Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Although the vast majority of Hispanic children are U.S.-born and raised in income-poor households, little is understood about the influence of American social and income security policy on their well-being. Despite eligibility, Hispanic families are less likely to receive benefits from programs such as the Supplementary Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). When received, Hispanics have shorter spells than their non-Hispanic counterparts, thus opening questions about how resulting differences in household net income may contribute to observed racial/ethnic disparities in family and child well-being. A 2019 NAS report reveals that Hispanic children benefitted less from social insurance policies in comparison to their Black and White counterparts. Although such programs are federally authorized, authority over allocation, eligibility, and modes of information and outreach are up to states and/or counties. This paper reviews specific dimensions of cash assistance and related policy and practice in 13 states (Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Washington) in which 80 percent of low-income U.S. Hispanic children reside as of 2016. We ask: How do social policies and practices vary across states with the most Hispanic children? How is this variation related to Hispanic household benefit receipt as compared to their income-eligible peers?

Income-eligible families encounter a variety of factors when locating, applying, and receiving public assistance. We propose that, all else equal, differing rates of utilization are co-related with specific provisions of state programs and practices, potentially synergistically with other barriers and facilitators (e.g., eligibility determination intersects with online or in person interface of applying). Employing theories of administrative exclusion (i.e. the role of learning, psychological and compliance costs) as a guiding framework, we hypothesize that differing rates of program utilization vary by race/ethnicity, particularly by Hispanic ethnicity, because of higher likelihood of residence in mixed citizenship status families, limited English proficiency, variable and seasonal employment and earnings, and residence in multi- and intergenerational households as compared with their peers. We examine how aspects of policy and practice might differentially shapes access to programs across racial/ethnic groups given these types of prevailing characteristics associated with race/ethnicity.

This work is innovative by focusing on the state and local level, and generating cross-state and temporal policy and practice variation that is more proximal to household decision making and behavior (vs. federal policy writ large, or temporal variation in federal policy regulation of implementation). We are also cataloguing policy provisions and local practices that are not conventionally examined, nor currently available in existing public archives. As one example, with TANF, while Texas does not offer TANF to non-citizens after five years, other states do. States also vary in whether English as a Second Language classes qualify as required activities for eligibility, documentation required (with California requiring proof of residence), and availability for state level cash support for unqualified aliens. A complete cataloguing of these types of policies and practices for all 13 states will be completed and presented and mapped onto household utilization rates.