From the Urban Institute, this fact sheet provides an overview of how households cope with financial emergencies. For low-income families, asset building can often provide the necessary supports to help families deal with unforeseen expenses and remain economically stable. Authors review how households with incomes over $30,000 cope in financial emergency as compared to those with incomes below $30,000.

This resource guide was designed to support child welfare workers, supervisors, administrators, and other professionals that work with American Indian families. From the Rocky Mountain Quality Improvement Center, this guide offers strategies for best practices in serving these families with both child protection and substance abuse concerns.

Recent research shows that when work and education programs are combined, low-income families have improved outcomes. This research is from MDRC and provides evaluation information from programs that include education components to increase earnings of low-wage workers. Specifically, performance-based scholarships can have a large positive effect on academic achievement among a single-parent student population that faces multiple barriers to completing college.

This study was funded through the Department of Agriculture and provides information on food security in households that participate in the Food Stamp Program (FSP). Using data from the Current Population Survey, researchers found that Food Stamp households have higher at-home food spending and lower away-from-home-spending than comparable non-participants.

LexLinc Kentucky requested the assistance of the Welfare Peer TA Network to plan and conduct a 2-day statewide Roundtable on the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)/Child Tax Credit (CTC) and strategies to help eligible current and former TANF participants and low-income families apply for the credits. The principal goal of the Roundtable was to build and enhance partnerships statewide between social services providers, Kentucky’s TANF Agency, business leaders, and community and faith-based organizations, with an aim toward helping low wage earning families achieve financial self-sufficiency through the Earned Income Tax Credit.

This is a series of reports from Chapin Hall, which provide evaluation information on the Prime Time Initiative. The Initiative is an effort to strengthen the quality of after-school programs in Palm Beach County, Florida through networks of providers. The goal of the Initiative is to create an integrated and sustainable system of standards, supports, and resources for all after-school programs. Reports include the evaluations from Year 2 and Year 3 of the Initiative.

Subsidies through the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) and TANF are often crucial to helping parents maintain employment and reach self-sufficiency. From the Urban Institute, this report provides an overview of research conducted on strategies that States have employed to help eligible families access subsidies. Most recently, States have been redesigning subsidy programs to support families in stable employment.

This article is from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and provides information on food security among low-income households. This research was focused on assessing the extent to which low-income households are willing and able to budget for healthy foods. It was found that households with an income below 130 percent of the poverty line spend less money than higher income households on healthy foods.

This newsletter is from the What Works Clearinghouse and provides an overview of the New Chance program. The program supports TANF recipients who have dropped out of school through GED preparation, life skill training, parenting programs, childcare assistance, and case management. New Chance was found to be successful in helping participants complete education.

This policy brief is from the National Human Services Assembly and provides information on effective home visiting program models. Home visiting is a family-strengthening strategy that can support not only parents and caregivers, but also can influence the lives of young children. Studies have shown that home visits can increase positive outcomes for children in at-risk families.