Social Safety Net

By: Andrew Burwick and Gretchen Kirby Mathematica Policy Research (MPR) Submitted to: U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Planning & Evaluation

This data catalog is a compilation of existing data sources pertaining to American Indian/Alaska Native/Native American (AI/AN/NA) populations. In the first component of this project, the contractor has identified existing sources of socioeconomic and health data using national and some state-level surveys.

Walter Hillabrant, Judy Earp, and Mack Rhoades Support Services International Nancy Pindus The Urban Institute, Inc.

American Indian tribes and Alaska Native villages have embraced the goals, objectives, and programs associated with welfare reform, but the lack of jobs limits the success of tribal programs such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Welfare-to-Work (WtW). The lack of jobs is one of the biggest problems in Indian Country.

The evaluation of the national Cash and Counseling Demonstration enables researchers to rigorously analyze costs under agency-directed and consumer-directed approaches.

The traditional system of providing Medicaid personal care services (PCS) through home care agencies gives consumers few choices about how and when their care is provided. Because some agencies do not provide care on weekends or outside business hours, consumers may not receive care when they need it.

Prepared for: Julia IsaacsU.S. Department of Health and Human ServicesOffice of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation

This report summarizes what is known about the measurement of material hardship and its application to research with low-income families with children. It discusses challenges in defining and measuring material hardship, reviews how such measures have been in recent research, and presents analyses of data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP).