Participants of Tennessee’s Families First Program will receive ‘extra support’ this holiday season, according to the Tennessee Department of Human Services (TDHS). On Monday, TDHS announced that all households enrolled in the state’s assistance program as of December 1st will receive a one-time additional payment of $500 on their existing Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards beginning on that same day.
The TDHS statement pointed to the “nearly 24,000 children” that will benefit from the one-time payment to TANF households.
“We serve some of the most economically vulnerable families and children through the Families First program and recognize the challenges they’re facing,” TDHS Commissioner Clarence H. Carter said. “Keeping up with the demands of the holiday season can introduce additional hurdles in caring for children, such as accommodating school breaks, providing extra meals, and so much more. This one-time boost in financial assistance is intended to help Families First participants overcome these temporary hurdles, positioning them to start the year off strong.”
With the newly-announced payment and holiday season approaching, TDHS and the Office of Inspector General are warning recipients of an increase in EBT fraud. To prevent falling victim to fraud, recipients are “encouraged to be aware of EBT card skimming and phishing schemes,” the statement noted.
The Families First Program is also known as Tennessee’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program.
Families First was created as part of the larger Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996 (commonly referred to as “welfare reform”), according to TDHS.
The TANF program “provides temporary cash assistance, transportation, child care assistance, educational support, job training, and other support services,” TDHS adds.
Learn more about the Tennessee’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program here.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
Photo “Family Christmas” by William Fortunato.
1621 Thanksgiving was about sharing their bounty from each homestead
Bc before creating capitalism they were STARVING SOCIALIST
Hey Billy that’s a great way to instill socialism
“The State of Tennessee finished the 2020-2021 fiscal year with a $3.1 billion surplus in revenues”. Tennessee Star. Obviously, the state over-collected tax money from its citizens. When do WE get our money back via lower tax rates, instead of politicians scheming on how to spend the “windfall.”
The “bonus” if you will is not a good idea, in fact it is a poor idea. The problem of employers scrambling to find employees is real. People are not working, they do not gainfully seek employment thus while not employed but not considered as unemployed. Many of the same families receiving the $500 bump will also receive free food from churches, businesses and community organizations. Sometimes from all three. Many of the children will be provided Christmas Toys through Toys for Tots and other community organizations, sometimes from each. Those on public assistance will receive a clothing allowance bump as well. I am not suggesting they are gaming the system, many are simply collecting all they can for their family. The problem is those needs used to be provided through employment, there are no incentives for heads of households to seek employment. Sometimes that means with employment their household income will be less than it is on public aid, it stands to reason they do not seek employment. A much needed change is to mandate employment.
How dare they… that’s perfectly good money that could have gone toward a corporate handout…
This is absolutely outrageous. I guess the “demands of the holiday season” are buying a bunch of stuff that these folks cannot afford. Now that is really teaching financial responsibility. People already getting welfare from our tax dollars are now getting a $500 bonus. My family could feed itself for over a month with $500. But, instead, my money is taken from me and given to someone else. That is called socialism where I come from.
Perhaps you should give them a hand up instead of a handout. Funny not a word of thanks to the taxpayer that provides the funds for these programs. The praise always goes to the government that only exists because of the taxpayer. I am all about helping people but we need to put more effort into education (TN still is using the failed, renamed Common Core standards) and jobs for these people. These handouts encourage people not to better themselves and makes them dependent on the government which most governments prefer. It secures a voter base. Every able bodied person on assistance should be required to work. They could still be given some assistance but work builds pride and the opportunity to advance and eventually get off assistance forever.
Spot on!