What We Do

The Office of Family Assistance (OFA) administers federal grant programs that foster family economic security and stability, including the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program and the Tribal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (Tribal TANF) program, Native Employment Works, Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood grants, Health Profession Opportunity Grants, and Tribal TANF- Child Welfare Coordination grants.

Major Goals

OFA’s top priorities are to:

• Support innovation to improve employment outcomes in TANF and other family strengthening programs.
• Focus on what works for helping the hardest-to-serve individuals prepare for and obtain employment.
• Envision strategies to remake the public safety net.

Programs

• Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).  Since replacing Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) in 1996, the TANF program has served as one of the nation’s primary economic security and stability programs for low-income families with children.  TANF is a block grant that provides $16.6 billion annually to states, territories, the District of Columbia, and federally-recognized Indian tribes.  These TANF jurisdictions use federal TANF funds to provide income support to low-income families with children, as well as to provide a wide range of services (e.g., work-related activities, child care, and refundable tax credits) designed to accomplish the program’s four broad purposes.  These statutory purposes are to:

1. provide assistance to needy families so that children may be cared for in their own homes or in the homes of relatives;
2. end the dependence of needy parents on government benefits by promoting job preparation, work, and marriage;
3. prevent and reduce the incidence of out-of-wedlock pregnancies; and
4. encourage the formation and maintenance of two-parent families.

While TANF jurisdictions must meet certain work participation and cost sharing requirements, they have considerable flexibility with TANF funds to implement programs that best serve their distinct communities.

• Tribal TANF.  Federally-recognized Indian tribes are eligible to apply for funding to administer and operate their own TANF programs. Tribes receive block grants to design and operate programs that accomplish one of the four purposes of the TANF program. There are currently 73 Tribal TANF programs, representing 287 federally-recognized tribes and Alaska Native Villages.
• Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood (HMRF). The HMRF initiative is a $150 million Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood (HMRF) discretionary grant program originally authorized under the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 and reauthorized under the Claims Resolution Act of 2010. These programs play a key role in helping OFA achieve its goals to foster economically secure households and communities for the well-being and long-term success of children and families. On September 30, 2015, OFA announced grant awards to 91 organizations in 27 states and one territory to provide activities to promote healthy marriage and relationship education, responsible fatherhood, and reentry services for currently or formerly incarcerated fathers under three funding opportunities. The Healthy Marriage and Relationship Education Grant Program (HMRE), New Pathways for Fathers and Families (New Pathways), and Responsible Fatherhood Opportunities for Reentry and Mobility (ReFORM) are part of HHS’ community-based efforts to promote strong, healthy family formation and maintenance, responsible fatherhood and parenting, and reentry opportunities for fathers returning from incarceration. FY 2015 Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood Grantees
• Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) program. Authorized by the Affordable Care Act, the HPOG program provides education and training to TANF recipients and other low-income individuals for health occupations that pay well and are expected to either experience labor shortages or be in high demand. HPOG 2.0, a new round of HPOG grants, was awarded in September 2015 to 32 organizations, including 5 tribal organizations, located across 21 states for a new five-year period.
• Native Employment Works (NEW).  The Native Employment Works (NEW) program provides annual funding to 78 grantees for a variety of work-related activities to support job readiness, job placement, and job retention for Native Americans.
• Tribal TANF-Child Welfare Coordination grants.  On October 5, 2016, ACF announced the award of $1.8 million in TANF – Child Welfare Coordination grants to 8 tribes and tribal organizations. The grant awards demonstration models of effective coordination of Tribal TANF and child welfare services. These projects are tailored to meet the needs of each tribe to improve services to tribal families at risk of child abuse or neglect. They feature activities including home visiting, parenting and other prevention services to improve the well-being of tribal children and their families. The projects will also connect youth and adults with career counseling and employment programs to promote job placement and retention. The project period for these grants is five years beginning September 30, 2015 and continuing through September 29, 2020.