This year marks the 25th anniversary of welfare reform, when the federal government ended the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) entitlement program and created the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant through the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act (PRWOA) in 1996.
In recognizing this important anniversary, AOF’s very own Policy Assistant Sarah Hudacek authored a series of research and blog posts late last month detailing her analysis of Ohio’s TANF cash assistance program known as Ohio Works First (OWF) and how this safety net program has been relatively unresponsive to the needs of struggling individuals and families compared to food assistance and other public benefits programs. While benefit program enrollment should grow during economic downturns, OWF barely expanded caseloads in spring and summer 2020 and quickly returned to pre-pandemic levels by the end of the year.
Hudacek sites the overall structure of TANF as a block grant program and federal rules like work requirements and time limits as hindrances to the program’s ability to meet all the needs of Ohioans who are eligible for assistance.
Learn more by taking a look at Sarah’s full reports below:
AOF Policy Assistant Sarah Hudacek splits her time between AOF and our partners at The Center for Community Solutions.