ACF Hosts Cross-Sector Summits Nationwide to Promote Economic Mobility

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services hosted nine cross-sector summits (PDF) in 2022 to build knowledge among partners about the economic mobility challenges facing their communities. These collaborative events brought government and non-government partners together to elevate state and local solutions that support families with low-incomes transition as they seek economic stability and mobility.

“The Administration for Children and Families is committed to strengthening opportunities for families to achieve economic stability, upward mobility and healthy child development,” said ACF Assistant Secretary January Contreras. “These economic mobility summits help break down silos between local, state and federal partners so we can learn from each other and solve problems collaboratively.”

The summits were led by ACF’s Office of Regional Operations (ORO) and involved collaboration with other ACF offices, federal agencies, state partners and national stakeholder organizations. ORO reviewed the work taking place in regions and determined the following focus areas for this year’s economic mobility events:

• Cliff effect: Any additional income a family earns can affect its ability to continue receiving a benefit or service a program provides. This cliff effect factors into family decision-making about whether or when to accept an employment offer or additional hours at a current job. One summit shared a “Career Ladder Identifier and Financial Forecaster” (CLIFF) Calculator to help families understand the financial impacts of different decisions.

• Cross-sector information sharing: All regional summits engaged in cross-sector information sharing, whether the event was co-hosted by other federal agencies; brought in nonprofit, state or philanthropic partners; or the issues discussed cut across the expertise of different sectors.
   
• Parental engagement/customer voice: All regions engaged their state leaderships in promoting intentional engagement of parents and those with lived experience to inform their policies and practices. One summit included a training for parents, so they felt comfortable offering insight during sessions.
   
• Eligibility and enrollment: Summits shared progress on innovative efforts to improve eligibility and enrollment in federal programs. One summit highlighted a project about modernizing a state’s distribution system and streamlining its application and eligibility processes to make it easier for people to be evaluated and enrolled in benefit programs and other services.
   
• Innovations and knowledge-building: Summits provided different ways for participants to learn about innovative program designs or activities. One summit heard from a state’s leadership about its child care assistance program, which recently expanded its income eligibility from 200% of the federal poverty level to 400% and waived all parent co-pays.
   
• Workforce development: Summits also had sessions about giving people pathways to careers, including in the human services field. One summit partnered with ACF’s Children’s Bureau to host several state and tribal listening sessions to learn how ACF can help with recruitment and retention of child welfare staff.

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Learn more by visiting: https://www.acf.hhs.gov/occ

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