The Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA) was faced with a significant problem: nearly half (45%) of their adult TAFDC aid recipients in January 2018 came from families that had also relied on the program. To "break the cycle of intergenerational poverty," DTA Commissioner Jeff McCue emphasized the need for a new approach.

As part of the Empowering Families learning community, DTA chose to focus on redesigning its Young Parents Program (YPP), which provides education and job services to young TAFDC recipients (ages 14-24). While the 2008 YPP procurement included some incentive-based payments, it wasn't having the desired impact due to a lack of continuous adaptation. DTA realized that effective social services must use a Two-Generation (2Gen) approach, addressing the needs of both the parent and the child. The agency partnered with Third Sector to help rewrite the YPP's Request for Response (RFR) to reflect this whole-family focus and improve the use of data.