State of Texas
The Atlanta Fed has partnered with the United Ways of Texas and RAISE Texas to implement the Dashboard and Planner in Texas in order to inform policy and practice.
United Ways of Texas (UWT) was created in 1980 through the merger of several organizations with long histories of supporting the charitable sector since the early 1900s. After more than a century of dedicated community service, UWT remains steadfast in its vision of being united for a future where all Texans thrive. UWT is the state association for a network of nearly 70 local, independent United Ways, focusing work on building local United Way organizational capacity and enhancing the impact of local United Ways in their respective communities.
RAISE Texas is a state-level organization that is committed to advancing equitable policies and programs that foster success for low- and moderate-income Texans. They support a statewide network of nonprofit organizations, for-profit corporations and community leaders through providing resources, training and technical expertise to build and expand asset-building opportunities across Texas.
The Atlanta Fed, UWT, and RAISE Texas partnership will focus on the following activities:
- Create a customized dashboard to identify benefits cliffs by analyzing how public benefits interact with local in-demand career pathways. UWT and RAISE Texas will use this information to support their respective networks as they engage and support Texas workers and job seekers in their movement toward economic self-sufficiency.
- Identify communities to test the CLIFF Planner in a career and financial counseling setting, including identifying potential community-based partners in different regions of Texas, given the diverse needs of our state, to produce more feedback during this planning/pilot phase.
- Determine how to best integrate these tools into UWT initiatives, including ALICE data that raise awareness of the growing number of Texans who are above the poverty level and working, yet struggling, and the Texas WORKs Coalition, which focuses on state policies that address barriers to skills development.
- Integrate these tools into RAISE Texas initiatives.
- RAISE Texas and UWT will identify how changes in Texas state policies for public benefit programs could mitigate benefits cliffs and support career advancement, for use in guiding future state legislative proposals.
- RAISE Texas and UWT will identify where a more coordinated response and more robust resources and community-based supports are needed to address benefits cliffs and to support advancement on career pathways, with the goal of providing guidance on actionable steps for organizations, communities, and funders when statewide policy changes on benefits cliffs are not possible.
- RAISE Texas and UWT will collaborate with the Atlanta Fed as they develop Dashboard and Planner training modules that can be promoted to RAISE Texas and UWT network partners.
Read the press release announcing the partnership with the United Ways of Texas and RAISE Texas to launch the Career Ladder Identifier and Financial Forecaster (CLIFF) Dashboard.
