Strong Personal & Public Safety Nets

While employment is an important pathway to financial well-being, work alone does not always provide enough income to meet basic needs. There are also times Hoosiers cannot work due to lack of opportunities, caregiving obligations, health needs, or other barriers. Assets such as home equity and emergency savings can provide a buffer against dips in income, while a strong public safety net must be available to ensure that Hoosiers that lack assets or sufficient income can still afford the basics. Our safety net work encompasses access to:

  • Asset Development Opportunities
  • Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
  • Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
  • Work Sharing and Unemployment Benefits

We also work on program effectiveness through strategies like:

  • Mitigating the Cliff Effect

Featured Publications

EITC Policy Brief

Advancing Prosperity in Rural Indiana

The rural and small-town way of life is worth fighting for. Hoosiers across rural Indiana deserve a state government that is committed to advancing shared prosperity in their communities. As the ravages of COVID-19 recede, these rural areas stand at a crossroads—they can suffer stagnation, decline, and the loss of people who make rural Indiana so special, or, with the right state laws and policies, they can become places that flourish, grow, and share prosperity broadly among the people who live there. We wrote this report to help state leaders choose the right path for rural Indiana.

June 2022 | Download Report 

Indiana's TANF Grant & the Growing Cost of Basic Needs

Cash assistance benefits have far less purchasing power than in 1988, as the cost of basic items have increased and benefits have lost more than half of their value to inflation. | FACT SHEET

TANF Fact Sheet

 

Other Publications

Take Action!