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POLICY INSIGHT
BEYOND THE NUMBERS

Real Voices: Thanks to the TANF Emergency Fund

I have written several recent posts about the importance of extending the TANF Emergency Fund, a part of last year’s federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that states and localities are using to help place 240,000 individuals in subsidized jobs in the private and public sectors. I won’t repeat those arguments today. Instead, I’ll share with you what people who are working because of the fund say about it.

These individuals quoted below work at the Internet Archives (a San Francisco non-profit that’s working to digitize one million books that will be available for free to school children across America), which has hired over 100 employees through San Francisco’s subsidized jobs program, Jobs Now!.:

  • “There are people that honestly want to work. This program makes it happen.”
    – Erick S.
  • “I was unemployed and homeless. This job has changed me and my children’s life tremendously.” – Agnes F.
  • “We have seen our future again. Our life, our hope, our happiness has begun to bloom. Please don’t let it wither.” --Juandi S.
  • “Without the Jobs Now! Program, I wonder where I would be and how I would feed my family.” -- Alethea B.
  • “Jobs Now! Has given me a sense of purpose, responsibility, and stability.”
    – Juana T.
  • “I raise my 13 year-old niece who has a medical condition. I can pay for her co-payments, lab work and medication to keep her healthy and alive.” – April V.
  • “Without my job, me and my kids would be on the street, homeless.”
    – Polyanna C.

You can read more quotes and stories here. Jobs Now! has placed about 4,000 individuals in subsidized jobs, far exceeding its original target of 1,000 placements. All except a few hundred subsidies will end on September 30th if the fund is not extended.