Opportunities for TANF to Support APHSA s Vision for a Transformed Human Services System

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1 A Pathways Policy Brief: Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Opportunities for TANF to Support APHSA s Vision for a Transformed Human Services System The American Public Human Services Association (APHSA) and its members, including the appointed state human service commissioners, are pleased to present this overview of our vision for a transformed human service system and for the outcomes such a system can help achieve. The outcomes we seek and that a revitalized system can help achieve include gainful employment and independence; stronger families, adults, and communities; healthier families, adults, and communities; and sustained well-being of children and youth. These outcomes can be produced far more efficiently, effectively, and sustainably in a transformed human services system. The current human service system is unsustainable it is too fragmented, too focused on process, and too inefficient to deliver the outcomes we all seek. Through policy changes, flexible use of funds, and leveraging the resources and knowledge that partners in the private sector and other segments of the community bring to the table, we can transform the current human service system into one that continuously improves and innovates its practices and efficiently delivers meaningful and lasting results. Our solutions will require changing health and human service programs and funding streams so that they become integrated, outcomes-focused, and centered on how we can support people to improve the outcomes in their lives rather than compliance with bureaucratic outputs. This Policy Brief describes how a properly restructured TANF program can play a key role in achieving these outcomes. This Brief is part of a series of publications under Pathways, APHSA s initiative to show why public human services must move in new directions if we are to meet increased demand for assistance at a time of tight budgets and heightened public expectations for effective outcomes in the work we do. APHSA is a bipartisan, nonprofit organization representing appointed state and local health and human service agency commissioners. APHSA is the only association of the nation s top government human service executives, including states, the District of Columbia, and the territories, their key state program managers, and hundreds of county-level human service directors nationwide.

2 APHSA s Vision For Achieving Gainful Employment and Independence The transformed human service system APHSA envisions can be achieved through addressing the four major outcome areas we seek, each of them undergirded by key foundational supports and policy frameworks. We outline here the major changes that must occur in administrative requirements, legislation, and other areas of public policy to support gainful employment and independence. For working-age individuals and their families, having a job and staying in the workforce are critical to the pathway to achieving greater independence. Employment is one of the surest and most long-lasting means to equip people with the lifetime tools they need for sustaining their incomes and dignity and avoiding future need for government support. Human service agencies, along with their workforce development partners, the economic development community, the education and training system, and other stakeholders play a critical role in supporting employment and greater independence for low-income individuals and families. For these individuals and families, employment is often more than getting that first job or returning to the workforce; they also often need support in becoming work-ready, finding and securing a job, staying in the workforce over time, and taking advantage of opportunities for skill development and job advancement. And once these employment milestones are under way, the ability to build assets helps individuals and families move even farther down the road to independence. Employment and achieving independence constitute a process, not a one-time event, and this outcome therefore encompasses a variety of supports, services, and approaches. These include income supports for those needing help with essential expenditures like food, health care, and shelter; appropriate training and workforce development services to help individuals become job-ready and prepared for job opportunities; and access to critical work supports such as child care and transportation assistance. These types of services and supports help to prepare the supply side of the labor market, but they can succeed only in conjunction with demand-side strategies that engage employers and economic developers so that individuals are prepared for real jobs in the local labor market based on employers needs. Economic development is widely recognized as an essential component of a strong employment context, but often does not invest its dollars in ways that address the needs of low-income populations. For some individuals, such as persons with significant disabilities or complex needs, other types of services and supports may also be needed to provide opportunities to access integrated employment and to succeed at work. Finally, helping individuals leverage their employment and maximize opportunities for asset development is a key foundation for achieving independence. APHSA s policy priorities for gainful employment and independence include the following: Public policy must promote appropriate employment supports, economic development, employer incentives, and education and training that recognize the needs of low-income persons and assure they are on a sustainable path to economic independence. Measures that are used to hold state employment programs accountable must be based on appropriate outcomes that demonstrate genuine progress toward self-sufficiency and that fall within the purview and statutory authority of the states. Programs need to be aligned so that the proper combination of services and supports can be deployed on behalf of a client for the right time and the right duration. Assistance should be timely, comprehensive, 2

3 targeted to each client s needs, and adjusted based on client progress and the impact of the assistance on desired outcomes. Governance frameworks for these programs must include collaboration within public agencies as well as transparent participation with community stakeholders, for example between public agencies and the employers and training providers in the community. Support programs such as food assistance, child care, health care, and housing must contribute toward employment and self-sufficiency. Assistance program policies must mitigate and ultimately remove the cliff effect that results from clients success in wage progression and stability. Programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) must provide the necessary policy and administrative flexibility so that they more fully support a holistic approach to economic security and self-sufficiency. Public policy should continue to support state efforts to promote community and integrated employment for people with disabilities, as well as program alignment and braided funding models that enable the delivery of evidence-based employment models to individuals with disabilities. Strengthening TANF s Key Role as a Work Support Program As we examine the opportunities to strengthen TANF as part of its upcoming reauthorization, APHSA recommends the following specific policy changes for the program and for its accountability system. No one can achieve genuine self-sufficiency without first gaining, and maintaining, employment. States therefore must continue placing the highest priority on the fundamental need to get low-income clients employed. States have faced the recent challenges of high unemployment with fresh initiatives and determination, and frequently find success with the right combination of flexibility and supportive tools. With the reauthorization of TANF, we have an opportunity to innovatively build on the program s resources and proven achievements to prepare clients for jobs, achieve a high rate of engagement, work with the larger community to encourage longer-term employment and advancement, and reform accountability measures to reflect the positive results states are actually achieving. To best accomplish moving clients into stable employment quickly and efficiently, the TANF program must change to reflect the current state work engagement strategies and the other realities that have evolved since the program was enacted, including its steady decline in real dollar value over the past 16 years. The following key areas must be addressed to ensure meaningful client outcomes and the support states must have for their accomplishments. Effective and sustainable outcomes Outcomes based upon clearly stated, jobs-centered goals in state TANF plans must become the basis of measuring a state s effectiveness. TANF s four purposes provide for considerable latitude for the states; maintaining families and preventing unwanted pregnancies, as well as promoting employment, are all within the scope of the TANF block grant. States can demonstrate substantial movement toward these goals using flexible and realistically tailored measures that are far more comprehensive than the single work participation rate measure now in use. Strategies and initiatives that reflect each state s economic climate States must be able to employ all useful work engagement tools and strategies in the combination that best suits their needs, adapting them to changing economic environments and the availability of jobs within a state and region. Periods of economic growth will call for a different set of approaches than downturns; the latter, for example, might require greater emphasis on work readiness training and subsidized employment activities. Such flexibility can include partnerships with the private sector, supervised job search, training, and work-readiness activities as state conditions warrant, with actual job placements always remaining the central outcome goal. 3

4 Supporting actual work A key flaw of the present process-based TANF accountability system is that work is not counted unless it totals more than 30 hours a week. Instead, states must receive credit for placing clients in all meaningful jobs, even those under this threshold or other arbitrary minimum levels that do not take account of the placement s full circumstances. The current focus on work participation must be replaced by the goal of participation in work. The recent very successful use of subsidized employment is an excellent example of investing in actual jobs and the many beneficial effects that strategy has for both individuals and communities. The current measure also places no value on the earnings potential of the job in question; states must also have the flexibility to consider what a job pays now and what it can pay in the future as they make decisions on where to the make the best job investment strategies. Comprehensive inclusion of other systems and factors The present TANF structure reflects a narrow view of the real factors affecting employment and how results are evaluated. In many states, education is a vital component of employment success, but education is insufficiently acknowledged and supported in current TANF policy. The current federal poverty measure reinforces this view by counting only cash income, and as a result devalues many of the effective strategies states now use. Effective administration across systems The high degree of need across the country coupled with declining resources demands bold and innovative approaches to human service program funding and administration. All public agencies, together with their nonprofit and private-sector partners, must be able to maximize and leverage the resources and information that each stakeholder brings to the table. Pooled use of funds, shared-governance agreements to accomplish outcomes, consistently defined and shared data, and aligned eligibility processes across programs are among the new efforts states know can work. TANF s underlying block grant structure provides a sound basis for such approaches, but the program must be reoriented so that it will fully support these essential innovations. What Should a Reformed Accountability System Look Like? APHSA has long supported TANF s four purposes: providing assistance for needy families so children may remain in their homes; promoting work and marriage; preventing out-of-wedlock pregnancies; and encouraging twoparent familes. APHSA continues to believe that TANF s block grant structure properly encourages and supports multiple approaches among the states as they move people toward finding, holding, and advancing in employment. TANF has evolved in many ways since its establishment, but with all this change, the program s accountability metrics remain frozen in time judging how well states are solving a 1996 problem in TANF s accountability structure still views the program as the primary, if not sole, means to address the challenges faced by those currently participating in, or potentially eligible for, TANF services and benefits. In fact, today s safety net includes a broad array of programs and funding streams tax credits, nutrition assistance, expanded child care funding, and a more robust unemployment insurance system. The most recent recession has underscored what states have known for some time now that cash support is the last resort for many clients, even in cases where they are indeed eligible to receive benefits. A new accountability metric must factor in the role that TANF plays in relation to the other programs sometimes complemented by those other programs, at other times complementing them. That metric should also take into consideration the status of those who leave TANF, many of whom have advanced in their degree of job readiness and job experiences. 4

5 A new set of outcome measures must be based on the following principles: The measures should be flexible enough to let states address any of the four TANF goals, and receive credit for progress on activities under any of the four goals. The measures must allow states to include or exclude the additional variables that frequently affect program results for example, the types of jobs available and the education and skills they require; the demographic makeup of those seeking jobs, including those with various education or skill levels and those who are difficult to serve; and the special needs of urban and rural areas. The measures must allow states to develop shared-governance plans with other public agencies and with other stakeholders all those elements that TANF both relies on and in turn affects as part of a comprehensive approach to strengthened communities and employment opportunities. They must specifically allow cross-system administration and funding, as determined by each state, with directly related systems including those in the Workforce Investment Act, child support, and education. The measures must reflect the variety of resources and employment opportunities in the states, take into account state experience in demonstrating how well various program models have worked, and recognize that the most effective approach in each state must be tailored to the state s characteristics and capabilities. A well-crafted outcome measure is one that accounts for the broad array of barriers and the complex nature of the TANF population; recognizes the diversity of the activities that TANF currently funds in partnership with other programs; and fairly measures whether the program in and of itself constructively supported the TANF household to move toward self-sustainability and away from public assistance. Such measures should be discrete enough that states can reasonably meet performance targets but flexible enough to accommodate the inherent variation in a block grant. APHSA and its members across the nation stand ready to work with national policymakers and other stakeholders to achieve these policy improvements. APHSA provides bipartisan, practical, innovative, and tested practice solutions that blend careful use of resources with effective outcomes and a ready pool of expertise, realworld experience, and vision for positive change. We invite questions and suggestions. We are confident that through sharing our expertise, combining our mutual resources, focusing on the long-term good of the country, and offering a dynamic partnership, we can more effectively serve all those who call this nation home and who seek a better life for themselves and their families. For more information contact: Ron Smith Director of Legislative Affairs American Public Human Services Association 1133 Nineteenth Street, NW, Suite 400 Washington, DC ron.smith@aphsa.org Phone: (202) x299 5