While the child support program has been recently successful in supporting low-income single parents, many single parents still do not receive child support. Child support can often be a vital financial resource for families in poverty. In this study, researchers look at the effect of child support debt on nonresident fathers’ child support payments and formal earnings in Wisconsin.

The Rural Communities Academy was the "kick off" event for the 16 selected rural sites and included time for each rural site team (consisting of four/five team members) to participate in information gathering, networking, and action planning. The team members who attended the Academy participated in workshops and plenary sessions, and met with Rural Content Specialists and representatives from other rural communities who shared their insight into strategies being utilized in rural areas with TANF participants.

This issue brief is from HealthReform.gov, a Web site maintained by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In rural America, around 50 million residents have challenges accessing health care and in recent years, poverty and access to adequate health care providers has been increasing in rural areas. Due to the economic crisis, rural areas are particularly vulnerable, and this issue brief offers information on the current state of health care in rural areas.

The Federal Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) Program provides eligible low-income families with an income-conditioned voucher that pays for a portion of rental costs in privately owned, affordable housing units. This paper extends prior research on the effectiveness of rental support programs in several ways. The analysis employs a unique longitudinal dataset created by combining administrative records maintained by the State of Wisconsin with census block group data. They use a propensity score matching approach coupled with difference-in-differences regression analysis to estimate the effect of housing voucher receipt on the employment and earnings of voucher recipients, and they track these effects for five years following voucher receipt.

This report was prepared by ICF International under a contract with USDA to analyze the Rural Development Multi-family Housing Program, identify problems, and provide recommendations for changes to address such problems. This assessment included 333 detailed field inspections and 32 market studies, and this report provides detailed findings and implications for rural development across the country.

This Webinar explored how rural TANF programs can expand technology access in rural areas. Presenters included Axiom Technologies, Business Access, and Connect Kentucky.

This report is from the Urban Institute and outlines how the tax system can be used to enroll uninsured children into Medicaid and SCHIP programs. In 2004, 89.4 percent of uninsured children who qualified for Medicaid or the State Children’s Health Insurance Program lived in families who filed Federal income tax forms, and this method can be an effective outreach strategy to reach these vulnerable families.

The Hoopa Valley Positive Indian Family Network in California requested technical assistance (TA) from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance to help improve Hoopa Valley’s Positive Indian Family Network and their collaboration with other Hoopa Valley human service agencies, particularly Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). The Network operates through a Tribal TANF-Child Welfare Coordination Grant. An event was held on July 8-9, 2008, that focused on wraparound case management practices and the Systems of Care framework from the perspective of the Medicine Moon Initiative through the Native American Training Institute.

This presentation was given by researchers at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and the Center for Social Development at the Eleventh Annual Welfare Research and Evaluation Conference that is sponsored through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation. The research questions included: 1. Does IDA program participation affect clearing old debts as preparation for applying for a home loan? and 2. Does IDA program participation affect rates of homeownership among those who enter the program as renters? Among the findings, IDAs appear to be effective in helping low-income families save for a home.

This report was authored through the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire. The researcher outlines the changing nature of women and work nationally over time, and in rural and urban areas. The focus of this research is five key changes: 1) the increase in women’s employment, 2) the recent “opting out” phenomenon, 3) the rise in women’s earnings and declines in the earnings gap, 4) the rise in the working poor, and 5) the decline in the traditional family structure of a husband as breadwinner with a stay-at-home wife. As an example, many rural families are relying more on the woman’s income to supplement the family’s earnings and are working in traditionally male dominated fields like farming and mining.