Description

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) seeks applications for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Data Collaborative Equity Analysis Awards. Awards are intended to support state, territory, or county TANF agencies in conducting equity-focused analyses of state TANF and other human services data. Equity-focused analyses may examine the fair, just, and impartial treatment of individuals under the management and practices of the TANF program. For example, analyses may assess disparities or disproportionalities across different social groups with respect to benefit levels, referral to specific programs, or sanctioning rates. During the 36-month project period, award recipients will participate in intensive training and technical assistance provided by an ACF-funded contractor as part of the TANF Data Collaborative 2.0 (see description below). The technical assistance will build the capacity of agencies to execute a multi-year project. Award recipient projects will identify relevant equity-focused research questions, and using available data, build data models and visualizations to inform program improvement, particularly as it relates to social equity in TANF, which is defined as the fair and equitable distribution of public services and implementation of public policy.TANF programs aim to address the employment and self-sufficiency needs of TANF recipients and other individuals with low incomes. The existence of federally reported TANF administrative data and TANF agency case management data creates unique opportunities to evaluate equity in multiple stages of the program process, allowing TANF agencies to build evidence on the potential inequities that may exist in their programs for participants. The TANF Data Collaborative Equity Analysis Awards are intended to support participating TANF agencies to:Build data analytic capacity among TANF agency staff through intensive training and technical assistance;Contribute to evidence on the social equity of the TANF program by analyzing TANF administrative data; Encourage innovative approaches to leveraging one or more existing TANF data sources;Demonstrate the potential for improved TANF data quality, use, and governance to benefit improved agency programming and individual and family outcomes.OPRE funded the TANF Data Collaborative (TDC) as part of the TANF Data Innovation contract between 2017 and 2022, which provided training and technical assistance to directly support the learning of pilot sites while generating lessons and materials for others interested in understanding and working with TANF data. (More information on TDC is available at https://www.acf.hhs.gov/opre/report/increasing-data-analytics-capacity-state-tanf-agencies-tanf-data-collaborative-approach.) OPRE awarded a contract for the TANF Data Collaborative 2.0 in FY 2023 to deliver training and technical assistance to entities awarded TANF Data Collaborative Equity Analysis Awards.