Cash Assistance Should Reach Millions More Families to Lessen Hardship
“Families experiencing poverty should have access to cash assistance to help them afford their basic needs and maintain stability, an especially urgent need during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the creation of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program more than two decades ago, families have used it to pay for rent, utilities, diapers, food, transportation, and other necessities. Yet, too few families struggling to make ends meet have access to the program, and TANF’s history of racism means that it disproportionately fails to reach families in states where Black children are likelier to live.”