On February 1, 2023, The Administration for Children and Families’ Office of Community Services (OCS) observed National Energy Assistance Day, which focused on reaching potential beneficiaries for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). In support of this observance, OCS released the LIHEAP Heating Season Toolkit. This toolkit contains outreach materials including an animated video about LIHEAP heating services, outreach flyers, a fact sheet on safe and unsafe heating practices, and a social media toolkit, all intended to help LIHEAP grant recipients, stakeholders, and partners ensure that available LIHEAP funding reaches households that need assistance with their heating costs this winter.

Over 3.2 million North Carolinians are poor or near poor, and many more experience economic instability and challenges over time. This report examines the ways that women in North Carolina are caught in the crosshairs of irreconcilable social and economic demands. Hundreds of thousands of women were forced last year to forgo job opportunities, experienced employment disruptions, or lost a job because of lack of affordable childcare.

Building on previous work developing a roadmap for system-level change to better support young families, the American Public Human Services Association established the System Alignment for Young Families Learning Academy (SAYF) to support cross-systems teams from state and local human services agencies in establishing a System Alignment Plan to support young families. This blogpost notes how the SAYF Learning Academy was launched in March 2022 with six cross-sectional teams that included parent leadership representing Maryland, Maricopa County (Arizona), Massachusetts, Nebraska, Nevada, and Wake County (North Carolina). Through the development of targeted practice tools, peer-to-peer learning, and individualized planning, the teams worked to advance system alignment, so that young families experience seamless service delivery that meets their individual needs. An infographic in the blogpost spotlights each team’s vision statement.

The economic and health effects of COVID-19 continue to linger for low- and moderate-income communities and communities of color, and organizations serving these communities also continue to feel the strain of COVID-19. While there were lower levels of pandemic-related effects in many segments of the economy relative to 2021 and there are signs of slow stabilization and recovery, to promote a true recovery that benefits these communities, it is important to monitor the conditions and needs of the organizations who serve those affected most.

As part of its Connecting Communities webinar series, the Federal Reserve System will host a discussion on February 9, 2023 from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET on findings from the National COVID-19 Community Impact Survey administered by the Federal Reserve System. The survey tracks the significant impact that the pandemic has had on underserved communities and those who support them. Participants will hear perspectives from those working on the frontlines in distressed communities and how organizations can use this data to advocate for themselves and those that they serve.

Strengthening Families and Help Me Grow (HMG) are closely aligned efforts focused on improving outcomes in early childhood. This brief describes how the HMG Model currently aligns with the Strengthening Families Approach and Protective Factors Framework and how HMG affiliates are currently using Strengthening Families. The brief also illustrates how the introduction of goal concordant care might enhance HMG affiliates’ ability to support families in attaining their goals for their children, as well as how this interacts with the promotion of families’ protective factors.

Families affected by substance use disorders and involved in the child welfare system face a variety of complex challenges. Children of parents with substance use disorder are more likely to be removed from parental care, less likely to be reunified, and experience lengthier out-of-home placements and delayed permanency. This brief provides an overview of the Sobriety Treatment and Recovery Teams (START) program — an evidence-based child welfare service delivery model for families that is aimed at keeping children safely with their parent(s) whenever possible through achieving parental sobriety and recovery, and family stability. The brief also highlights the funding and implementation of the START model in Kansas, Kentucky (which uses TANF to support the model), North Carolina, and Ohio, along with each state’s unique considerations.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been especially challenging for American families with children. The U.S. Surgeon General as well as the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the Children’s Hospital Association declared a children’s mental health crisis in late 2021, citing school closures, social isolation, grief over lost community and family members, and challenges accessing needed care as contributing factors. Parents, and especially mothers, have also borne significant caregiving, health, and health care access burdens that likely contributed to observed increases in mental health challenges since the pandemic began. However, women and mothers were already facing significant mental health challenges before the pandemic, and those challenges are likely to persist and evolve as the most acute pandemic stressors subside and new threats to women’s health and well-being arise. This report notes how maternal mental health has important implications for children, and how understanding mental health challenges among mothers will be critical to addressing the mental health crisis among children.

The Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) program offers education, training, support services, and employment assistance to prepare Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients and other adults with low incomes for occupations in the healthcare field that pay well and are expected to either experience labor shortages or be in high demand. This HPOG 2.0 National Evaluation Implementation Study Report documents how 27 non-tribal HPOG 2.0 grantees designed and implemented their programs, including program contexts, administration, grant expenditures, training and support services, and employment assistance services. It also documents participant characteristics and their engagement in program services and training activities.

Partnerships between TANF-funded programs and Community Action Agencies (CAAs) are the focus of this video series just released by the Office of Family Assistance (OFA) and the Office of Community Services (OCS). Filmed at four sites across the country, the five brief videos each look at how TANF programs and CAAs are working together to help shared customers achieve social and economic success. The videos are one result of the COVID and Safety Net Innovation (CASI) TA Initiative, a joint OFA and OCS initiative that provided technical assistance to TANF programs and CAAs, helping them develop a joint action plan to strengthen the safety net.

Hampton Roads Community Action Program and the Virginia Department of Social Services: Working together to create a whole family approach.

Audubon Area Community Services and the Kentucky Transitional Assistance Program: Partnering to deliver diverse work opportunities.

Maricopa County Human Services Department and the Arizona Department of Economic Security: Planning a holistic approach to anti-poverty efforts.

Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) and MAHUBE-OTWA Community Action Partnership: The first video explores how DHS and MAHUBE-OTWA collaborate to serve families in a rural area. The second video looks at how they are supporting American Indian/Native American culture.

During the continued recovery from and ongoing response to the COVID-19 epidemic, every member of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) families has experienced a growing set of challenges to their mental well-being. Amplified socioeconomic issues such as the rising cost of daily expenses, especially food, gas, and housing; difficulties with finding quality and long-term employment; and challenges with access to healthcare continue to place an increased mental burden on low-income families. In addition, children who previously found stability at school, even when it was not present at home, have had to endure constant changes in school closures, learning styles, and staff fluctuations and shortages.

Due to the heightened need of mental health services for all members of the family, it is vital that health and human service departments and community organizations consider mental health promotion as part of a comprehensive approach to service delivery. TANF programs provide an important touchpoint to low-income families facing mental health challenges and can improve access and utilization of mental health services for parents and children.

The Office of Family Assistance hosted a webinar on January 26, 2023 where speakers discussed the intersection between poverty, trauma, and mental health and shared strategies that could help improve long-term mental health outcomes for low-income families. Webinar attendees engaged with speakers and peers in dialogue focused on building mental health service strategies for TANF families impacted by various traumas.