Every year, it gets harder for struggling working families to get temporary assistance from Oregon’s primary anti-poverty program for families with children. This has been the case for nearly a quarter of a century, the result of the fact that the Oregon legislature has left frozen the income limit for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program.

TANF assists children in families facing a crisis. It protects children whose parents experience physical, mental health or other barriers to employment. It protects children when domestic violence has broken up a family and left a parent (typically the mother) in need of help getting into the workforce. It is often the last level of protection for children whose parents have lost their jobs. TANF provides time-limited cash assistance to help cover basic needs, while offering employment services leading to a path out of poverty.

Full fact sheet available here: Oregon’s Largest Anti-Poverty Program Increasingly Shuts Out Working Families