Happy New Year! Today marks the 21st day of the partial government shutdown impacting over 800,000 federal employees. On Wednesday, the House of Representatives, again, passed the remaining spending bills in an effort to re-open the government. However, it is still unlikely the Senate will take up these bills because they do not address funding for a border wall or steel barrier. Let's take a closer look at some additional updates...
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Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
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FNS and State SNAP Agencies Proceed with Plan to Ensure Access to SNAP in February
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On Tuesday evening, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
announced a plan
to ensure that SNAP participants receive benefits for February despite there being no current appropriations for the department. The news release explains that the Continuing Resolution (CR) that expired on December 21, 2018 provided an appropriation for SNAP to incur obligations for program operations within 30 days of the CR’s expiration. This allowed states to be able to issue SNAP benefits in January. In order to protect SNAP participants’ February benefits, USDA is working with states to issue February SNAP benefits early, by January 20th, which falls within 30 days of the CR’s expiration. The plan is a temporary solution, as it will not be a feasible solution for ensuring SNAP participants receive benefits in March.
It will be important for health and human services agencies, community-based nonprofits, local food pantries, and other advocates to advise SNAP participants who receive their February SNAP benefits on or around January 20
th
that the issuance is not a bonus, but an early issuance of their February benefits. SNAP participants should be careful to budget their SNAP benefits to last them through the entire month of February.
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Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
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House Introduces Bill to Extend TANF Funding
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Just last night, a bill to extend the program of block grants to states for TANF and related programs through June 30, 2019 was introduced to the House as H.R. 430. The measure is expected to be taken up by the Senate next week. The full text of the bill is not yet available and will be included in next week’s issue of TWIW.
As reported
in last week's shutdown update, TANF funding expired because the program has not been reauthorized. The Administration for Children and Families' Office of Family Assistance has issued guidance on how states may use unspent prior-year and maintenance-of-effort (MOE) to support TANF-funded activities during current the lapse in funding.
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The Children’s Bureau released additional guidance on timelines for Prevention Services Clearinghouse implementation, including release of Standards and Procedures, initial approved programs, and anticipated dates for reviews of additional programs for consideration for pre-approval.
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President Trump signed the
Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act of 2017,
a bill authorizing $430 million to combat human trafficking, into law. Among an array of anti-trafficking activities, the bill authorizes local educational agencies to establish programs to educate children on the dangers of severe forms of trafficking, authorizes the Department of Health and Human Services to carry out a Human Trafficking Victims Reintegration Through Employment Program, authorizes the Department of Justice victim services grants to be used for programs that provide trauma-informed care or long-term housing for youth transitioning from foster care and women or girls in underserved populations, and extends the Unites States Advisory Council on Human Trafficking Council through September 30, 2020.
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New! State and Local Governments Invited to Apply for Support to Develop Rigorous Evaluations
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J-PAL North America recently released their fourth Request for Letters of Interest for the
State and Local Innovation Initiative
, which supports U.S. state and local governments in using randomized evaluations to inform important policy questions. The full announcement can be accessed
here
.
The deadline for Letters of Interest is
April 1, 2019
and instructions to apply can be found
here
.
Governments can apply for flexible pilot funding of up to $50,000, technical support from J-PAL staff, and connections with J-PAL’s network of leading academic researchers. Governments that successfully partner with a researcher from J-PAL’s network to design a high-quality randomized evaluation can apply for additional funding to carry out the evaluation via a subsequent request for proposals.
A webinar will be held
Tuesday, January 29 at 1:00 pm EST
to provide more details about the initiative, review the application process, and answer any questions. Registration for the webinar is available
here
.
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Collaborating Across Lines to Build Up Lives
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The 2019 National Association for Welfare Research and Statistics (NAWRS)
call for papers
is now open! NAWRS has traditionally convened researchers and health and human service stakeholders to bring data and ideas together and to encourage the understanding and sharing of findings, best practices, and innovations. The vision for the 2019 NAWRS Workshop, being held July 28-31, 2019 in New Orleans, is to continue this tradition and consider new collaborations from across different programs, policy areas, and research specialties that will build up the lives of those served through human services programs.
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Deadline Approaching! NextGen Funding Opportunity
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The Human Services Program at the Kresge Foundation announced a new funding and learning opportunity as part of its Next Generation (NextGen) Initiative, now in its second year. As part of this initiative, Kresge will invest in those nonprofit organizations and public agencies working to advance the social and economic mobility of families. Proposals are due by
January 15, 2019
.
Click here
to learn more.
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