Tag: Tennessee Department of Human Services

Some Tennessee Families Qualify for Back-To-School Cash from Department of Human Services

Peter D'Abrosca

Some Tennessee families will qualify for back-t0-school cash benefits from the state government, according to a Thursday release from the Tennessee Department of Human Services (DHS). 

“The Tennessee Department of Human Services (TDHS) will provide extra support to more than 13,000 families who receive monthly cash assistance through the state’s Families First program,” according to the release. “The payment will provide extra support to Families First participants as they begin to prepare for the upcoming 2023-2024 school year. Households with an active case in the Families First Program as of July 1, 2023, will receive a one-time payment on their Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards. This one-time payment will be available around July 15, 2023.”

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Tennessee Approves $500 ‘Christmas Bonus’ for TANF Participants

Kaitlin Housler

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.

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Tennessee Department of Human Services Announces $122 Million Investment in ‘Family First Community Grants’

Morgan Nicole Veysey

The Tennessee Department of Human Services (TDHS) announced Monday that $122 million in taxpayer money will be used to fund “Family First Community Grants.” The grants are available to “public and private organizations dedicated to helping families overcome economic, social and developmental vulnerabilities.”

“We’re here to ensure that all state residents have an opportunity to reach their full potential as contributing members of our community,” said TDHS Commissioner Clarence H. Carter. “For far too long government programs have focused on outputs, rather than the outcomes of the lives of those served. We aim to change the way vulnerable Tennesseans are served by partnering with public and private organizations who recognize public support should be a mile marker in a life’s journey, not a destination unto itself.”

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Low Income Tennessee Families to Receive $950 in Aid from COVID Relief Funds

Morgan Nicole Veysey

The Tennessee Department of Human Services (TDHS) announced that specific low-income families would receive $950 in aid from COVID relief funding. It said that families who are enrolled in the state’s Family First Program and qualified for the money in October will receive a deposit on their Electronic Benefit Transfer debit cards.

The TDHS said that this money was specifically for caregivers who did not receive other aid such as child care assistance, job training, or transportation support. It explained that these were for cases considered to be child-only. This means a home “where no adult receives Families First benefits themselves and the child living in the household is being raised by relatives instead of the child’s parents.”

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Two Taxpayer-Funded Feeding Sites Not Feeding Children, Tennessee Officials Say

Bradley Vasoli

Open Door, Inc. and Alumni Music, Inc., both based in Shelby County, have been determined to not be using their federal Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) funds to provide meals to children, the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office asserted Wednesday.

A probe was conducted cooperatively by the Comptroller of the Treasury and the Tennessee Department of Human Services (DHS) during summer 2020 to ascertain what nourishment the two companies were providing to minors. 

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Report Lists the Top 10 Tennessee Agencies That Took the Most Federal Taxpayer Money in 2018

Chris Butler

  Ten Tennessee government agencies accepted more than $13 billion in federal taxpayer money in 2018, according to a document Tennessee Comptrollers released last week. The report examined how state agencies handled the money that Washington, D.C. bureaucrats bestowed upon Tennessee. Some of those state agencies plan to take less federal money in the future — but some plan to take even more. As The Tennessee Star reported, the Tennessee Department of Health Care Finance and Administration took in more federal taxpayer money than any other state agency in 2018, a sum of $7.2 billion. The Tennessee Department of Human Services ranked second, taking in more than $2 billion of federal taxpayer money. Human Services spokesman Sky Arnold said in an emailed statement the agency took in slightly more federal taxpayer money the year prior. That amount was $2.1 billion. “Federal Assistance is largely dependent on the state’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program caseload, which is currently declining. For this reason, the Department of Human Services is likely to have an overall decrease in federal assistance for the foreseeable future,” Arnold said. “It’s important to recognize the real impact Tennessee’s improving economy is having on our programs like SNAP.  Nearly 914 thousand individuals were receiving benefits…

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