In a project supported by the federal Administration for Children and Families, researchers gathered administrative data and conducted interviews with human services providers at 11 rural sites in Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina. The resulting brief provides a series of lessons learned and practitioners’ recommendations for the use of federal funding through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program, also known as TANF. For almost 30 years, TANF has provided an annual block grant to states that gives them flexibility to design state-based programs for low-income families with children. In interviews, TANF program staff and members of community partner organizations described various caseload management approaches, service delivery models, and adaptations for their rural contexts.
