The Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation in collaboration with the Office of Family Assistance, both within the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), has launched the Next Steps for Tribal TANF Research and Data project. This project aims to gather the wisdom and perspectives of American Indian and Alaskan Native communities regarding their experiences with the Tribal TANF program. The project team will work alongside Indigenous leaders, community members, and thought partners to identify strategies for elevating Indigenous voices. The goal of this work is to have Indigenous communities shape the next generation of Tribal TANF research and data by identifying future directions for knowledge development and technical assistance.
This project will be guided by three overarching and complementary pillars: active engagement, data needs assessment, and knowledge development. Collectively, these pillars will allow ACF to work in partnership with indigenous communities to gather existing knowledge about Tribal TANF programs while identifying additional supports and research to support these programs in the future. The ongoing process of active engagement will be infused into all project activities, which may include site visits, an online survey sent to all 75 Tribal TANF programs, storytelling, structured literature searches, listening sessions, and convenings for Tribal TANF leaders. Throughout these activities, the project team will employ a Community-Based Participatory Research approach and use the Indigenous Evaluation Framework to emphasize collaboration, equity, and mutual respect between researchers and Indigenous communities. The project team will work with Indigenous partners and communities to collect knowledge and data and to analyze and co-interpret project findings.
MEF is leading this five-year project in collaboration with Kauffman and Associates, and three consultants, Dr. Geni Cowan, Dr. José Chávez, and Dr. Heather Sauyaq Jean Gordon.