Download or read book Expiration of TANF Supplemental Grants a Further Sign of Weakening Federal Support for Welfare Reform written by LaDonna Pavetti and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 7 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a continued unraveling of the deal that Congress made with the states in enacting the 1996 welfare reform law, federal Supplemental Grants provided every year since 1996 to 17 states to augment their Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant will expire on July 1. These states include some of the poorest in the nation, with child poverty rates averaging 22 percent. Several have also been hit especially hard by the economic downturn; nine have unemployment rates above the national average of 9.1 percent. Allowing the Supplemental Grants to expire violates the spirit and substance of the 1996 welfare reform deal that Congress made with the states. Under the old Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) structure that the 1996 welfare law replaced, federal funding to states rose automatically when need increased in hard economic times and more families qualified for aid. The TANF block grant that replaced AFDC provides a flat amount of federal funding that does not rise when need increases, or when the cost of living increases due to inflation or when a state's population (and in particular, its number of poor children) increase.

Download or read book Welfare Reform written by Thomas M. James and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 1998-06 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reviews states' fiscal decisions for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant and whether states are taking steps to prepare for the effects of future economic downturns on their welfare programs. Addresses (1) how state budgetary resources, including federal aid, have been allocated since states have had access to TANF funds, (2) what plans states are making to assure programmatic stability in times of fiscal and economic stress, and (3) the extent to which states have used, or plan to use, the program's federal Contingency Fund and the Loan Fund which are available for downturns or other emergencies affecting states.

Download or read book Welfare reform challenges in maintaining a federalstate fiscal partnership report to congressional requesters written by and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Welfare Reform More Coordinated Federal Effort Could Help States and Localities Move TANF Recipients With Impairments Toward Employment written by and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) significantly changed federal welfare policy for low-income families with children. PRWORA eliminated eligible families legal entitlement to cash assistance and created Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grants to states. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) administers the TANF block grant program, which provides states with up to $16.5 billion each year through fiscal year 2002 and requires them to maintain a historical level of state spending on welfare-related programs. Under TANF, states have much greater flexibility and responsibility than under the prior Aid to Families With Dependent Children (AFDC) program to design and implement programs that meet state and local needs. At the same time, TANF emphasizes the importance of work and personal responsibility over dependence on government benefits. More specifically, to avoid financial penalties, states must demonstrate, yearly, that an ever-increasing proportion of adults receiving TANF are working or engaged in work-related activities. In addition, after 2 years of assistance, or sooner if the state determines the recipient is ready, TANF adults are generally required to be engaged in work or work-related activities, and each state has the prerogative to define work and work-related activities. These work requirements are more stringent than those of the previous program. Moreover, states must enforce a lifetime limit of 60 months (or less, at state option) on the length of time adults receive federal assistance, although up to 20 percent of a state's adult caseload may be exempted from this time limit.

Download or read book The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Tanf Block Grant written by Gene Falk and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2014-10-31 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant provides federal grants to the 50 states, the District of Columbia, American Indian tribes, and the territories for a wide range of benefits, services, and activities. It is best known for helping states pay for cash welfare for needy families with children, but it funds a wide array of additional activities. TANF was created in the 1996 welfare reform law (P.L. 104-193).

Download or read book The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families TANF Block Grant Responses to Frequently Asked Questions written by Congressional Research Congressional Research Service and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2014-12-10 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant funds a wide range of benefits and services for low-income families with children. TANF was created in the 1996 welfare reform law (P.L. 104-193). This report responds to some frequently asked questions about TANF; it does not describe TANF rules (see, instead, CRS Report RL32748, The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Block Grant: A Primer on TANF Financing and Federal Requirements, by Gene Falk). TANF Funding. TANF provides fixed funding to states, the bulk of which is provided in a $16.5 billion-per-year basic federal block grant. States are also required in total to contribute, from their own funds, at least $10.4 billion under a maintenance-of-effort (MOE) requirement. Federal and State TANF Expenditures. Though TANF is best known for funding cash assistance payments for needy families with children, the block grant and MOE funds are used for a wide variety of benefits and activities. In FY2013, expenditures on basic assistance (cash assistance) totaled $8.7 billion-28% of total federal TANF and MOE dollars. TANF also contributes funds for child care and services for children who have been, or are at risk of being, abused and neglected. Cash Assistance Caseload. A total of 1.7 million families, composed of 4.0 million recipients, received TANF- or MOE-funded cash in December 2013. The bulk of the "recipients" were children-3.0 million in that month. The cash assistance caseload is very heterogeneous. The type of family historically thought of as the "typical" cash assistance family-one with an unemployed adult recipient-accounted for less than half of all families on the rolls in FY2011. Additionally, 15% of cash assistance families had an employed adult, while 4 in 10 families had no adult recipient. Child-only families include those with disabled adults receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI), adults who are nonparents (e.g., grandparents, aunts, uncles) caring for children, and families consisting of citizen children and ineligible noncitizen parents. Cash Assistance Benefits. TANF cash benefits are set by states. In July 2012, the maximum monthly benefit for a family of three ranged from $923 in Alaska to $170 in Mississippi. Benefits in all states represent a fraction of poverty-level income. In the median jurisdiction (North Dakota), the maximum monthly benefit of $427 for a family of three represents 27% of poverty-level income. Cash Assistance Work Requirements. TANF requires states to engage 50% of all families and 90% of two-parent families in work activities. However, these standards are reduced by the amount of a state's caseload reduction from FY2005. Further, states may get an extra credit against these standards by spending more than required under the TANF MOE. Therefore, the effective standards states face are often less than the 50% or 90% targets, and vary by state. In FY2011, states achieved an all-family participation rate of 29.5% and a two-parent rate of 32.0%. That year, nine jurisdictions failed the all-family standard, and five jurisdictions failed the two-parent standard. States that fail to meet work standards are at risk of being penalized by a reduction in their block grant.

Download or read book Welfare Reform written by United States. General Accounting Office and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Clearinghouse Review written by and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The New Localism written by Bruce Katz and published by Brookings Institution Press. This book was released on 2018-01-09 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The New Localism provides a roadmap for change that starts in the communities where most people live and work. In their new book, The New Localism, urban experts Bruce Katz and Jeremy Nowak reveal where the real power to create change lies and how it can be used to address our most serious social, economic, and environmental challenges. Power is shifting in the world: downward from national governments and states to cities and metropolitan communities; horizontally from the public sector to networks of public, private and civic actors; and globally along circuits of capital, trade, and innovation. This new locus of power—this new localism—is emerging by necessity to solve the grand challenges characteristic of modern societies: economic competitiveness, social inclusion and opportunity; a renewed public life; the challenge of diversity; and the imperative of environmental sustainability. Where rising populism on the right and the left exploits the grievances of those left behind in the global economy, new localism has developed as a mechanism to address them head on. New localism is not a replacement for the vital roles federal governments play; it is the ideal complement to an effective federal government, and, currently, an urgently needed remedy for national dysfunction. In The New Localism, Katz and Nowak tell the stories of the cities that are on the vanguard of problem solving. Pittsburgh is catalyzing inclusive growth by inventing and deploying new industries and technologies. Indianapolis is governing its city and metropolis through a network of public, private and civic leaders. Copenhagen is using publicly owned assets like their waterfront to spur large scale redevelopment and finance infrastructure from land sales. Out of these stories emerge new norms of growth, governance, and finance and a path toward a more prosperous, sustainable, and inclusive society. Katz and Nowak imagine a world in which urban institutions finance the future through smart investments in innovation, infrastructure and children and urban intermediaries take solutions created in one city and adapt and tailor them to other cities with speed and precision. As Katz and Nowak show us in The New Localism, “Power now belongs to the problem solvers.”

Download or read book 2 00 a Day written by Kathryn Edin and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2015 with total page 239 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of a kind of poverty in America so deep that we, as a country, don't even think exists--from a leading national poverty expert who "defies convention" (New York Times)

Download or read book Food Stamp Reform written by American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research and published by . This book was released on 1977 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Background Material and Data on Major Programs Within the Jurisdiction of the Committee on Ways and Means written by and published by . This book was released on 1983 with total page 608 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families TANF Block Grant written by Gene Falk and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 90 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant provides federal grants to states for a wide range of benefits, services, and activities. It is best known for helping states pay for cash welfare for needy families with children, but it funds a wide array of additional activities. TANF was created in the 1996 welfare reform law (P.L. 104-193). TANF funding and program authority were extended through FY2010 by the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA, P.L. 109-171). TANF provides a basic block grant of $16.5 billion to the 50 states and District of Columbia, and $0.1 billion to U.S. territories. Additionally, 17 states qualify for supplemental grants that total $319 million. TANF also requires states to contribute from their own funds at least $10.4 billion for benefits and services to needy families with children -- this is known as the maintenance-of-effort (MOE) requirement. States may use TANF and MOE funds in any manner "reasonably calculated" to achieve TANF's statutory purpose. This purpose is to increase state flexibility to achieve four goals: (1) provide assistance to needy families with children so that they can live in their own homes or the homes of relatives; (2) end dependence of needy parents on government benefits through work, job preparation, and marriage; (3) reduce out-of-wedlock pregnancies; and (4) promote the formation and maintenance of two-parent families. Though TANF is a block grant, there are some strings attached to states' use of funds, particularly for families receiving "assistance" (essentially cash welfare). States must meet TANF work participation standards or be penalised by a reduction in their block grant. The law sets standards stipulating that at least 50% of all families and 90% of two-parent families must be participating, but these statutory standards are reduced for declines in the cash welfare caseload. (Some families are excluded from the participation rate calculation.) Activities creditable toward meeting these standards are focused on work or are intended to rapidly attach welfare recipients to the workforce; education and training is limited. Federal TANF funds may not be used for a family with an adult that has received assistance for 60 months. This is the five-year time limit on welfare receipt. However, up to 20% of the caseload may be extended beyond the five years for reason of "hardship", with hardship defined by the states. Additionally, states may use funds that they must spend to meet the TANF MOE to aid families beyond five years. TANF work participation rules and time limits do not apply to families receiving benefits and services not considered "assistance". Child care, transportation aid, state earned income tax credits for working families, activities to reduce out-of-wedlock pregnancies, activities to promote marriage and two-parent families, and activities to help families that have experienced or are "at risk" of child abuse and neglect are examples of such "nonassistance".

Download or read book Means Tested Transfer Programs in the United States written by National Bureau of Economic Research and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2003-10-15 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Few United States government programs are as controversial as those designed to aid the poor. From tax credits to medical assistance, aid to needy families is surrounded by debate—on what benefits should be offered, what forms they should take, and how they should be administered. The past few decades, in fact, have seen this debate lead to broad transformations of aid programs themselves, with Aid to Families with Dependent Children replaced by Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, the Earned Income Tax Credit growing from a minor program to one of the most important for low-income families, and Medicaid greatly expanding its eligibility. This volume provides a remarkable overview of how such programs actually work, offering an impressive wealth of information on the nation's nine largest "means-tested" programs—that is, those in which some test of income forms the basis for participation. For each program, contributors describe origins and goals, summarize policy histories and current rules, and discuss the recipient's characteristics as well as the different types of benefits they receive. Each chapter then provides an overview of scholarly research on each program, bringing together the results of the field's most rigorous statistical examinations. The result is a fascinating portrayal of the evolution and current state of means-tested programs, one that charts a number of shifts in emphasis—the decline of cash assistance, for instance, and the increasing emphasis on work. This exemplary portrait of the nation's safety net will be an invaluable reference for anyone interested in American social policy.

Download or read book Indicators of Welfare Dependence written by and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Welfare Reform in California written by Jacob Alex Klerman and published by RAND Corporation. This book was released on 2001 with total page 54 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An executive summary of RAND MR-1358-CDSS, Welfare Reform in California: Early Results from the Impact Analysis. The study examines the effects of the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program on work activity participation rates of welfare recipients, welfare caseloads, and outcomes for welfare leavers. It describes outcomes under CalWORKs through approximately the summer of 2000 and begins the process of explaining the observed variation in outcomes through time, between California and other states, and among California's counties. Analyses of national data (administrative data on caseloads and national survey data on household income) and statewide data (on caseloads, employment, and earnings) show almost uniform improvement in outcomes in California since the implementation of CalWORKs. While the CalWORKs reforms appear to have been responsible for some of that improvement, the robust economy and other policy changes were probably also important. The rest of the nation has experienced similar improvements in outcomes.

Download or read book Characteristics and Financial Circumstances of AFDC Recipients written by and published by . This book was released on 1990 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: