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Welfare Reform and Poverty

BPA has conducted numerous welfare reform evaluations for states and counties following the landmark federal welfare reform legislation that established the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program in 1996. TANF provides states with a high level of flexibility to determine how best to meet the program goal of moving families off of cash assistance and into employment and long-term self-sufficiency. BPA's TANF evaluations have focused on two central concerns of policy makers: How do families fare when they leave cash assistance? What strategies are most effective in helping participants achieve long-term self-sufficiency?

To address these questions, BPA's welfare evaluations have incorporated process studies to examine various facets of TANF program implementation as well as quantitative analysis of program administrative data to measure a variety of TANF-related outcomes. Our implementation studies have examined diversion strategies, case management and assessment, work activity assignment, and use of contractors to provide services to TANF participants. We have also examined the process by which former TANF participants access other supportive services, including child care assistance, Food Stamps, and Transitional Medicaid. Our quantitative studies have examined: the incidence of various barriers to employment among TANF participants; employment, earnings, and earnings growth of TANF participants after program exit; household income and poverty rates of former TANF participants; utilization rates of supportive services and programs by former participants, including child care assistance, Food Stamps, and federal and state earned income tax credits; and the effect of these supportive services programs on family income and poverty rates.

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