2024 - 2029
Project Overview
The Family Self-Sufficiency Learning, Engagement, and Research Knowledge Sharing Support (LEARN) contract supports the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) to plan, communicate, and facilitate use of research evidence generated by the ACF-sponsored welfare and family self-sufficiency research portfolio and related learning activities.
Specifically, the contract supports ACF by:
- Supporting the ongoing development and refinement of the Welfare and Family Self-Sufficiency Learning Agenda;
- Building an evidence-informed plan to facilitate use of research evidence sponsored by ACF;
- Producing the annual Portfolio of Research in Welfare and Family Self-Sufficiency; and
- Coordinating expert convenings and other engagements to advance evidence-building activities.
Together, these efforts intend to enhance the relevancy and transparency of ACF's welfare and family self-sufficiency research, in accordance with the ACF Evaluation Policy.
The LEARN contract was awarded to Mathematica and its partner MEF Associates.
Major Activities
ACF's welfare and family self-sufficiency portfolio sponsors research, evaluation, technical assistance, and related learning activities in order to better understand and inform how TANF and other human services programs can best support the self-sufficiency and economic well-being of children and families with low incomes.
Ongoing Refinement of the Welfare and Family Self-Sufficiency Learning Agenda
The Welfare and Family Self-Sufficiency Learning Agenda is intended to guide the development and execution of learning activities pertaining to welfare and family self-sufficiency. This learning agenda is intended to be a living document, and LEARN will support the ongoing development and refinement of the learning agenda by engaging interested parties and incorporating new knowledge.
Building an Evidence-Informed Plan to Facilitate the Use of Research Evidence
Understanding potential research users’ contexts more deeply—and then investigating when, why, and how they might use research evidence in the course of their work—can help ACF better tailor its work to intended users’ information needs. Additionally, investigating when, why, and how members of these groups have already used ACF-sponsored welfare and family self-sufficient research can help agency recognize and do more of what is working well. LEARN will develop a plan to facilitate use of research evidence sponsored by ACF that is grounded in previous research on evidence use, a theory of change, and insights drawn from focus groups and other engagements with intended research users.
Producing the Annual Portfolio of Research in Welfare and Family Self-Sufficiency and Coordinating Expert Convenings
In support of intentional research planning and use across the welfare and family self-sufficiency research portfolio, LEARN will summarize ongoing research projects in annual Portfolios of Research in Welfare and Family Self-Sufficiency and coordinate expert convenings and other engagements. Engagements will focus on issues of interest that allow for interaction between experts in different fields as well as ACF staff, cutting across disciplines and specialties to inform building and sharing evidence related to the welfare and family self-sufficiency research portfolio.
Points of Contact: Amelia Popham, Marie Lawrence, and Elizabeth Karberg
Effective March 2026, ACF realigned select research portfolios to be embedded in the ACF offices that manage the programs. Consistent with this approach, this project and the staff that oversee it are under the oversight of the Office of Family Assistance.