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organizations, members and staff of the D.C. Council, TEP providers, and most importantly, TANF customers. When the working group was convened, the TANF policy at the time called for a termination of TANF cash assistance benefits in October 2017 for customers who had reached the Federal 60-month TANF cash assistance benefit time limit.

The culmination of both activities led to the development of the current TANF Policy that took effect April 1, 2018 along with revisions to the TEP service delivery model that took effect on October 1, 2018. The new TANF Policy in D.C. accomplished three critical goals:

1. Rescinded the plan to terminate benefits at 60+ months, allowing D.C. residents access to cash assistance and employment, education, and barrier remediation services as long as they continue to meet TANF eligibility requirements;

2. Elevated the TANF benefit amount for 60+ month customers who had experienced cash reductions in benefits since 2011 via the previous TANF policy; and

3. Embraced the value that puts families, and most importantly children, first enacting a two-part TANF work sanction policy: a. Bifurcating the monthly TANF benefit, allocating 80% of the benefit for child protection and enrichment, and 20% for parental engagement in employment, education, and barrier remediation services; and

b. Eliminating the former, three-level sanction policy that included a full- family sanction, and replacing it with a less punitive, single-level sanction of six (6) percent of the entire TANF grant.

The TANF program also provides an opportunity for families to engage in services that support their capacity to earn a living wage. All the provisions of the D.C. TANF programs are intended to meet one or more of the following basic purposes of TANF as articulated in the Federal statute and regulation: