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allow our staff to verify the required
information in order to make quality
eligibility decisions and reduce the
need for clients to continually provide
paper verifications (another way we
have reduced the
tax
on
bandwidth
).
However, when necessary, pending
an application for verification is
appropriate.
Alicia Koné
I was finally connected to child
care assistance through JOBS, with
an experienced case manager named
Virginia who worked for our state labor
department (Employment Security).
She was a wonderful advocate, sup-
porting my goal to finish a bachelor
degree, so I could get a decent-paying,
8–5, Monday–Friday job that gave me
slack
in my budget and schedule to be a
good parent. (
Slack
is another
Scarcity
idea—related to the brain’s extra band-
width to do things like plan ahead,
save, resist temptation, and patiently
parent a fussy baby). I was doing the
best I could to take “personal respon-
sibility” for my son. I got enough
slack
to be able to intern with the Welfare
Rights Organizing Coalition (WROC)
in Seattle, where I learned advocacy
skills and spent a legislative session in
Olympia as their lobbyist, and fell in
love with public policy. Looking back at
my career, I can plainly see how these
workforce development opportunities
contributed to my ability as a small
business owner and employer, creating
new jobs in our economy.
Two years and four months after
I met Virginia—in March 1995—I
“worked my way off” AFDC and food
stamps—three months before I gradu-
ated from college—thanks to a much
better job I found at an Institute on
campus in the Evans School of Public
Affairs, where I subsequently received
my master’s degree in 1997. Virginia
cried at my exit interview because the
welfare reform debate was under full
swing that year, and already JOBS
program rules were changing to forbid
participants from pursuing four-year
degrees as a part of their JOBS employ-
ment plan. She was contemplating
retirement, so she knew I was the
last participant she would work with
Maximum TANF Benefits Leave Families Well
Below the Federal Poverty Line (FPL)
1
TANF Lifts Many Fewer Children Out of Deep
Poverty Than AFDC Did
2
How States Spent Federal and State TANF Funds in 2014
3
Maximum TANF benefit as a percent of FPL (for a family of three)
0-10% 10-20% 20-30% 30-40% 40-50%
MA
RI
CT
NJ
DE
MD
629,000
TANF (2010):
Lifted 24% of children who otherwise would have been in deep poverty
AFDC (1995):
Lifted 62% of children who otherwise would have been in deep poverty
2,210,000
Basic assistance:
26%
Other areas:
34%
Refundable tax
credits:
8%
Administration
and systems:
7%
Work-related activities
and supports:
8%
Child care:
16%
Children
Children
DC
Chart Notes and Sources
1.
The federal poverty level (FPL) for a family of three in 2015 is about $1,674 per month in the 48 contiguous states
and Washington, D.C.; Alaska and Hawaii have higher poverty levels. Source: Calculated from 2015 Health and
Human Services Pverty Guidelines and CBPP-compiled data on July 2015 benefit levels.
2.
Deep poverty = income less than 50% of the FPL. Source: CBPP analysis of Census' Current Population Survey,
additional data from Health and Human Services TRIM model.
3.
Total does not add up to 100% due to rounding. Source: CBPP analysis of Health and Human Services 2014 TANF
financial data.
August 2016
Policy&Practice
13
See TANF on page 44