UNDERSTANDING POVERTY (UP): CHILDHOOD AND FAMILY EXPERIENCES AND TANF OFFICE CULTURE

Mef Associates, Llc, Alexandria VA

Investigators

Abstract

The Understanding Poverty study, which is being conducted by MEF Associates in partnership with MDRC, will examine the organizational culture of TANF offices and the perspectives of families and children living in poverty. While there are many important facets to developing an understanding of how to best serve low-income families, two crucial components are the operations of the programs themselves and the perspectives of families and children living in poverty. TANF Organizational Culture: One component of this project will explore how organizational culture, office design, and office procedures contribute to shaping clients' experiences with TANF, the services provided to them, and potentially their outcomes. The concept of organizational culture encompasses the organization's mission and vision in relation to its clients and the shared objectives guiding its work as well as values, attitudes, expectations, assumptions, and norms. It also manifests in more concrete, everyday ways-such as physical location and office design, staff training, staffing decisions, employee decision-making and interactions with clients, and written procedures and materials. Fieldwork is expected to focus especially on exemplars of productive client-oriented office settings and organizational processes and culture and/or TANF offices that have made conscious attempts at organizational culture change. Childhood and Family Experiences: The other component of the project will examine the experiences and perspectives of children and families living in poverty, including the experiences of families who apply for and access TANF and other safety net benefits. A large body of research spanning decades has reflected a range of psychological, educational, health, and other serious and sometimes long-term impacts associated with severe economic disadvantage in childhood. While there is a growing literature on the lived experiences of adults in conditions of severe deprivation, less work has looked at how low-income children of various ages experience, perceive, and view the day-to-day circumstances of living in poverty. Interviews with children and youths as well as their parents are intended to facilitate a deeper understanding of what children understand about their families' economic circumstances, how families talk about public assistance benefits, and other aspects of their life experiences. Both strands of this project will include a literature review, consultations with experts in the field, and site-based fieldwork to visit TANF offices and interview children and families. At least some of the sites in the two components of the project will overlap. Taken together, the outcomes of this inquiry can be expected to improve our understanding of the lives of children in poverty and their families, while further building our understanding of how the TANF program and organizational culture affect individuals within this population.