020 due to robust relief measures policymakers enacted. These include Economic Impact Payments, an expanded Child Tax Credit, improved unemployment insurance, and expanded food assistance, along with SNAP’s built-in ability to respond to increased need.

Linking government data between different agencies and departments is a powerful strategy to connect people to valuable benefits that they might otherwise miss. By linking data, the California Policy Lab helped the state of California measure how many Californians receiving safety-net benefits were at risk of not receiving federal stimulus payments, the state Earned Income Tax Credit, and the advanced Child Tax Credit – resulting in millions of dollars of federal aid delivered to non-filing Californians. This toolkit provides step-by-step guidance for government leadership and their staff on how to develop and execute cross-departmental data linkages by focusing on a case study on increasing the take-up of anti-poverty tax credits.

The Administration for Children and Families will host a webinar on December 13, 2021 from 2:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET as part of a series of webinars on topics related to implementation and coordination of early childhood programs in American Indian and Alaska Native communities. This webinar supports participants in learning about approaches to building and improving facilities for early care and education in tribal communities. During the webinar, participants will hear an overview of issues related to building and improving facilities for early care and education, followed by a panel highlighting innovations and promising practices being implemented in tribal communities. Participants will discuss highlighted strategies with peers and hear about resources they can use in their own communities and programs.

The Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin at Madison hosted a webinar on November 4, 2021 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. CT, which explored ways that fathers’ roles and responsibilities shifted during the pandemic. Topics included father involvement in childcare and support for virtual learning, how the pandemic heightened existing challenges for low-income and noncustodial fathers, insights from practice and research, and supports that fathers may need to maintain positive changes or recover from negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Representatives from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, the City of Milwaukee, the University of Michigan, and the 4Dad Fatherhood Initiative in Kalamazoo, Michigan made presentations.

The deadline for families to submit information to the IRS for advanced payments of the Expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC) is November 15. The American Public Human Services Association (APHSA) is hosting a webinar series for human service agencies and community providers to highlight the tools and resources states are using to assist eligible families in receiving this credit. A webinar was held on October 13, 2021, during which representatives from the Virginia Department of Social Services (VDSS) and Code for America discussed on-the-ground efforts to connect eligible non-filer families to the CTC. Available resources include a webinar recording, the Code for America Navigator Resource Page to help navigate GetCTC (a web portal that makes it easier for families with low incomes to get the Child Tax Credit), a New Partner Form for tracking outreach efforts, and CTC Outreach Toolkits from GMMB and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.