Study: Analyzing a Federal Welfare Program How well did the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program respond to the Great Recession? UNLV and Brookings Institution researchers take unique approach to the analysis Eleven years before the Great Recession hit, the federal government had replaced what was then commonly called welfare with the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program to help financially struggling families with children. How did TANF respond to the 2007-09 Great Recession on state and national levels? And how did it perform compared to other governmental safety nets? Seeking to answer these questions through this study were Ron Haskins, co-director of the Brookings Center on Children and Families and Budgeting for National Priorities project; Vicky Albert, UNLV professor of social work; and Kimberly Howard of the Brookings Institution. http://news.unlv.edu/article/study-analyzing-federal-welfare-program#.VC7D_XdG3es.email