On September 9, the National Association of Counties (NACo) joined with associations representing state and local governments to send a letter to Congress urging lawmakers to provide a one-year extension to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, effective through September 2023. TANF provides essential funding to help state and local governments deliver benefits and services that help families experiencing poverty achieve economic mobility . 

Although TANF is a partnership between the federal government and states, nine states representing 55 percent of total participants delegate TANF administration to counties. TANF represents an important source of flexible funding for a variety of anti-poverty activities benefiting vulnerable county residents, including cash assistance, child care, education, job training and work support programs. Congress last reauthorized TANF in 2005 and has renewed the program through a series of short-term extensions that have largely left the federal design of TANF unchanged. Despite this, states and counties have been hard at work in recent years to implement reforms within their control to improve how TANF helps people attain family-sustaining wages and succeed for the long-term.

Reauthorization of TANF is essential to align the program with the broader workforce and human services systems that support economic well-being and mobility. NACo will continue to advocate for bipartisan solutions for a long-term TANF reauthorization. However, a full-year extension of TANF is essential in the short-term to give state and local governments the continuity that is needed to help people with barriers to employment meet their basic needs.

Read the full letter here.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

• NACo Policy Brief: Reauthorize the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Block Grant
• NACo Toolkit: Tracking COVID-19 Relief for Human Services and Education Programs
• The County Human Services and Education Landscape