Reports

Prepared for:Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE)U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)  

This report reviews the definitions and measures of assets and asset poverty in existing theoretical and empirical studies and suggests ways to make them more relevant for future research and policy development. In doing so, the report establishes a conceptual foundation for an emerging field of inquiry that focuses on the role of assets in social policy. [45 PDF pages]

  Poor Finances: Assets and Low-Income Households Assets, Poverty, and Public Policy: Challenges in Definition and Measurement December 2008 By: Yunju Nam, Jin Huang, and Michael Sherraden Center for Social Development Washington University in Saint Louis

The research brief provides an overview of the program models used by the twelve Responsible Fatherhood, Marriage and Family Strengthening Grants for Incarcerated and Re-entering Partners grantees. [10 PDF pages]

In 2006, ASPE funded the Child Welfare Privatization Initiatives Project to provide information to state and local child welfare administrators who are considering or implementing privatization reforms. The project has produced papers on a range of topics providing insights about factors that should be considered when approaching or improving upon privatization efforts.

Child Welfare Privatization Initiatives Assessing Their Implications for the Child Welfare Field and for Federal Child Welfare Programs Ensuring Quality in Contracted Child Welfare Services Topical Paper #6 December 2008

Income is a critical variable in policy analysis, and because of this, most federal household surveys collect at least some data on income. Yet income is exceedingly difficult to measure well in a household survey.

Prepared by: Prashila DullabhAdil Moiduddin

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services RESEARCH BRIEF

This brief describes a range of strategies states have implemented to achieve higher Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) work participation rates. It describes four broad categories of strategies: (1) creating new work opportunities for TANF recipients; (2) administrative strategies; (3) TANF policy changes; and (4) creation of new programs.

This practice brief profiles three programs, two statewide and one local, that provide work opportunities to Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients who are participating in vocational education programs.

This practice brief profiles two strategies, one statewide and one local, for analyzing, reporting, and using data to hold case managers and administrators accountable for increasing the work participation of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients.

This practice brief profiles three work experience programs that engage nearly all work-ready TANF recipients in unpaid work activities, either alone or in conjunction with education and training. Unpaid work experience is designed to mirror regular employment in the paid labor market.

  Strategies for Increasing TANF Work Participation Rates Providing Paid Employment Opportunities for TANF Participants Engaged in Vocational Education Programs: Examples from Denver, Colorado; Kentucky; and California December 2008

  Strategies for Increasing TANF Work Participation Rates Providing Unpaid Work Experience Opportunities for TANF Recipients: Examples from Erie County, New York; Montana; and Hamilton County, Ohio December 2008 By: Michelle K. Kerr Mathematica Policy Research

  Strategies for Increasing TANF Work Participation Rates Summary Report December 2008 By: LaDonna Pavetti, Jacqueline Kauff, Michelle K. Derr, Jeffrey Max, Ann Person, and Gretchen Kirby Mathematica Policy Research

This practice brief profiles the multi-pronged, comprehensive approaches taken by Maryland and Utah to increase their state's work participation rates. Both states have more than doubled their state Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) work participation rates within a one-year period.

By: Carol J. De Vita and Fredrica D. Kramer (Principal Investigators), Lauren Eyster, Samuel Hall, Petya Kehayova, and Timothy Triplett The Urban Institute  

June 2009

The Welfare Indicators Act of 1994 requires the Department of Health and Human Services to prepare annual reports to Congress on indicators and predictors of welfare dependence.  The 2008 Indicators of Welfare Dependence, the eleventh annual report, provides welfare dependence indicators through 2005, reflecting changes that have taken place since enactment of the Personal Respons

This report examines the relief and recovery services provided by faith-based and community organizations (FBCOs) in the Gulf Coast region after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. The study included a telephone survey of 202 FBCOs that provided services and in-depth case studies of eight selected FBCOs. [116 PDF pages]

  Strategies for Increasing TANF Work Participation Rates Achieving Higher TANF Work Participation Rates: Case Studies from Maryland and Utah December 2008 By: Jacqueline Kauff and Michelle K. Derr Mathematica Policy Research

  Strategies for Increasing TANF Work Participation Rates Using Data to Monitor and Improve the Work Participation of TANF Recipients: Examples from New York City and Utah December 2008 By: Jeffrey Max and Gretchen Kirby Mathematica Policy Research

By: Pamela Winston, Ann E. Person, and Elizabeth Clary Mathematica Policy Research (MPR)Project Director: Pamela Winston

This report examines the efforts of state faith community liaisons (FCLs) in promoting the states’ implementation of Charitable Choice policies and regulations that govern how states and localities contract with faith-based organizations (FBOs), and to expand public partnerships with FBOs.

The report presents a detailed breakdown comparing Departmental funding for abstinence education, adhering to the A-H definition, with other Departmental funding used to prevent unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections. [19 PDF pages]

Health and Human Services Funding for Abstinence Education, Education for Teen Pregnancy and HIV/STD Prevention, and Other Programs that Address Adolescent Sexual Activity December 16, 2008 This report is available on the Internet at:http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/08/AbstinenceEducation/

This report focuses on family processes and adolescent religious attendance and personal religiosity among youth who were raised primarily in married-parent families. The study used data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1997 cohort (NLSY97). Sample includes only youth living in married-parent families at the time of the first wave of data collection.

This research examines the effects of parental marital quality and the quality of the parent-child relationship on the educational progress of adolescents. Previous research indicates that family structure and economic capacity have significant effects on educational achievement and high school graduation rates.

Final Technical Report for DHHS Contract HHSP23320054301ER Please do not circulate without permission of the authors or the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. Stephen T. Parente, Ph.D. Roger Feldman, Ph.D.  

Marital Quality and Parent-Adolescent Relationships: Effects on Educational Outcomes for Youth December 2008 Prepared by: Dennis K. Orthner and Hinckley Jones-Sanpei, University of North Carolina at Chapel HillWith: Randal D. Day, Brigham Young University Elizabeth Hair and Kristin Anderson Moore, Child Trends, Inc. Kelleen Kaye, NORC

  Marital Quality and Parent-Adolescent Relationships Effects on Adolescent Religiosity and Religious Practice December 2008 Prepared by: Randal D. Day, Hinckley Jones-Sanpei, and Jessica Price Brigham Young University

The goal of the Oklahoma Marriage Initiative (OMI) is to make information about the skills needed to build and sustain healthy marriages broadly available throughout the state.В  To pursue the mission of changing the culture of marriage and divorce, OMI leaders decided to engage the support of grass-roots volunteers in communities across the state.В  By

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Medicare’s Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) is a target rate of growth in spending for physicians’ services. Payments for physicians’ services are supposed to automatically adjust in response to actual spending falling either above or below the target.

Several proposals to increase health coverage for the currently uninsured rely on encouragements to utilize and potentially expand the individual insurance market. In broadening health insurance coverage, it is important to understand the regulatory environment under which these proposals would be implemented.

By: Melinda Beeuwkes Buntin, Steven Zuckerman, Robert Berenson, Anant Patel, Teryl Nuckols RAND Health / Urban Institute

This Research Brief examines the relief and recovery services provided by faith-based and community organizations (FBCOs) in the Gulf Coast region after hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.  The study included a telephone survey of 202 FBCOs that provided services and case studies of eight organizations.В  This brief summarizes the findings from the full report

In this report, the authors present the results of an assessment that involved review of the literature on emergency preparedness risk communication and public health messaging strategies; the compilation of educational and outreach materials for emergency preparedness communication with vulnerable populations; and site visits in three states and the Washington, DC, area to identify gaps in the

This report was prepared under contract #HHS-100-03-0010 between the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of Disability, Aging and Long-Term Care Policy (DALTCP) and the RAND Corporation.

IntroductionAlthough the majority of Americans with health insurance obtain their coverage through group health plans offered through their employers, many individuals obtain their coverage through the nongroup (or individual) insurance market.

In the late 1990s the State of Oklahoma, recognizing the economic and social consequences of its high rates of divorce and non-marital childbearing, undertook an innovative strategy to strengthen families.В  At the direction of the Governor, the state initiated an effort to reduce divorce and decrease non-marital childbearing.В  This pioneering effort became the Oklahoma Marriage

  Poor Finances:  Assets and Low-Income Households The Effects of Holding Assets on Social and Economic Outcomes of Families: A Review of Theory and Evidence November 2008 By: Robert Lerman and Signe-Mary McKernan The Urban Institute

This report provides a conceptual framework that describes how asset accumulation unfolds over an individual's lifetime and how the effects of such accumulation can best be understood within the context of the life course.

This report provides a conceptual framework on the effects of asset holding and reviews the empirical literature based on this framework. The report distills the main findings on how assets influence economic, social, psychological, and child well-being and provides empirical support for the benefits of asset building. [39 PDF pages]