Investing in community expertise, Tennessee takes on the benefits cliff

Needing to put a reserve of public assistance dollars to active use, Tennessee chose to invest in tackling the benefits cliff. State funding jumpstarted a pilot program based in the expertise and community roots of local anti-poverty organizations. Over three years, the pilot will help 900 families navigate benefits cliffs. Experts are closely watching this innovative large-scale approach to see what lessons it may offer for other communities and national strategies.

In this video

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Transcript

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Marsha Edwards

There’s absolutely no understanding of the benefits cliff in the general public. The think of entitlements as a package, as if it was designed together and it works together. That is absolutely not true. All these benefits came out of different federal programs and departments.

Clarence Carter

Because we have many programs that were all designed with a singular intent, a singular set of rules, a singular objective, those programs don’t work in conjunction with each other to be able to accomplish anything beyond their individual task.

Elliott Huff

The benefits are sometimes abruptly cut off or decreased, and they find themselves in a financial situation way worse off than before they even got an increase.

Mackeisha Jenkins

That’s kind of what gets you the most is, like, I’m trying to do better. They talk you into doing better so that you don’t have to always rely on having help. But it’s hard when you’re kicking me down when I do do better.

Elliott Huff

We’ve always been told: work hard, save your money, and you can achieve the American Dream. You can have financial mobility. Mobility means you can move around or whatever. But with the benefits cliff, it makes it almost impossible to move anywhere. You’re stuck. So, my job—our job—is to help families overcome this benefits cliff, because there’s a lot of families out there that want to move forward, but they’re stuck because of this.

Marsha Edwards

So, a few years ago, we moved away from traditional case management. Not because we don’t need case management; sometimes we do. But they reality of it is, the family-centered coaching is much more relational; case management, more transactional. What you need is actually a coach that knows you very well and can keep you and your dreams as you’ve defined them.

Mackeisha Jenkins

In the future, I want to be secure. I want my kids to see me secure. I don’t want them to see me struggle. That’s what I want for us in the future. That’s my goal, and that’s what I’m looking forward to.

Marsha Edwards

It is teaching people to figure out: what is the pathway? Where is it that I want to land? What is it that I want? What is it I want for my children? And so that coach kind of leads that process, teaches that process, and then puts other people at the table that that family might need, or that caregiver or parent may need as they go toward those goals.

Clarence Carter

Our objective here is we want to test: can we truly address this issue of the benefits cliff? We have to do this within the confines of existing law, regulation, and policy. But what it’s our hope to do is to rig this together with bubble gum and spit so we can then say to the federal government: this is a problem that we have, and this is our solution for fixing it.