Social Services Research and Demonstration

What this funds

The Social Services Research and Demonstration (SSRD) program is authorized in Section 1110 of the Social Security Act. SSRD funding supports research, evaluation, and demonstration efforts that address the goals of preventing and reducing dependency on government programs and improving the ACFC conducts projects through contracts, cooperative agreements, and grants. Evaluation results and data from projects are disseminated to states, Congress, researchers, other federal agencies, and others through publications, the internet, conferences, and workshops. Topics of recent projects include employment and family self-sufficiency research; child poverty; studies of interventions designed using insights from behavioral science; and approaches to improving program efficiency and effectiveness, including efforts to improve the quality, use, and sharing of administrative data. Beginning in FY 2020, the SSRD program began supporting projects to improve quality, use, and sharing of data in human services programs to improve effectiveness. ACFC programs are working in partnership to extend and deepen their capacity to build and use evidence. ACFC also recognizes the importance of responsibly sharing human services data to better serve program participants, develop additional evidence about what works, and improve program operations. States and localities who want to share this data need to do so in line with applicable federal and state laws and regulations as well as the localized contexts that are unique to their jurisdiction. To support these state and local efforts, the SSRD program is developing a series of publications to help demystify how data can be shared responsibly. For example, the updated ACFC Confidentiality Toolkit provides guidance to states, localities, and others on federal requirements related to sharing human services data. It discusses why and how to share different categories of data, highlights how information technology can assist, and includes sample documents used The FY 2022 appropriations included $10 million for a new Diaper Distribution Demonstration and Research Pilot to address the relatively high cost of diapers for families with low incomes and to support their economic mobility. In FY 2023, Congress increased funding for this pilot to $20 million, which a new competition. The funds also support a robust federal evaluation, which launched in the spring of FY 2023. In FY 2024, Congress again provided $20 million, enabling ACFC to make supplemental awards available to the first 14 award recipients as well as awarding 7 new grants. In FY 2024, evaluation activities included in-depth interviews with grant recipients and collection of administrative data as part of a process evaluation, participant experience evaluation, outcomes evaluation, and the development of published in August 2024 and the final report of findings is expected in spring 2026. The FY 2026 appropriations included $20 million for the Diaper Distribution Demonstration and Research program. Administration for Children, Families, and Communities Page 91 million for Medical and Legal Partnerships. Funding for Congressionally Directed Spending in provided through the SSRD program. Starting in FY 2022, and every year since, Congress has included a General Provision to expand funding flexibility for research projects in ACFC. All research funding provided for in the Appropriations Act can remain available for five years following appropriation. This has allowed for additional time for research and evaluation projects within SSRD. Funding for the program - net of any authorized changes such as transfers or reprogramming - for five diaper distribution demonstration awards and awarding nine new projects, averaging $2 million each. Additionally, $9 million will be used to fund a five-year impact evaluation for the diaper distribution Funding for this program is also used to pay inter-agency agreements and other related administrative SSRD is the only source of funds available to ACFC for research, evaluation, and demonstrations that address cross-program anti-poverty initiatives and the effectiveness of programs lacking dedicated funds for research and evaluation. In FY 2027, ACFC plans to continue testing how low-cost adjustments to program practices using insights from behavioral science or artificial intelligence can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of programs. This includes, for example, a plan to modernize code and develop quality assurance tools for calculating work participation rates in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program using artificial intelligence. ACFC will also focus on improving the use, accessibility, and sharing of data as part of these efforts to promote the efficiency and effectiveness of This request includes the continuation of the General Provision that expanded funding flexibility for research projects in ACFC by providing for a period of availability of five years. Administration for Children, Families, and Communities Page 92 For FY 2027, ACFC estimates that 15 awards will be issued with an average of $1.1 million and a range Result / Target for Recent Target Target FY 2026 Target 23i Total number of Result / (Summary of grants (SSRD and PHS), Result) 35 Average prior 3 Maintain contracts (SSRD and (Historical Actual) Average prior 3 Maintain Administration for Children, Families, and Communities Page 93

Extracted from Administration for Children, Families, and Communities, p. 10. Verbatim; nothing here is paraphrased.

Contracts funded by this line

1 linked contract. These are obligations — lifetime awarded money — and they are not comparable to the request above and are never added to it. No total is shown: an award linked to several lines is counted in full on each, so the sum would not be a fact.

Confidence mix · 1 medium

Linked contracts are a floor, not a census. Coverage is bounded by how distinctively a program is named and, for performer links, to RDT&E and Procurement — O&M and military construction publish no performers. Budget figures are FY2027 request dollars; contract figures are obligations. The two measure different things and must never be summed together.

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Answers come from the figures on this page and nothing else. These dollars are parsed from Health & Human Services's Congressional Justification and are approximate — confirm anything that matters against the cited page.