Self-Sufficiency, Welfare & Employment

Learn about a project designed to advance the application of innovative research and evaluation methods in federally funded projects. While the project may provide support on a range of topics in social science research methodology, it primarily focuses on strategies for incorporating participatory methods and analysis of contextual factors into research and evaluation projects.

Learn about the Baby’s First Years study and the extent to which income plays a causal role in determining early child cognitive, socio-emotional, and brain development among families with a low-income.

Learn more about the Behavioral Interventions Scholars (BIS) grant program, which supports dissertation research by advanced graduate students who are applying a behavioral science lens to specific research questions relevant to social services programs and policies and other issues facing low-income and vulnerable families in the United States.

OPRE's Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency-Next Generation (BIAS-NG) project continues ACF’s exploration of the application of behavioral science to the programs and target populations of ACF.

Explore OPRE's portfolio of work on the application of behavioral science to challenges faced by programs that provide social services to individuals and families with low incomes by reviewing relevant reports, infographics, newsletters, and more.

The purpose of the Building Evidence on Employment Strategies for Low-Income Families Project (BEES) is to strengthen ACF’s understanding of effective interventions aimed at supporting low-income individuals to find jobs, advance in the labor market, and improve their economic security.

Explore OPRE's portfolio of research and evaluation on career pathways programs.

OPRE's Career Pathways Secondary Data Analysis Grants support secondary analyses of archived data collected through the HPOG Impact Study and Pathways for Advancing Careers and Education (PACE) project.

The National Research Center on Hispanic Children and Families leads and supports investigation of the needs of Hispanic populations served by ACF and of promising approaches to promote social and economic well-being among low-income Hispanic families. The Center’s research focuses on early care and education; poverty reduction and economic self-sufficiency; and fatherhood, family structure, and family dynamics. In addition to generating new research to inform ACF programs and policies to better serve Hispanic children and families, the Center aims to build research capacity by providing tools, resources, and support for the research community and emerging scholars.

The Child and Family Data Archive (CFData) is the place to discover, access, and analyze data on young children, their families and communities, and the programs that serve them. OPRE funds numerous data collection efforts through research studies on a wide range of early care and education (ECE) topics within and across child care, Head Start, and home visiting.

The Diaper Distribution Demonstration and Research Pilot (DDDRP) Evaluation will collect information on the implementation of the new DDDRP grant program and lay the groundwork for a rigorous future impact evaluation.

Racial bias can be present in any step of the employment process, from job search and application screening to assignment of hired workers to tasks, work hours, wages, and promotions. To meaningfully improve racial equity in employment, employers, policymakers, and researchers must understand the many ways in which employment processes related to hiring, promotion, and wage setting contribute to racial disparities in employment outcomes.

Learn more about the background and findings of a multi-year evaluation of interventions that apply coaching practices to promote job entry and retention among Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) populations and other individuals with low income.

ACF is committed to building evidence through strong evaluations to identify approaches that more efficiently and effectively serve families and children with low incomes. Part of this work includes supporting efforts to build research and evaluation capacity among state and local human services agencies through the provision of evaluation technical assistance (TA).

The Family Self-Sufficiency and Stability Research Scholars Network (the FSSRN) supports independent researchers working to enhance and improve family self-sufficiency research at the state and local levels.

Explore OPRE's portfolio of research and evaluation on the Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) Program.

This portfolio is comprised of two OPRE projects - the Building Evidence on Employment Strategies for Low-Income Families (BEES) Project and the Next Generation of Enhanced Employment Strategies (NextGen) Project - which aim to advance the evidence base by considering for evaluation a wide range of employment strategies for highly vulnerable populations with complex barriers to obtaining and retaining employment.

Find out more about OPRE’s study of Integrating Financial Capability and Employment Services.

Discover a project that seeks to fund the linking of one or more administrative data sets to an existing employment program evaluation and the analysis of those data to track the long-term effects of policy or program interventions.

This project, awarded in 2021, is supporting OPRE in integrating empirical findings from the literature on child development and family well-being into its welfare and family self-sufficiency research agenda. This project will lay the groundwork for building the knowledge base around child and family well-being in the context of parents’ participation in and completion of welfare and family self-sufficiency programs or interventions.

Learn about the Center’s investigation of assets, needs, and experiences of the diverse population of African American families and children served (or potentially served) by ACF programs, as well as promising approaches to address economic and social inequities. This work includes a primary focus on childcare assistance, TANF, and Head Start and Early Head Start programs.

OPRE's HPOG 2.0 National Evaluation includes an impact evaluation, descriptive evaluation, and cost-benefit analysis of the 27 non-Tribal HPOG 2.0 grantees.

NextGen is a study to identify and test innovative, promising employment interventions designed to help individuals facing complex challenges secure a pathway toward economic independence.

Learn about a project that aims to hear directly from American Indian and Alaska Native communities about their experiences with the Tribal TANF program.

OPRE’s welfare and family self-sufficiency research includes experimental impact evaluations...

This project will expand the knowledge base by updating the resources provided by the Employment Sector Analysis for TANF Recipients and Other Low-Income Families project.  

The Employment Sector Analysis project identified federal, state, and local labor market data in high-growth fields and analyzed labor market information to identify high-growth sectors of the labor market, focusing on positions requiring limited post-secondary training.

Explore OPRE's Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Human Services Analysis Execution Project for information on OPRE's approach to identifying racial and ethnic disparities in human services programs administered by the Administration for Children and Families.

Explore OPRE's projects for reports and more information on State and Territories TANF policies.

The purpose of this project is to advance understanding of how home visiting programs funded by the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) and Tribal MIECHV Programs can and do support family economic well-being.  

Family economic well-being is key to families’ long-term stability and is linked to positive outcomes in other areas targeted by home visiting programs, such as parenting.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a tremendous impact on State, Tribal, and Local TANF and child support programs. While some efforts have been made to understand these impacts, there are significant gaps in our knowledge of how these programs were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.  In 2021, OPRE launched a project to document the changes these programs made during the pandemic, what lessons were learned, and what changes have been incorporated into ongoing program operations. 

Discover the Pathways to Work Evidence Clearinghouse and its work to provide a comprehensive source of information about the interventions that aim to improve employment outcomes, reduce employment challenges, support self-sufficiency, and/or advance education and training for populations with a low income.

Explore how the Tribal Research Center for Early Childhood Development and Systems (TRC) promotes excellence in community-based participatory research and evaluation of ACF early childhood initiatives that serve tribal communities.

Explore tools and resources developed for Tribal TANF Child Welfare Coordination Grantees.

Learn how workers with low incomes weigh factors such as benefit loss, ease of resuming benefits once lost, marginal tax rates, and job instability when deciding whether to accept an earnings increase.

This project provided a descriptive study of the dynamics of county versus state administered TANF programs. The project gathered detailed information from a sample of county and state administered TANF programs identified as having promising TANF-WIA coordination practices...

Achieving Change for Texans: Statewide, the following were key program provisions: (1) time limit of 12 to 36 months for able-bodied adults, depending on work experience and education, with exemptions for severe local economic conditions and personal...

OPRE launched the Youth Demonstration Development Project (YDD) in 2009 to systematically review the current field of research on youth development and successful transition to adulthood. The primary objective of YDD, which is being conducted for OPRE...

The first component of the Family Self-Sufficiency and Stability Research Consortium is the Advancing Welfare and Family Self-Sufficiency Research project (also known as Project AWESOME). Led by Mathematica Policy Research, this contract provides research support and a flexible research and evaluation mechanism for responding to rapidly emerging policy priorities and research opportunities...

The Advancing Welfare and Family Self-Sufficiency Research follow-on contract provided timely and flexible research and evaluation support to ACF and its stakeholders and a flexible research and evaluation mechanism for responding to rapidly emerging policy priorities and research opportunities.

The Approaching Time Limits study explored what States have done with clients as they approached or already reached Federal and/or State TANF time limits....

The Assessing Enhanced Transitional Employment Programs (ETE) project identified and described operating employment-focused programs that helped individuals who faced significant employment challenges by providing transitional employment or work...

Assessing Medicaid and Food Stamps Access and Participation project, with the cooperation of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation helped participating States create and analyze performance data on how their Medicaid, SCHIP, and Food stamps enrollment...

Descriptive study of the range of existing state and local approaches to coordinating early care and education services with other health and human services for children and families with low incomes.

Linking administrative data sets to program evaluation records is a promising and potentially low-cost means of tracking long-term impacts of social interventions. For the purposes of this project, long-term is defined as greater than five years.

Discover this project’s work that led to the identification of methods showing promise for evaluating community-level initiatives. Additionally, learn about the kinds of methodological expertise grantees might need to conduct evaluations of community-change efforts and what data collection methods and strategies are likely to yield useful information.

This evaluation examines Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) under the largest federally funded IDA program: the Assets for Independence (AFI) program administered by ACF. IDAs are personal savings accounts targeted to low-income persons that...

The Assets for Independence (AFI) Program Experiment assessed the impacts of this ACF program on the savings, asset ownership, and economic well-being outcomes of the low-income individuals and families participating in the program.

Many human services programs are designed such that individuals must make active decisions and go through a series of steps in order to benefit from them — from deciding which programs to apply for, to completing forms, attending meetings, showing proof of eligibility, and arranging travel and child care...

The Building Bridges and Bonds (B3) study identified and tested new, interactive, skill-building approaches that address two of the three required Responsible Fatherhood grant program areas, parenting and economic stability, within the context of six existing fatherhood programs.

OPRE's Career Pathways Intermediate Outcomes (CPIO) Study extends follow-up to three-years after enrollment for study members enrolled in the HPOG 1.0 Impact Study and the Pathways for Advancing Careers and Education project.

OPRE's Career Pathways Long-term Outcomes (CPLO) Study extends follow-up to six years after enrollment for study members enrolled in the HPOG 1.0 Impact Study and the Pathways for Advancing Careers and Education project.

The Child Outcomes Synthesis Project was designed to synthesize the results from the Project on State-Level Child Outcomes, a series of demonstrations in five States that measured the impacts of welfare reform on the well-being of children...

The Connecticut Welfare Reform Evaluation Project continued the originally planned evaluation of Reach for Jobs First, which was implemented in January 1996, as an amendment to an earlier welfare reform demonstration, and subsequently incorporated in...

This project provided a descriptive study on the implementation of Tribal TANF programs and document lessons learned. The study also documented, identified and recommended potential approaches for further study...

Explore findings from OPRE's descriptive study about the range of child welfare services and benefits provided through the Unaccompanied Refugee Minors (URM) Program.

Nationally, job search activities are a significant area of program attention, including TANF and WIA. Yet, while job search activities are often included as an essential component of programs that have been the subject of OPRE-sponsored evaluations, they have not independently been the focus of rigorous examination...

The Economic Analysis of the Prenatal and Early Childhood Nurse Home Visitation Program study examined cost savings to the government resulting from a prenatal and early childhood home visitation program that had been studied in a series of three...

The Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) evaluation was a comprehensive effort to learn about effective strategies to promote employment retention and advancement among welfare recipients and low-wage workers. The project began in 1998, when HHS...

The Employment Sector Analysis for TANF Recipients and Other Low-Income Families project synthesized existing literature and resources for identifying federal, state, and local labor market data in high-growth fields; and analyzed labor market information...

The Employment Strategies for Low-Income Adults Evidence Review (ESER) was a systematic review of the evaluation research (as it existed between 1990 and 2014) on employment and training programs for low-income adults. ESER produced a searchable, public database and a series of briefs synthesizing the results of the review and highlighting promising strategies identified by the review...

The Enhanced Services for the Hard-to-Employ Demonstration and Evaluation project assessed the effectiveness of programs designed to enhance employment outcomes for current or former TANF recipients and other low-income parents who have demonstrated...

This project provided recommendations for the design of an evaluation to assess the implementation, outcomes, systems change, and impacts of the second round of Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) awarded in September 2015 (referred to as HPOG 2.0)...

OPRE jointly sponsored with the Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration (ETA) a study of subsidized summer 2010 employment opportunities for low-income youth operated with the TANF Emergency Fund offered as part of the American...

The Evaluation of Community Based Job Retention Programs project included two phases. In Phase 1, the project provided a detailed implementation analysis and short-term outcome findings for participants receiving various mixes of job retention and...

The Evaluation of Los Angeles Jobs-First GAIN project evaluated the results of changing Los Angeles' Greater Avenues to Independence (GAIN) program, a human resource focused welfare-to-work program into Los Angeles Jobs-First GAIN, a labor force...

OPRE awarded a contract to NORC at the University of Chicago, in conjunction with Red Star Innovations and the National Indian Health Board, to design and conduct a comprehensive implementation and outcome evaluation of the five Tribal Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) programs awarded in 2010...

The Ex-Prisoner Reentry Strategies Study (or “Father Reentry Study”) was an implementation study of six Responsible Fatherhood programs initially funded in 2011 under the Responsible Fatherhood grant program. The grantees administered their programs to incarcerated, soon-to-be released, and recently released fathers both in correctional institutions and in the community...

Explore OPRE's work in exploring Bayesian methods -- how they can be applied, the BASIE framework, how Bayesian methods can be used in social policy research, FAQs.

This cooperative agreement, awarded to Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago in 2013, supported the development, implementation, and ongoing operations of technical assistance to support family self-sufficiency research and administrative data analysis...

To fill gaps in family self-sufficiency and stability research and data activities and to complement its ongoing research, OPRE developed and launched a multi-faceted Family Self-Sufficiency and Stability Research Consortium (The Consortium)...

In 2013, OPRE awarded grants to a network of university-based researchers to investigate critical issues in improving family self-sufficiency and stability. The Family Self-Sufficiency and Stability Research Scholars Network supported...

To learn more about how OPRE is supporting graduate student dissertation research related to Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood.

Explore data and lessons learned through the FaMLE Cross-Site Project's work with the third cohort of Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood grantees.

Hurricane Katrina was perhaps the largest single natural disaster in America’s history. Millions of people were on the hurricane’s path. About half a million people in New Orleans were displaced by floods caused by Hurricane Katrina...

Provisions of the Florida Family Transition Program (FTP) Evaluation demonstration included: (1) a time limit of 24 months on assistance in any 60-month period for most recipients, with a limit of 36 months of receipt out of any 72 months for certain...

This project will develop products intended to expand the use of administrative data in analyzing long-term outcomes of federal social program interventions.

The purpose of this project was to explore how emerging insights from psychology can strengthen programs aimed at helping families achieve self-sufficiency. In particular, the project reviewed the implications of existing research on psychological...

Explore reports from OPRE's Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) Impact Study.

This project provided recommendations for the design of an evaluation to assess implementation, systems change, and outcomes of the 27 non-tribal Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) 1.0 programs (those awarded in 2010). Additionally...

In 2016, OPRE awarded a second round of Health Profession Opportunity Grants University Partnership Research Grants, referred to as HPOGUP 2.0. These grants augmented OPRE’s multi-pronged evaluation strategy for HPOG by funding university research teams that partnered with HPOG program grantees. Through these partnerships, the teams aimed to conduct research and evaluation studies focused on questions relevant to HPOG program goals and objectives and benefit the broader employment and self-sufficiency research field.

ACF’s Hispanic Research Work Group brings together experts in a wide range of content areas relevant to ACF’s mission to assist ACF/OPRE in identifying research priorities concerning low-income, Hispanic families.

The Home Visiting: Approaches to Father Engagement and Fathers' Experiences Study is a qualitative project that will collect information about innovative approaches used by existing home visiting programs to actively...

Explore findings on families experiencing homelessness that cover a range of domains: behavioral health, well-being, self-sufficiency, family separations, foster care, employment, family transitions, TANF receipt, SNAP receipt, and more.

The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program is a key program for supporting self-sufficiency among low-income families, including those currently experiencing or at-risk of homelessness. In 2013, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Administration for Children and Families (ACF), in recognition of the integral role TANF can play in family stability, released an Information Memorandum, “Use of TANF Funds to Serve Homeless Families and Families at Risk of Experiencing Homelessness” to encourage TANF agencies to identify and implement approaches to better assist these families.

In this project, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) is exploring the application of Human-centered Design (HCD) across its service delivery programs at the federal, state, and local levels. To date, little is known regarding what HCD looks like in the context of human services, the requirements for implementation across a range of programs; the measurable outcomes and effectiveness of HCD; the evaluability of HCD; and the sustainability of HCD in practice.

The ACF Human Services Interoperability Innovations (HSII) demonstration program is intended to expand data sharing efforts by state, local, and tribal governments to improve human services program delivery, and to identify novel data sharing approaches that can be replicated in other jurisdictions.

Explore this descriptive study focused on rural contexts to understand the unique opportunities and challenges for administering human services in those communities.

The Human Services Research Partnership of the U.S. Virgin Islands (VI) explored issues related to social service needs and public welfare systems in the territory. This cooperative agreement supported partnerships among researchers, local governments, and community-based organizations to define and evaluate research questions relevant to low-income people in the U.S. Virgin Islands and to both the Head Start and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families programs.

This project explored the issues and options related to the development of an employment-related outcome performance measurement system for the TANF program, including potential target groups, performance measures, performance standards, data needs, and accountability approaches. The project...

This project explored current strategies to facilitate employment of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) adult recipients living with mental, intellectual and physical disabilities. It examined innovative efforts to promote and support the...

The purpose of this study was to examine state and local efforts to divert TANF applicants from applying for cash assistance. This examination involved gathering information from a range of sources such as state and local TANF offices and national...

The Improving State Capacity to Address the Needs of Low-Income Working Families project was jointly funded by the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation and the Office of Family Assistance within ACF, and the Assistant Secretary for Planning and...

The Indiana Welfare Reform Evaluation Project implemented the following major policy provisions: a 24-month time limit for adults eligible for JOBS; a family benefit cap; child immunization and school attendance requirements; a higher resource limit...

The Innovative Employment Strategies project gathered and synthesized information on cutting edge approaches and programs for assisting applicants and recipients to gain, retain and advance in employment. Considerable research has already focused...

Explore OPRE's project, Integrated Approaches to Supporting Child Development and Improving Family Economic Security, for reports and briefs related to integrated (two-generation / whole-family) approaches to meeting the needs of children, parents, and families together.

Iowa Welfare Reform Evaluation complemented a separately funded evaluation completed on Iowa's Family Investment Program (FIP). The evaluation consisted of two studies—a study of repeat limited benefit plan (LBP) assignments and a study of...

Explore OPRE's projects for reports and more information on Job Search activities and the manner in which agencies provide them.

This project examined how the local management of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs has evolved and adapted practices in the years following the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of...

This study, the Meta-Analysis of Welfare-to-Work Programs, analyzed the results of welfare-to-work demonstrations carried out since 1982. The purpose was to determine how impacts in those demonstrations are related to a wide range of variables...

The following were the key features of the Minnesota Family Investment Program (MFIP): 1) requiring long-term public assistance recipients to participate in intensive employment/training services, including mandatory case management; 2) making work pay...

The National Evaluation of Welfare-to-Work Strategies (NEWWS) project evaluated alternative welfare-to-work strategies in seven sites (Riverside, CA; Atlanta, GA; Grand Rapids, MI; Detroit, MI; Columbus, OH; Oklahoma City, OK, and vicinity; and...

The National Implementation Evaluation of the Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) included the 27 non-tribal HPOG 1.0 programs (those awarded in 2010) and had three major components —  a Descriptive Implementation Study, a Systems Change Analysis, and an Outcome Study.

National surveys conducted in 2012 of child care and early education programs, the early childhood workforce, and households with young children under age 13-years allowing for analyses of supply of and demand for child care and early education.

New Jersey Substance Abuse Research Demonstration provided information about the effectiveness of a type of evaluation several states have experimented with to move substance abusing welfare clients toward self-sufficiency. The intervention New Jersey...

The New Visions Self-Sufficiency and Lifelong Learning Project is a joint venture of the Riverside Community College (RCC) in California and the Riverside County Department of Public Social Services. The purpose of the demonstration is to improve the...

The primary goal of this project was to identify gaps in knowledge of employment and training approaches for low-income populations and recipients of social safety net benefits by convening a roundtable of subject matter experts to discuss the status of and gaps in the research and by producing a series of complementary white papers.

OPRE has developed the Next Steps for Rigorous Research on Two-Generation Approaches (NS2G) project to continue building the evidence base for fully integrated, intentional two-generation program models with adequate intensity and quality of services for both parents and their children.

To learn about the implementation and effects of Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood (HMRF) programs, ACF awarded a contract in 2011 to Mathematica Policy Research to conduct the Parents and Children Together (PACT) evaluation. The evaluation had multiple components: separate impact and process studies for responsible fatherhood and healthy marriage programs and five sub-studies.

In 2007, ACF initiated the Pathways for Advancing Careers and Education (PACE) project, a multi-site, random assignment evaluation of promising strategies for increasing employment and self-sufficiency among low-income families. During the project’s development, consensus emerged that the evaluation should...

The John H. Chafee Foster Care Program for Successful Transition to Adulthood (Chafee program; formerly the John H. Chafee Foster Care Independence Program) was created following the passage of the Foster Care Independence Act (FCIA) of 1999 (Public Law 106-169). The program provides assistance to help youth currently and formerly in foster care achieve self-sufficiency by providing grants to States and eligible Tribes that submit an approvable plan.

The Post-Employment Services Demonstration and Evaluation project was designed to test whether the provision of additional services, including extended case management and temporary financial supports, promote job retention and advancement or, when...

The Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) in collaboration with the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded funding to the National Poverty Research Center at Stanford University — the Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality — to support research on poverty and inequality among low-income Hispanic populations.

This project investigated how existing work on racial and ethnic disparities could inform more accurate identification and interpretation of ethnic and racial differences in programs administered by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF). Through this work, this project...

OPRE, supported by a contract with Mathematica and the Williams Institute, in coordination with the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), conducted extensive work to identify knowledge gaps and propose research recommendations related to the human service needs of low-income and at-risk lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender populations...

The Research Synthesis of the Effects of TANF project synthesized the most current research information available on the effect of TANF on income, earnings, receipt of government benefits, and family formation and structure, for individuals and...

This multi-year national evaluation project, Rural Welfare-To-Work Strategies Demonstration, was designed to learn how best to help TANF and other low-income rural families move from welfare to work. The evaluation increased information on rural...

The purpose of this study was to understand how sanctions have been implemented in recent years in a select group of sites. It also explored developing more rigorous research on the use of sanctions to achieve higher work participation rates...

Literature reviews and economic analyses on the benefits of delayed sexual activity and the success sequence.

The Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation awarded a grant to ICF International to fund the launch and maintenance of the Self-Sufficiency Research Clearinghouse (SSRC) as a strategic part of OPRE's goal — to build and disseminate knowledge about effective approaches to helping low-income children and families...

Explore OPRE's projects for reports and more information on self-sufficiency, welfare and employment.

The Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) is undertaking a descriptive study to document the approaches and strategies utilized by tribal organizations awarded cooperative agreements under the Coordination of Tribal TANF and Child Welfare...

The Study of Screening and Assessment in TANF/Welfare to Work (WtW) project highlighted and discussed critical issues in the development and use of screening and assessment tools designed to identify TANF and/or WtW recipients who experience barriers...

Explore OPRE's projects for reports and more information on self-sufficiency, welfare and employment.

OPRE's Project SPARK provides research and evaluation technical assistance to state, tribal, and local TANF and other workforce development agencies to advance innovation in delivery of programs for families with low-incomes.

The Teenage Parent Demonstration and Evaluation project was designed to test the effectiveness of a mandatory program for first-time teen parents entering the welfare rolls. The program included requirements to attend school or an alternative education...

The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families: Two Parent Families Study is a descriptive study that will collect information about two parent families who receive or are eligible to receive TANF. This study will document: 1) the characteristics of...

This study, TANF Caseload Composition and Leavers Synthesis Report, summarized current knowledge on two questions concerning the TANF caseload and those leaving TANF (i.e. leavers): 1) How do the characteristics of the TANF caseload compare with the...

Explore OPRE's research projects for reports, tips and more information on the use of data from TANF and related human services program.

The purpose of the TANF and CCDF Research Synthesis Project was to inform research planning and support evidence-based decision making related to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) programs...

Numerous studies have identified substantial overlap in families and individuals served by the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) programs. Over the past decade, as the TANF program has developed...

The introduction of Federal time limits on the receipt of cash assistance under the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program was a central and major part of welfare reform. The purpose of this study was to conduct a follow-up to an...

Effect sizes are increasingly applied to describe the magnitude of findings about program effectiveness across a range of policy contexts. Though more researchers are recognizing the importance of including effect sizes in manuscripts, at times these...

The Effects of Welfare Reform on Special Populations project provided information regarding the extent to which program policy and implementation at different levels influenced the access to, and use of, government assistance programs by immigrant...

The Fatherhood Research and Practice Network (FRPN) was a cooperative agreement awarded to Temple University with a subcontract to the Center for Policy Research in Denver, CO. The FRPN pursued three main goals...

The key provisions of Iowa Family Investment Program (FIP) were: (1) recipients were required to help develop a social contract, the Family Investment Agreement (FIA), which established activities and a time frame for achieving self-sufficiency...

Find out more about the Tribal Evaluation Health Profession Opportunity across our briefs, and snapshots on Tribal grantees implementation of career pathways into health care fields.

The Underreporting of Welfare Utilization in Current Population Survey Data Evidence for Matched California Administrative Data (CPS) study examined the incidence of under- and over-reporting of welfare participation in the Current Population Survey...

The Understanding Poverty project, which is being conducted by MEF Associates in partnership with MDRC, is examining the organizational culture of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) offices and the perspectives of families and children living in poverty.

This project documented the types of services or activities funded by states with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and state Maintenance-of-Effort (MOE) program funds categorized in Federal reporting as “Other” and...

The purpose of this project is to implement an exploratory research study to better understand the challenges and context for family self-sufficiency of low-income Alaska Natives and American Indians living in urban areas and their interactions with...

The Understanding the Demand Side of the TANF Labor Market project developed, conducted, and analyzed a national survey of employers, in order to gain a better understanding of the policies, practices, and opportunities in the entry-level, low-skill...

Since the creation of TANF in 1996, there has been concern about TANF recipients who leave TANF without finding work, as well as low-income individuals who may be eligible for TANF but are neither receiving TANF nor working. Low-income individuals and...

In the fall of 2014, ACF launched a descriptive study to document the similarities and differences between Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) cash assistance and the Refugee Cash Assistance program. ACF’s Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) administers...

The Understanding the Value of Centralized Services (VOCS) project is a broad inquiry to examine the advantages, disadvantages, and costs of providing multiple social services for families with low incomes at one location.

In 2011, OPRE awarded five University Partnership Research Grants for the Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) Program to support research and evaluation studies focused on questions relevant to HPOG program goals and objectives. Applicants were required to demonstrate a partnership with one or more of the HPOG programs funded in 2010 as an integral part of the research plan development and execution...

Vermont Welfare Restructuring Project's time limit triggered a work requirement rather than the termination of cash assistance. The following were key provisions of the program: (1) the scope of mandatory participation in work or work activities...

This brief summarizes the impact findings from three recent federal evaluations of programs serving disadvantaged noncustodial parents: the Enhanced Transitional Jobs Demonstration (ETJD), the Parents and Children Together Demonstration (PACT), and the Child Support Noncustodial Parent Employment Demonstration (CSPED). It finds positive results on employment and earnings and parenting outcomes, but no impact on the amount of child support paid. It discusses possible explanations for this null effect and suggests that future research will want to further examine this issue. 

The What Works Best for Whom: Effects of Welfare Reform Policies on Subgroups of Current and Former Welfare Recipients project investigated the effects of recent welfare policies on various subgroups of welfare recipients. It added to earlier work on...

This was a two-part project dealing with Work Participation and TANF/WIA Coordination. The Claims Resolution Act of 2010 extended the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Program and contains a section on reports required from the states...