The Minnesota Family Investment Program (MFIP) is the state’s Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), or welfare-to-work program.
Children in families accessing MFIP live in or near deep poverty (defined as roughly $12,000 per year for a family of four) and are some of the state’s most vulnerable to effects of economic instability. Nearly 71 percent of people in households accessing MFIP are children, and most MFIP households have a child under age 6.
For a family of three, MFIP provides a maximum cash grant of $532 and food assistance of $473 per month. The cash grant hasn’t been raised since 1986 and doesn’t allow families to meet the barest of budgets. Children in households accessing MFIP are at risk or are already experiencing the harmful effects of living in deep poverty that can last a lifetime. For us, this is unacceptable.
CDF-MN supports improving the lives of children enrolled in MFIP by Increasing the cash grant, improving access to high-quality early childhood education, stimulating parents’ earning potential, and tracking outcomes for children on MFIP.