The Administration for Children and Families’ Office of Family Assistance through the OFA Peer Technical Assistance (PeerTA) Network hosted a webinar on “Breaking the Poverty Cycle and Opening Doors to Opportunity for TANF Families: Developing a Two-Generation Approach,” on May…
This project website introduces a project launched in September 2015 to better understand approaches that intentionally combine intensive, high-quality, adult-focused services with intensive, high-quality, child-focused programs. A final report will be available in 2017. https://www.acf.hhs.gov/opre/two-generation-approaches-to-improving-family-self-sufficiency-2015-2017
This paper published in 2016 by partner organization EMPath, highlights an integrated strategy focused on strengthening core capabilities (such as self-regulation and executive function skills) that are foundational to both parents and children in a process that incorporates insights from the biological…
This 2017 article in The Atlantic magazine offers a quick overview of the research and features the work done by EMPath which lead to their service delivery model. https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/04/can-brain-science-pull-families-out-of-poverty/523479/?utm_source=twb.%202017
Watch this webinar from Building Better Programs, a project of CalWORKs 2.0 partner, Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. You can also download a Field Guide and an extensive literature review on the this webinar addresses ways in which incentives…
This website for a multi year federal government project was the first major opportunity to apply a behavioral economics lens to programs that serve poor and vulnerable families in the United States. "Insights from behavioral economics, which combines findings from psychology…
This report from CalWORKs Strategic Initiative Team member, LaDonna Pavetti of Center for Budget and Policy Priorities focuses on executive function skills from the perspective of disadvantaged adults. In many cases, adults are applying for or receiving assistance for the benefit…
This paper published in 2014 by EMPath (formerly Crittenton Women's Union) highlights the need for programs and policymakers to take into account the impact of social bias, persistent poverty, and trauma on brain development and Executive Function skills (impulse control,…
This short article was heard on NPR's "All Things Considered" in a health segment. "...it doesn't matter what kind of scarcity you're dealing with. When humans don't have enough of something, that fact dominates our consciousness." http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2014/07/14/330434597/this-is-your-stressed-out-brain-on-scarcity
This white paper by Ideas42 applies behavioral science to the context of chronic scarcity and includes specific recommendations for policymakers, program designers, direct service providers and others interested in better aligning anti-poverty systems and services with human behavior. http://www.ideas42.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/I42_PovertyWhitePaper_Digital_FINAL-1.pdf