Low-income families in Washington, D.C., are set to receive a one-time payment of $1,000 as they prepare to return to school later this month, according to a new initiative announced by Mayor Muriel Bowser on Thursday.
Families who are enrolled in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families are set to receive the one-time payments, which are funded through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, over the coming weeks. Roughly 1,500 families are enrolled in the TANF program, according to the mayor’s office.
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“We know that back-to-school time can be an expensive time of year for families — new uniforms, haircuts, supplies. There are a lot of expenses all at once,” Bowser said. “So we are disbursing these funds now to give families an extra cash bump during a busy time of year so that our students and families can have a strong start to an important school year.”
The one-time payments are just one of several programs offering financial assistance to Washington families after the district updated its TANF priorities from focusing solely on helping adults find work to also including provisions for families and schoolchildren.
The district will also provide up to $41 million in food assistance through the summer Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer program that was announced in July, providing more than 80,000 children and teenagers access to healthy meals during the summer and school year.
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“We know that the pace of economic recovery is not the same for all households,” said Laura Green Zeilinger, director of the Washington Department of Human Services. “We are thrilled to be able to provide one-time payments to families receiving TANF as they prepare for back to school. We are thankful for the critical support of our federal partners at the Administration of Children and Families.”
The financial assistance comes just over a week before the first day of school in the district, which falls on Aug. 29 for K-12 students and Sept. 1 for pre-K students.
