The Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation presents findings from a study of two behavioral interventions: one that used behavioral messaging postcards and text messages to encourage participation in an optional meeting, and one that made the meeting easier to attend. The meeting was for Paycheck Plus, an earnings supplement program in which participants had previously enrolled. The study found that behavioral messaging led to a significant increase in the percentage of attending participants, sending text messages in addition to postcards was more effective than solely sending postcards, and there was no significant difference in response rates between the phone and in-person participants. The evidence shows the promise of using behavioral insights in marketing materials for more effective outcomes, as well as the challenges of engaging a low-income, urban population.

In this publication, the U.S. Census Bureau presents data on income and poverty in the United States based on information collected in the 2015 and earlier Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplements (CPS ASEC). It notes that in 2014, the median household income was $53,657, which was not statistically different from the 2013 median household income of $54,462. The official poverty rate was 14.8% (46.7 million individuals) in 2014, which was not statistically different from the 2013 poverty rate. The data is also categorized by demographics such as race, ethnicity, and region. For most demographic categories, income estimates did not statistically differ between 2013 and 2014.

The Office of Family Assistance recently published the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) caseload and application for the third quarter of Fiscal Year (FY) 2015. During that quarter, an average of 1.6 million families were receiving TANF and Separate State Program (SSP) assistance per month. This indicates a decrease of about four percent from the same time period in FY 2014.

This Office of Family Assistance Program Instruction (PI) reminds TANF jurisdictions that federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Maintenance-of-Effort (MOE) funds cannot be used to provide juvenile justice services. The Office of Family Assistance identified that several states are using federal TANF and/or MOE funds to provide services to individuals who are under the jurisdiction of the state's juvenile justice system. This PI is to remind TANF agencies about established policy in this area.

In this interactive feature from the Center on the Developing Child, users will learn how the choices our government and service-providers make can help children and their communities as a whole become more resilient in the face of significant challenges.

This Information Memorandum (IM) encourages TANF and child welfare agencies to coordinate and share data on the children, youth, and families they both serve. It reminds TANF programs that they are permitted under federal law to determine their own confidentiality rules and recommends cross-training and information sharing across TANF and child welfare to maximize resources and services, and help families meet the requirements of both programs.

This fact sheet for community organizations and leaders offers recommendations for handling economic downturns within communities. Topics include instilling a sense of safety, calming the public, self-efficacy, and hope. The publication explains that community organizations are in a unique position to lead, partner with others, and inspire essential changes to help their communities overcome hardship.

Child support is a critical source of income, especially for the growing population of children born to unmarried mothers. Given many single mothers’ limited earnings potential, child support from non-custodial fathers is also important. This paper uses data from a statewide randomized experiment conducted in Wisconsin in order to address the effects of child support on custodial mothers’ labor supply, and whether policies that increase child support receipt will discourage mothers’ employment. The evidence indicated that there is no negative effect of child support on the likelihood to work for pay or the number of hours worked in a given week. These results suggest that custodial mothers’ child support collections and their labor supply may be compatible and that the absence of a negative labor supply effect strengthens the potential antipoverty effectiveness of child support.

A recent release from the National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP) analyzed their newly updated 50-State Policy Tracker, an interactive online tool for comparing safety net policies critical to the economic security of working families. It reveals significant disparities between different states, demonstrating that a person’s state of residence can greatly impact his or her future success. This tool includes data by state among ten critical social programs: child care subsidies, child and dependent care tax credit, Earned Income Tax Credit, family and medical leave, income tax policy, Medicaid/Children’s Health Insurance Program, minimum wage, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, and unemployment insurance.

This document from the EMPath explains what is meant by the term "coaching," both in terms of definition and practice. The resource will present the reasons coaching is used at EMPath, define the basic components of how coaching is completed, and focus on usable information for practitioners and policymakers.