Tennessee DHS outlines TANF Opportunity Act pilots, $1 million bridge contracts while research continues

Commissioner Clarence H. Carter of the Tennessee Department of Human Services told the Senate Health and Welfare Committee on Jan. 27 that the state’s TANF Opportunity Act (TOA) pilots have produced encouraging early results and that the department is planning short-term bridge contracts to preserve services while a formal evaluation is completed.

Carter said Tennessee receives a federal TANF grant of $191,000,000 per year and that several years ago the state had accumulated roughly $740,000,000 in unexpended TANF funds. "Tennessee did not waste the crisis," he said, describing the TOA as "an intentional" spend-down and testing approach. Carter added that the unexpended balance now stands at about $305,000,000 while the state maintains the statutory $191,000,000 reserve.

Suzanne Carr, senior policy advisor at DHS and the agency architect for the TOA, outlined seven pilots operating across the state and the randomized or delayed-intervention research designs being used to evaluate them. Examples she described include Affirm (fatherhood programming in Shelby County), Connecting Forward (a shared referral system run by Family & Children Services in Middle Tennessee serving 28 counties), a United Way of Greater Knoxville milestone-payment pilot for benefits-cliff mitigation, the Chance Tennessee pilot operated by the Martha O'Brien Center, Upper Cumberland HRA’s workforce-focused pilot, Growth (University of Memphis) focused on entrepreneurship and workforce training, and Strong Families of Northeast Tennessee.

"We will have the results of the work of these seven pilots" in the evaluation, Carr said, noting interim implementation research will arrive in the coming months and a final report is due in December 2026. MEF and Associates is DHS’s research partner; Carr said MEF produced published interim material and a public-facing dashboard that DHS updates quarterly.

To avoid a service gap while DHS and the legislature consider how to scale effective elements, Carr said the department proposes one-year transition ("bridge") contracts for each pilot at approximately $1,000,000 apiece. As part of those contracts, pilots must submit wind-down plans explaining staff reductions and continuity steps so services do not abruptly cease.

Callan Baggett, assistant commissioner for public information and legislation, described DHS’s competitive community-grants program for smaller TANF-funded awards. Baggett said DHS has invested "over $500,000,000" across all 95 counties through community grants since TOA implementation and noted last year’s community-grant solicitation was about $27,000,000; the agency usually opens that program in late May and closes it in July.

Committee members asked whether TANF could be used to fund food banks and other feeding programs. Carter said DHS will map all feeding mechanisms across Tennessee and noted federal eligibility rules limit some uses; Baggett said food banks remain eligible to apply for community grants but certain wraparound services may be ineligible under federal rules.

Senator Bo Watson, a chief sponsor of the TOA, urged the committee to treat the pilots as rigorous experiments. "This is a program which subjected these programs to a randomized controlled trial," Watson said, praising the evaluation design and the two-stage grant application and presentation process used to select pilots. Watson and other members emphasized that future funding decisions should be guided by measurable outcomes rather than anecdotes.

Carter and DHS staff acknowledged the political and operational difficulty of winding down pilots that employ local staff, saying the purpose of evaluation is to identify effective component interventions that could be scaled or combined into sustainable grant programs. Carter said DHS plans a competitive grant program informed by the evaluation that will target interventions the research shows are effective.

The committee did not take formal votes on policy changes during the session. Chair and members discussed logistics for notifying legislators about community-grant timing and heard that United Way of Chattanooga will present next week on its ALICE program. The meeting adjourned after members moved and seconded.

Next procedural steps: DHS will receive MEF’s final evaluation in December 2026, proceed with implementation briefings to the Families First Advisory Council and other stakeholders, and run a competitive grant process informed by evaluation findings.