The Family Room Blog

Anna, a single mother of six, is a graduate student earning $17,000 a year.  Even with child care assistance and help from her family, she struggles to pay her bills every month.  But her financial burden lightened considerably when she received a refund of more than a quarter of her income through IRS’ Earned Income Tax Credit.

This month we celebrate African American history. The timing, and naming, of this commemoration reflects nearly a century of struggle and accomplishment.

In 1926, Dr. Carter G. Woodson, an educator, historian, and journalist, proclaimed “Negro History Week.”  He selected a week in February to recognize the birthdays of two anti-slavery icons—President Abraham Lincoln and abolitionist Frederick Douglass.

Of all the areas of human services I’ve been involved with over the years, few are as troubling as human trafficking, the modern-day equivalent of the slave trade.

Human trafficking targets vulnerable people of all ages. Traffickers take the wages of large numbers of victims in fields and factories and enslave workers in the hotels we stay in. Traffickers mislead skilled or educated adults facing chronic unemployment with the false lure of higher paying jobs.

Greetings from “The Family Room,” ACF’s new blog.  I’m George Sheldon, the acting assistant secretary of ACF.

I will have many stories to share with you from the nation’s family room in the coming months, stories of the abiding strength of the human spirit.  My job gives me the privilege to see up close how ACF helps people overcome adversity.  Every day I work with leaders who make our 60-plus programs something to be proud of, offering the best possible social and economic services to millions of Americans.