What is welfare, and how many rural families receive welfare benefits?
Welfare is a federally-funded public assistance program, also known as Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF). TANF is time-limited and provides payments to poor families. TANF benefits are funded through block grants to states, and each state has some flexibility in how it implements the program. TANF recipients are required to participate in work-related activities or find work within a specific time frame. TANF was originally enacted in 1996 and reauthorized in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. TANF replaced Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC). According to the September 2004 report Welfare Reform: Rural TANF Programs Have Developed Many Strategies to Address Rural Challenges from the Government Accountability Office, about 293,000 families living in rural counties receive TANF assistance and approximately 14% of TANF recipients live in rural areas. Rural TANF families tend to be concentrated in counties that have high unemployment and a less educated population.
