Issues: Work and Income Security

Welfare Reform

Since its founding, MDRC has been a leading developer and evaluator of programs to improve the self-sufficiency and economic circumstances of welfare recipients and their families. MDRC’s pathbreaking studies of welfare reform initiatives have provided reliable evidence on the effects of welfare-to-work mandates and the effectiveness of programs and services for people who receive public assistance.

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TANF Data Collaborative Pilot Profiles

The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Data Collaborative Pilot Initiative, a component of the TANF Data Innovation project, offered technical assistance and training to eight state and county TANF programs, profiled here, in the routine use of TANF and other administrative data to inform policy and practice.

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Report

Expanding TANF Program Insights

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) agencies are increasingly focused on using administrative data to assess how well programs are working and to inform policies and best practices. This toolkit was created to help TANF professionals develop more robust practices using employment data for program monitoring, reporting, and evaluation.

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Key Documents

Testimony

Rethinking Welfare in the Great Recession

Issues in the Reauthorization of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families

In testimony before the Senate Finance Committee, MDRC President Gordon Berlin describes recent trends in TANF, particularly during the economic downturn, and discusses what research and experience have to tell say about moving forward with the reauthorization of the federal welfare program.

Welfare-to-Work Program Benefits and Costs

A Synthesis of Research

Most welfare programs seek to ensure that poor families have adequate income while at the same time encouraging self-sufficiency. Based on studies of 28 programs involving more than 100,000 sample members, this synthesis compares the costs, benefits, and returns on investment of six welfare program strategies – from the perspectives of participants, government budgets, and society as a whole.

The Politics and Practice of Social Experiments

Seeds of a Revolution

This working paper describes the revolution in the United States in support for the use of randomized controlled experiments to evaluate social programs. Focusing on the welfare reform studies conducted between 1970 and the early 2000s, it presents the major challenges to winning this support and how they were overcome.

TANF Data Innovation Focus Area: Welfare Reform Population: Populations with Low Incomes	Understanding Poverty: Childhood and Family Experiences Focus Area: Family Relationships Two-Generation Programs Welfare Reform Population: Populations with Low Incomes Families	Breaking Barriers San Diego Focus Area: Welfare Reform Disability Population: Populations with Barriers to Employment Populations with Low Incomes Intervention: Welfare-to-Work, Case Management, Employment Services Locations: California
Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency-Next Generation Focus Area: Child Care and Early Education Two-Generation Programs Welfare Reform Population: Populations with Barriers to Employment Families Populations with Low Incomes Children and Schools Intervention: Behavioral Interventions	The SNAP Employment and Training Evaluation Focus Area: Job Retention and Advancement Welfare Reform Work Support and Asset Building Population: Populations with Low Incomes Intervention: Reemployment Programs, Career & Technical Education, Job Training, Employment Services Locations: Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Virginia	MDRC Center for Applied Behavioral Science (CABS) Focus Area: Child Support Child Care and Early Education Two-Generation Programs Welfare Reform Work Support and Asset Building Population: Populations with Barriers to Employment Families Populations with Low Incomes Children and Schools
Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency Project Focus Area: Child Support Child Care and Early Education Two-Generation Programs Welfare Reform Population: Populations with Barriers to Employment Families Populations with Low Incomes Children and Schools Intervention: Behavioral Interventions

The “Make Work Pay” Experiments Focus Area: Financial Incentives Welfare Reform Population: Populations with Low Incomes Intervention: Financial Incentives Locations: Canada, Connecticut, Minnesota, Wisconsin	Evaluations of State Welfare-to-Work Programs Focus Area: Welfare Reform Population: Populations with Low Incomes Populations with Barriers to Employment Intervention: Reemployment Programs, Welfare-to-Work, Case Management, GED Completion, Job Training, Employment Services Locations: California, Connecticut, Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Vermont, Wisconsin	TANF/SSI Disability Transition Project Focus Area: Disability Health Welfare Reform Population: Populations with Barriers to Employment Populations with Low Incomes Intervention: Case Management, Employment Services
Employment Retention and Advancement Focus Area: Job Retention and Advancement Welfare Reform Population: Populations with Low Incomes Intervention: Reemployment Programs, Welfare-to-Work, Case Management, Financial Incentives, Job Training, Employment Services Locations: California, Illinois, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas	Minnesota Family Investment Program Focus Area: Financial Incentives Welfare Reform Population: Populations with Barriers to Employment Intervention: Case Management, Benefits Planning, Financial Incentives, Employment Services Locations: Minnesota

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