Youth who experience economic instability and do not have consistent access to basic needs like food, clothing, and shelter are at higher risk of substance use, violence, delinquency, teen pregnancy, and dropping out of school.
Federal, state, and local assistance programs and resources exist to help improve the economic wellbeing of families and ensure youth’s basic needs are met at all times and during periods of familial hardship. These assistance programs help families access food, child care, housing, employment opportunities, and tax credits.
Despite the existence of these programs in many communities, there can be low enrollment among eligible populations due to a variety of barriers including: lack of awareness, complex eligibility guidelines, burdensome enrollment, complex renewal procedures, lack of communication across agencies, and community stigma. [1] If your community has robust resources in a variety of areas (housing, employment, child care, food, etc.) but low enrollment, these barriers should be explored and addressed in order to increase access to these resources among eligible families.
Understand what assistance programs and resources are available within your community and state, their eligibility criteria, and current enrollment/utilization. In order to make assistance programs and resources within your community more accessible, you first must have a clear understanding of what is available to the members of your community and the current rates of enrollment.
Resources:
Colorado communities can learn more about available programs and resources on the Colorado PEAK website.
The Food Research & Action Center provides a SNAP Participation Map, which allows you to understand SNAP enrollment in your county and state.
WIC Data Dashboard provides county level, monthly data on who uses WIC by race, ethnicity, child age, and sex, etc. as well as data on benefit use, enrollment, and referrals.
Rural communities can use the Human Services to Support Rural Health guide from Rural Health Information Hub.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) offers an interactive data dashboard to learn about available Housing Choice Voucher program units and utilization in your community.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation provides state-specific fact sheets on how families are using the Child Tax Credit.
Colorado communities can use the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing’s Application Assistance Mapping Tool to find locations that provide services across the state.
Colorado Child Care Assistance Program helps families that are homeless, working, searching for work or in school find low-income child care assistance.
Inspired by work completed in Mesa County, Denver Department of Public Health and Environment developed a training on WIC, SNAP, and CCCAP including who can enroll and how to apply. The training video is available on the Colorado Shines Professional Development Information System (PDIS).
Understand the federal, state, and local policies that provide and influence the administration of assistance programs and resources available within your community. Legislation often dictates how, when, and where assistance programs and resources are administered in your community. Many of the implementation activities below will require your coalition to understand how various programs operate within your community, as well as how various programs may interact with one another. For example, historically in some Colorado counties individuals are required to seek funds from child support before applying for local services such as the Child Care Assistance Program. However, changes in state law now prohibit communities from making this requirement as of July 1, 2023.
Identify and connect with other organizations and individuals working or interested in this area, as well as those that hold decision-making power. Working with other organizations and/or individuals is the best way to maximize your coalition’s power and allows for a greater influence. Before selecting implementation activities, your coalition should take time to understand who is already working in this space, who has power to influence decision making, and what efforts are already underway, for example, many of the public assistance programs like CCCAP and SNAP are run through county departments of human or social services or local public health. Reaching out to these organizations and individuals can help you form partnerships and learn from current and/or previous systems-level work in this area.
Resources:
The National Academy of Community Organizers offers A Guide to Power Analysis in Community Organizing, which can help coalitions understand where power sits within a community around a particular issue.
Understand the inequities that are related to this strategy and consider the systemic and structural causes of disparities. By understanding the factors that contribute to this strategy, your coalition will be better able to identify the action that needs to be taken. Additionally, new and/or existing policies and systems-level approaches have the potential to exacerbate existing inequities, making it important for your coalition to critically examine your action plan for signs of negative consequences. Not all public assistance data includes demographic data that show disparities within structurally minoritized populations.
Resources:
As a part of their ‘Five Building Blocks for Racial Equity’, the Race Matters Institute of JustPartners, Inc. offers a free guide on conducting a Racial Equity Backmap, which helps groups and individuals consider and identify the various drivers of a given inequity.
Consider using an Equity Impact Assessment to better explore and understand such consequences. Both the Center for the Study of Social Policy and Race Forward offer free resources.
The Government Alliance on Race and Equity offers Racial Equity Toolkit An Opportunity to Operationalize Equity.
Acknowledging the specific barriers that American Indian and Alaska Native families face to accessing public assistance programs, Denver Indian Family Resource Center and Denver Department of Public Health and Environment developed a white paper on Addressing Native-Specific Barriers to Benefit Program Access and Enrollment.
It is important to note that the uniqueness of your community, its resources, and its needs will ultimately determine what implementation of this strategy will look like. Additionally, it is important for your coalition to approach this strategy in a way that is aligned with your overarching goal(s). The list below offers suggestions and ideas of evidence-informed actions your coalition can consider taking as part of your implementation of this strategy.
Support and amplify public education initiatives that help families understand their eligibility for various assistance programs available in your community (e.g., SNAP, WIC, child care subsidies, housing vouchers, etc.). Oftentimes eligibility for various assistance programs can be confusing and easily misunderstood, so initiatives that aim to help individuals and families understand what programs are available to them can help increase enrollment.
Resources:
The USDA provides State Outreach Plan Guidance for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). This page has the Guidance Document on the left as well as a link to any updates to the document.
Emerging research supports Text Message Outreach campaigns to increase recruitment and retainment.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and Get Ahead Colorado supported a campaign in 2021 to increase awareness of eligibility for the Child Tax Credit.
Increase awareness of eligibility for and process to attain the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC). The EITC and CTC programs are tax provisions targeted at low- and middle-income taxpayers with the goals of encouraging work among low-income individuals and significantly reducing taxes on families with children. In addition to the federal credit, several states offer an additional state-level EITC. Unfortunately, awareness of eligibility can be low. In order to maximize the number of families taking advantage of this credit, your coalition may consider facilitating the administration of informational materials (e.g., with public assistance checks, at childcare centers) or partnering with local professionals to provide free tax preparation.
Resources:
Learn more about both programs via the Economic Policy Institute.
The Essentials for Childhood Policy Guide (pg 8-9) discusses the benefits associated with these tax credit programs, and provides examples of initiatives to increase awareness of eligibility.
Get Ahead Colorado is the largest and longest ETIC public information campaign in the U.S. Their website discusses their approach and compiles resources.
GetCTC.org offers resources for community-based organizations interested in helping individuals access the CTC.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and Get Ahead Colorado supported a campaign in 2021 to increase awareness of eligibility for the Child Tax Credit.
Promote co-located services and partnerships throughout your community. One barrier to accessing resources and assistance programs are the various locations in which resources and information may be accessed at. Co-locating services and creating partnerships within your community can help eligible families learn about and enroll in a variety of assistance programs during one visit.
Resources:
Examples of co-locating services in communities across the country can be found in the Policy Scan and Strategy Map (pg 48) resource from the Build Healthy Places Network and Shift Health Accelerator.
Fostering Healthy Neighborhoods includes a variety of examples of co-location and partnerships to facilitate easier access to services for eligible families.
Additional examples of co-locating services can be found throughout the Essentials for Childhood Policy Guide.
Educate stakeholders on the benefits of aligning enrollment requirements and processes across assistance programs (e.g., SNAP, WIC, child care assistance, housing vouchers). Assistance programs often have independent, and sometimes lengthy, enrollment and renewal requirements and procedures, which can serve as a barrier to continuous participation and provision of benefits. Similar to co-locating services, streamlining enrollment and renewal can more efficiently connect families to necessary services and reduce existing barriers.
Resources:
Examples of this are discussed in Implementing the Child Care and Development Block Grant Reauthorization: A Guide for States.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities offers Opportunities to Streamline Enrollment Across Public Benefit Programs and a report on how Matching Data Across Benefit Programs Can Increase WIC Enrollment.
Colorado Shines Professional Development Information System training on public assistance programs for professionals.
Advocate for legal assistance to prevent evictions. Low-income renters facing evictions may lack resources for and access to legal representation, which can ultimately lead to the loss of their home. Elected officials, community leaders, and/or organizations can all support efforts ensuring legal representation for tenants at-risk of eviction.
Resources:
The All-In Cities Policy Toolkit outlines these activities and provides examples of where in the U.S. efforts are ongoing.
Educate stakeholders on the effectiveness of local and state-level expansion of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds in supporting long-term health outcomes for families. TANF provides income assistance and related support services including work assistance and child care assistance.These benefits are funded through federal block grants, which allows individual states to determine how the program is implemented and delivered.
Resources:
Learn more about TANF Benefits via the Essentials for Childhood Policy Guide (pg9-10).
See what TANF programs look like across all 50 states.
The Center for American Progress offers opportunities for states to deliver more aid to individuals, with emphasis on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Educate stakeholders on the positive impacts of expanding access to Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits by increasing asset limits. SSI is a cash benefit program for individuals with a qualifying disability. Both children and adults can receive this benefit
Resources:
Learn more about SSI benefits and options for expanding access using ChangeLab Solutions’ resource “How to Support SSI Applicants & Expand Access”.