TANF Work Programs | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

TANF Work Programs

Blog

An Expert’s Take on Using Subsidized Jobs to Meet Health, Employment Goals in Pandemic

March 30, 2021 | Laura Meyer

Faced with the COVID-19 health and employment crisis in spring 2020, the city of Baltimore launched an innovative subsidized employment project, the Baltimore Health Corps, to connect unemployed...

Subsidized Employment: A Proven Strategy to Aid an Equitable Economic Recovery

April 1, 2021

Report

TANF Improvements Needed to Help Parents Find Better Work and Benefit From an Equitable Recovery

January 28, 2021

Report

Most Parents Leaving TANF Work, But in Low-Paying, Unstable Jobs, Recent Studies Find

November 19, 2020

Report

TANF Studies Show Work Requirement Proposals for Other Programs Would Harm Millions, Do Little to Increase Work

November 13, 2018 | LaDonna Pavetti, Ph.D.

Blog

Behavioral Science Shows Why Work Requirements Don’t Work

April 8, 2019 | Ife Floyd

New on this Topic

Blog

Recovery Package Must Include Subsidized Employment to Support Returning Citizens

May 20, 2021

Blog

Subsidized Employment Must Be a Part of Any Recovery Package

April 27, 2021

Report

Subsidized Employment: A Proven Strategy to Aid an Equitable Economic Recovery

April 1, 2021

Blog

An Expert’s Take on Using Subsidized Jobs to Meet Health, Employment Goals in Pandemic

March 30, 2021

Report

TANF Improvements Needed to Help Parents Find Better Work and Benefit From an Equitable Recovery

January 28, 2021

Report

Most Parents Leaving TANF Work, But in Low-Paying, Unstable Jobs, Recent Studies Find

November 19, 2020

Policy Basics

Under TANF, states require recipients to engage in work activities and must impose sanctions (by reducing or ending benefits) on those who do not meet work requirements.

The Family Income Support Team elevates the ineffectiveness of work requirements. FIS research finds parents subject to work requirements often do not find consistent work or earn enough to lift their families out of poverty.

Recovery Package Must Include Subsidized Employment to Support Returning Citizens

The roughly 600,000 people released from state and federal prisons every year and the many others released from local jails often face discrimination and other barriers to finding steady...

Subsidized Employment Must Be a Part of Any Recovery Package

Subsidized employment, a proven job placement tool for those facing the greatest employment barriers, should be a part of any legislative package to help the millions who remain out of work in...

An Expert’s Take on Using Subsidized Jobs to Meet Health, Employment Goals in Pandemic

Faced with the COVID-19 health and employment crisis in spring 2020, the city of Baltimore launched an innovative subsidized employment project, the Baltimore Health Corps, to connect...

Subsidized Employment: A Proven Strategy to Aid an Equitable Economic Recovery

The current crisis calls for a permanent subsidized employment program that can respond to short-term needs and support workers who are disadvantaged even in good economic...

TANF Improvements Needed to Help Parents Find Better Work and Benefit From an Equitable Recovery

Significant policy changes and additional targeted funding are needed for the TANF program to realize its...

Most Parents Leaving TANF Work, But in Low-Paying, Unstable Jobs, Recent Studies Find

A central tenet of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), the primary cash assistance program for families with children, is that TANF should provide temporary support while parents...

Next Relief Package Should Include Funds for Subsidized Jobs

The economic relief package that policymakers are now negotiating must both reduce extreme hardship and lay the groundwork for a strong recovery. Funding for subsidized jobs — an effective approach...

Research on Understudied Area: TANF Restrictions’ Harm to Adolescents

Restrictions that the federal and state governments imposed in the 1990s on the nation’s main cash assistance program for low-income mothers and their children are associated with negative...

Rigid “Universal Engagement” TANF Bills Would Hurt Vulnerable Families

Companion bills from House and Senate Republicans to reauthorize the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant, which is set to expire June 30, would make it harder for states...

Work Requirements for Cash Assistance Fueled Rise in Deep Poverty

Promoting the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program as a model, some state and federal policymakers are considering, or have imposed, policies to take away SNAP (food stamps),...

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