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Ten Years of TANF, No Cause for Celebration

WASHINGTON, DC –– Ten years after the creation of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families
(TANF), the program has failed to reach children and families living in the deepest poverty. On
this TANF anniversary, Women Work! The National Network for Women’s Employment
advocates that the Department of Health and Human Service (HHS) revise program regulations
to encourage states to devote resources to education and training—the tools that have been
proven most successful at bringing families out of poverty.

"In the past 10 years, the number of families receiving TANF has decreased, but this is not the
whole story,” explained Jill Miller, Women Work! President and CEO. “Because the program
discourages opportunities for educational development, many former welfare recipients are stuck in low-skill, low-wage jobs. They have left TANF only to join the ranks of the working poor.”

Though often cited as “evidence” of welfare reform’s success, the fact that fewer people are
receiving assistance from TANF does not mean that the program is adequately addressing
America’s poverty problem. Between 2000 and 2004, decreases in the number of children
receiving TANF were accompanied by an increase in the number of American children living in
families with incomes below half of the poverty line. Since 1996, there are increasing numbers
of poor single mothers who are unemployed and not receiving cash public assistance. Even those single mothers who do receive TANF are likely to remain poor or near poor after the program.

"As a network of organizations that serves 300,000 women a year, Women Work! knows that
when you give women access to education and job training, they get the jobs they need to pull
themselves and their families out of poverty,” said Miller. “We strongly urge HHS to create
TANF regulations that will actually help all American families achieve self-sufficiency.”

Women Work! The National Network for Women’s Employment is a nonprofit, nonpartisan
organization that advances economic justice and equality for women through education,
advocacy and organizing. Since 1978, the Network has assisted more than 10 million women to
successfully enter, re-enter and advance in the workforce. Through supporting, advocating and
increasing women’s economic self-sufficiency, Women Work! members strengthen families and
communities. For more information about Women Work! visit: www.womenwork.org.

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