PROBLEM STATEMENT:

As the next potential Governor of the State of Tennessee, I find it appalling that children across this great state have suffered because of political leaders withholding Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds that could have been used for the purchase of food, rent, childcare, utilities, or other necessities. Many children are living on the streets and in cars or hotels, going to bed hungry or being unable to concentrate in school because of an empty stomach. I will bring humanity and justice to this grave injustice.

(1) Money should never be more important than our children in the State of Tennessee. They are our greatest resource. It's time for a Governor to place our children first on the agenda when it comes to their safety, well-being, health, and longevity.

(2) Withholding funds from children in the State of Tennessee while they are living in poverty and distressed communities is inhumane.

(3) The most pressing problem in the State of Tennessee is the willful and insidious withholding of TANF from children as it relates to food security and childcare. There must be an immediate freeze on these TANF funds, which have been withheld for over seven years, to make sure these funds are not disposed of by the end of 2026. Misappropriation of federal funds is punishable by law.

(4) Allowing children living in urban communities to live in food deserts, dwell in dilapidated homes with holes in the roofs, letting urban children be exposed to pollutants from insidious manufacturing companies like the Sterilization Company on Florida Street and xAI, ignoring urban children that lives in cars and hotels with no resolution to address this epidemic, and allocating millions to rich developers, with the poverty study stated that children are suffering from poverty in urban and rural communities.

(5) Rural food insecurity in Tennessee affects 1 in 6 individuals, with rates significantly higher in rural, distressed counties, particularly in East and West Tennessee. Over 80% of high food insecurity counties are rural. Hancock, Hawkins, and Cocke counties are among those facing extreme shortages, with high child food insecurity and limited access to nutritious food.

(6) The focus must be placed on distressed counties with high poverty and low resources include Bledsoe, Clay, Cocke, Grundy, Hancock, Hardeman, Haywood, Lake, Perry, Pickett, and Scott.

(7) The highest need area is Hancock County, which faces extreme food insecurity, with rates near 24.2% for the general population and even higher for children.

(8) Regional Disparities are Rural Northeast Tennessee (including Carter, Greene, Hancock, Hawkins, Johnson, Sullivan, Washington, and Unicoi), which faces high, persistent food insecurity,

(9) High costs of food, which Inflation has strained budgets, particularly for low-income residents who may spend over 27% of their income on food.

Tens of thousands of Tennessee children live in families with incomes below the poverty line. A wealth of evidence suggests that growing up in poverty compromises children’s ability to grow and achieve success in adulthood, hurting them and the broader society as well.

Atwater and her committee will conduct a comprehensive study of child poverty in the State of Tennessee and identify evidence-based programs and policies for reducing the number of children living in poverty by half within four years.

This process will identify policies and programs that emphasize both poverty reduction and work incentives that could substantially reduce child poverty in the State of Tennessee. These results will expand upon existing policies and programs, such as SNAP, the Earned Income Tax Credit, and the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit, and offer up new ones, such as a national job training program and a universal child allowance.

An appointed committee with expertise in economics, nutrition education, psychology, cognitive science, public policy, education, sociology, and pediatrics will be appointed to conduct the study and issue a report.

To transform the State of Tennessee through dismantling unjust systems into an inclusive state with a deep sense of community, liberation, and access to wealth-building systems. Special attention will be given to underserved, marginalized and rural children who have suffered the most.

For tens of thousands of children in Memphis, most of these children of color, poverty is not a temporary living condition, but it is a trap constructed generations ago and maintained by adults, policies, and systems that neglect, exclude, and exploit.

We will partner with residents, schools, community-based businesses and organizations, faith-based entities, local and state government agencies, as well as national educational non-profits, to reinforce self-determination in our communities and address the root and underlying causes of the obstacles our children face inside and outside of the classroom. Unlike many other funding generators, we will not create programs based on assumptions. Instead, we rely on the experience and expertise of community members to identify needs, develop solutions, and implement long-term changes.

Decades of research and hard-earned experience have proven that applying short-term solutions to the enduring, generational nature of poverty simply doesn’t work. What’s more, even the most well-intentioned solutions will fail if not informed by the expertise and perspective of the people most impacted, the people living and working in these communities.

That’s why Holistic Child Strategies focuses on providing critical insight into the assets, opportunities, and resources of the communities. We employ quality data collection to help residents and community leaders to map resources, form partnerships, and coordinate efforts to improve their lives. Our place is to build capacity for community-led, data-informed advocacy. Together, we can lift long-term, sustainable solutions to poverty that ensure every child can enter school engaged and ready to learn.

As a State full of unique communities, we will make sure that everyone can reach their potential and fully contribute to our communities, and we all benefit. The Tennessee Department of Human Services (DHS) emphasizes the two-generation approach, partnering with parents and children to build cycles of success. DHS oversees programs including child support, childcare services, Families First, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and vocational rehabilitation services. It also partners with local community organizations across the state to support generational success.

Poverty significantly disrupts families’ well-being and can have a long-lasting impact on communities. Poverty-related experiences such as malnutrition and other chronic, severe stressors can affect children’s healthy development. These problems can carry over into adulthood, lowering financial stability, reducing workforce participation, and increasing health care needs.

A proactive way to help provide two generational supports to reduce childhood poverty now is through family-focused support services like nutrition assistance, childcare assistance, housing, workforce training, and parenting and educational resources. TDHS has adopted a strategy to ensure its programs are designed for the entire family, in other words, for parents as well as children. This two-generation approach, called 2G for Tennessee, or 2Gen, rethinks how TDHS provides services, supports families, and collaborates within the communities.

Building Blocks of Thriving Families

The 2Gen approach supports services and opportunities for the parent and the child equally. Just as building a strong house requires certain materials, building well-being requires community resources, social relationships, and opportunities to thrive. When these materials are not available, people and communities may have shaky foundations that make it difficult to weather life’s storms. The four key components of the 2Gen approach are education, economic support, health and well-being, and social capital.

Here’s a quick look at programs and services administered by TDHS and how 2G for Tennessee is helping parents and children.

Smart Steps provides childcare assistance to income-eligible working parents and parents pursuing post-secondary educational goals who have children aged six (6) weeks to five (5) years of age. Families that participate in Smart Steps are responsible for a portion of their childcare costs or co-pay based on a sliding income scale. As part of the program, children will be enrolled in quality, affordable childcare facilities and the Imagination Library. Smart Steps is available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Families First is a temporary program focused on workforce development and employment. The Families First Program supports participants to reach employment goals by providing childcare assistance, education, job training, employment activities, and other activities.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) provides nutritional assistance benefits to children and families, the elderly, the disabled, unemployed individuals, and working families. The program helps supplement the monthly food budgets of families with low income so they can buy the food they need to maintain good health and direct more of their available income towards essential living expenses.

The Child Support Program provides services that promote parental responsibility to meet the financial needs of children and families.

The Vocational Rehabilitation Program (VR), provides a variety of individualized services to people with disabilities, helping prepare them to work in a competitive labor market. VR promotes employment outcomes for individuals that are consistent with their strengths, resources, and abilities.

Tennessee accumulated a roughly $730 million surplus in unused Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds, known as "Families First," due to years of strict eligibility requirements and underspending. Following public outcry, the state is now spending down this reserve by awarding grants to nonprofits for pilot projects, expanding direct cash assistance to families, and implementing a new law that caps the reserve at $191 million by the end of 2026.

• Accumulation: The state stockpiled over $730 million in federal funds, creating one of the largest TANF surpluses in the nation.

• Use of Funds: Rather than direct, immediate distribution to all eligible families, the state has directed funds toward competitive, community-based grants for pilot programs aimed at breaking generational poverty.

• Policy Changes: In 2021, the TANF Opportunity Act was passed to restrict reserves to $191 million (the equivalent of one year's federal funding) and increase monthly cash assistance for families.

• Current Status: As of early 2024, the state still had roughly $717 million in unspent funds, but is working to distribute them, with a plan in place to spend the balance by the end of 2026. 

Tennessee's Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, known as Families First, provides temporary cash assistance, childcare, and employment training to low-income families with children. The program aims to promote self-sufficiency through work, with benefits designed for basic needs like housing, utilities, and clothing.

The program also supports the Tennessee TANF Opportunity Act, which funds initiatives to improve economic, educational, and health outcomes for eligible families.

Atwater's Goal and Strategies:

• Children will no longer be neglected in the State of Tennessee regarding housing, food security, education, mental health, human trafficking, disability, and immigration status.

• I will perform a forensic investigation on the Tennessee Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds

• To freeze the TANF funds so that the present Governor Bill Lee does not waste or misappropriate these funds.

• Implement the Tennessee Comprehensive Children's Poverty Plan.

• Address the impact on Nutrition: Rural residents, particularly in poorer areas, consume less than 2 cups of vegetables and 1 cup of fruit daily.

• Address the Root Causes and Challenges:

  (a) Limited Food Access: Over 27% of Tennesseans are considered low-income with limited access to a supermarket, defined as more than 10 miles in rural areas. (b) High Poverty Rates: Several rural counties have populations with high percentages (often over 30%) of residents living at or below 150% of the poverty level, including Bledsoe, Johnson, and Clay.

Programs Addressing the Need: Secure and Expand Other Food Services

(a) Summer Food Service Program (SFSP): Provides free meals to children 18 and younger when school is not in session.

• Reinstate Park Commission Feeding Programs where feasible.

• Food Banks: Collaborate and support organizations such as local churches, First Congo Memphis Union Mission, MIFA, Second Harvest Food Bank of Northeast Tennessee (serving 8 rural counties), and Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee, which provide critical assistance.

• Emergency Assistance: 2-1-1 is available 24/7 to help residents find local food pantries.

As the next Governor of the State of Tennessee, I will launch a Child Savings Account (CSA) program in partnership with Operation HOPE. This initiative provides qualifying kindergartners at Public Schools across the State of Tennessee with a free savings account and an initial $50 deposit to encourage long-term education or vocational savings. Keisha Lance Bottoms was the first to launch such a program as the Mayor of Atlanta. I want to be a forward-thinking Governor as it relates to this progressive financial maneuver for children.

Since 1992, Operation HOPE has been moving America from civil rights to “silver rights” with the mission of making free enterprise and capitalism work for the underserved, disrupting poverty for millions of low and moderate-income youth and adults across the nation. Through its community uplift model, HOPE Inside, which received the 2016 “Innovator of the Year” recognition by American Banker magazine, Operation HOPE has served millions of individuals and directed billions in economic activity into disenfranchised communities turning check-cashing customers into banking customers, renters into homeowners, small business dreamers into small business owners, minimum wage workers into living wage consumers, and uncertain disaster victims into financially empowered disaster survivors. 

As the next Governor of the State of Tennessee, I will collaborate with Operation HOPE to honor their legacy and assist the children in Tennessee to have a better chance at thriving for excellence, no matter what their zip code. We will continue to find new and innovative ways to promote financial literacy for all, drive new business formation and growth, and influence policy that will help achieve financial equity. HOPE continues to expand its coaching footprint across America, both in physical locations and through virtual program offerings. We look forward to expanding the reach of our services using new and engaging technologies so that all people have convenient access to financial literacy.

(a) Key Details of the Atlanta Child Savings Account Program:

• Eligibility: The program is designed for students enrolled in Tennessee Public Schools.

• Initial Funding: Qualifying students receive a $50 deposit, meant to kickstart savings for future education expenses.

• Partnership: The program is facilitated by Operation HOPE, focusing on financial literacy and building wealth for children's futures.

• Goal: The program aims to increase the likelihood of children attending higher education by establishing a foundation for saving early.

  (1) Financial Literacy for K-12.

  (2) Fractional Share - Stock Certificate - Fractional shares are pieces of stock or ETFs worth less than one full share, enabling investors to purchase stocks based on dollar amounts (e.g., $5 or $100) rather than share price. These allow for accessible, low-cost investing in expensive companies, facilitating improved portfolio diversification with as little as $1 to $5.

  (3) Trading Stocks

  (4) Saving Accounts

Participation in CSAs has been associated with improved social and emotional well-being in young children, greater educational expectations, improved early academic achievement, better college outcomes, and a better return on a degree, as well as economic opportunity for all.

Young people who have savings from an early age are more likely to maintain positive relationships with financial institutions, diversify their financial portfolios, and accumulate more assets as they age.  This is what it looks like to start early, teach access, and build a stronger future for every child.

Through Operation HOPE’s Child Savings Account program, students are getting an early start in financial literacy, AI literacy, and ownership.

The initiative aligns with broader efforts to promote financial and AI literacy and to expand educational access for students in the state.