Tennessee DHS Begins Pilot Program Process to Spend Excessive Reserve Of Federal Funds

Photo Credit: Tennessee National Guard, Photo by: US Army Sgt Robert Mercado / CC

The Tennessee Conservative [By Jason Vaughn] –

The Tennessee Department of Human Services is beginning the process of giving out millions of dollars that have been sitting in a reserve fund. The money will eventually go to seven different partnerships intended to help underprivileged families.

2021 brought about a renovation of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program (TANF). The state was criticized for holding back up to $740 million worth of federal grant money that was supposed to be used to help families in need. This was the highest reserve amount held by any state in the country.

The Families First Community Advisory Board will vote on Tuesday to award grants in the amount of $5 million as a part of the initial phase of the Tennessee Opportunity Pilot Initiative. Recipient groups can use this money to plan pilot program proposals which will then be presented to the board.

The board will review those programs next year, and final voting will provide seven of those groups with $175 million in grants to be used over the next four years.

Updated laws now restrict the amount of money that can be held in reserve. That maximum is now $191 million, which equals one year’s worth of federal funding.

According to Department of Human Services Director Clarence Carter, who became the head of DHS in January, criticism received for holding the funding was warranted.

“The state got beat about the head and shoulders for having hundreds of millions of dollars of unspent money for poor families, and it wasn’t as if we didn’t have poor families,” said Carter. “The appropriate rap on the knuckles we were getting was, ‘Why do you have this money in escrow when there are thousands and thousands of needy Tennessee families?’”

Governor Lee signed a law in June, designating $182 million for seven pilot programs to be created, two in each grand division and one spearheaded by DHS.

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The board initially received 81 proposal applications, but that number was lowered to 47 after a review process that eliminated applications that did not meet federal or application guidelines.

In total, those 47 applicants requested a total of $13.8 million, but the initial round only allots $5 million to be divided out. So the board will have to narrow down those requests to determine who will actually receive funding.

Carter has opted not to identify any of the applicants before the voting takes place, but he says that priority will be given to collaborations among “two, three, four organizations that are covering the right pieces” to effectively serve needy families in Tennessee.

“We begin with the notion that the safety net should be a mile marker in the journey, not the destination unto itself,” Carter stated.

Some critics say that the board is not diverse enough, with too many members being elected officials or political appointees.

Signe Anderson, director of family nutrition for the Tennessee Justice Center, is concerned that funding may not actually get to where it needs to go.

“Our hope is that money gets directly to children living in deep poverty, and that resources are given directly to families and that it doesn’t get lost in the process,” said Anderson. “The funds should go to interventions and services and the most impact for families served.”

Carter says the plan is to find ways to help families, not to take help away from them.

“We don’t want to throw people off of benefits. We don’t want benefits to go away,” Carter stated. “We simply want them to be tools to strengthen people.’

About the Author: Jason Vaughn, Media Coordinator for The Tennessee Conservative  ~ Jason previously worked for a legacy publishing company based in Crossville, TN in a variety of roles through his career.  Most recently, he served as Deputy Directory for their flagship publication. Prior, he was a freelance journalist writing articles that appeared in the Herald Citizen, the Crossville Chronicle and The Oracle among others.  He graduated from Tennessee Technological University with a Bachelor’s in English-Journalism, with minors in Broadcast Journalism and History.  Contact Jason at news@TennesseeConservativeNews.com