This toolkit is intended to help states create career pathways systems that integrate and expand partnerships between state human service agencies and postsecondary systems and institutions so that more people who want to train for a quality career can do so. Career pathways partnerships can help community colleges and human services work better…

The Minnesota Subsidized and Transitional Employment Demonstration (MSTED) is testing the effectiveness of subsidized employment for individuals enrolled in the Minnesota Family Investment Program (MFIP), Minnesota's Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, who were unable to find employment after participating in the state's existing…

Earning a college degree has long been critical to unlocking many high-paying jobs -- and, as a result, to economic mobility and security. Increasingly, however, the traditional "norm" of a college student--one who enrolls straight out of high school, receives some support from their parents, lives on campus, and does not have…

The "Colorado Children's Budget 2012" provided detailed information on appropriations and sources of financing for programs that help children across four domains: early childhood development and learning, health, education, and support services. This report dives deeper into one of the issues that surfaced in that report. The…

The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA) reauthorized the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant and made modifications expected to strengthen work requirements for families receiving cash assistance through state TANF programs. Both the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and states were required to take steps to…

Kansas Early Head Start (KEHS) provides comprehensive services following federal Head Start Program Performance Standards for pregnant women and eligible families with children from birth to age 4. KEHS was implemented in 1998 using Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) quality set-aside dollars augmented by a transfer of federal…

The "Colorado Children's Budget" presents and analyzes investments and spending trends during the past five state fiscal years on services that benefit children. The "Children's Budget" focuses mainly on state investment and spending, with some analysis of federal investments and spending to provide broader context of state…

This publication describes how and when it is permissible to use Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds for youth-related activities and services. It provides illustrations of how TANF funds are being spent on youth. The TANF block grant replaces Aid to Families with Dependent Children. The funds that states spend in order to draw…

The welfare initiative signed into law in August 1996 replaces Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) with Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF). The federal responsibility to match state expenditures on cash assistance to low-income families with children has become a fixed block grant to states with requirements that focus on a…

In 1996 the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program was replaced with a federal block grant program called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), which imposed time limits and work requirements on welfare recipients. The welfare legislation placed a lifetime ban on TANF and food stamp benefits for convicted drug felons, although…

Federal rules allow states to use Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant funds to help pay for a child care tax credit. States also have the option to count a portion of the cost of a child care tax credit toward their "maintenance of effort" requirements under the TANF program. There is an important limitation on…

School districts are central players in the child care delivery system: they operate a mix of child care centers and programs, serve a range of children of different ages, and fund their programs from a variety of federal, state, and local sources. This report provides a range of programmatic and fiscal information about the federal and state…

Recognition of the link between child care and the success of welfare reform has given rise to questions about how states are spending child care funds provided through Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) and the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF). At the request of members of Congress, this report from the General Accounting Office…

This document focuses on how states can use Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds to support early childhood education initiatives. It draws on CLASP's previous report, "Financing Universal Pre-Kindergarten: Possibilities and Technical Issues for States in Using Funds Under the Child Care and Development Fund and Temporary…

The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant has great potential for funding out-of-school time and community school initiatives. While the flexibility that states have in allocating TANF funds presents significant opportunity for innovation, it also presents a dizzying array of policy options. This strategy brief presents…