By Gabriella Chiarenza, a writer and communications advisor for Fed Communities
This story is reposted from Fed Communities.

For Hannah Reuter at Springfield WORKS’s Bridge to Prosperity pilot program in Massachusetts, $22,000 is a magic number. Reuter and her colleagues think that’s the temporary financial lift it might take for each health care worker in the program to move completely off of public benefits and into household-supporting careers. Having planned for looming benefits cliffs, participants can take a more confident step up into higher-paying roles vital to area hospitals.

Benefits cliffs can arise when someone receiving public assistance accepts a new job or raise, or increases their work hours. Their benefits—including food, housing, health care, child care, or other assistance—may decrease faster than their rising income can make up the difference, leaving them staring down sudden gaps in their economic resources.

Cliffs may affect people who receive benefits and earn up to about $60,000 a year if their income rises. The potential risk to their financial stability can cause people to back away from promising opportunities.

Benefits cliffs pose a risk not only to individual workers who feel they then can’t take on a better job. They also ripple out to impact employers and consumers who depend on skilled employees filling those roles.

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From very different pilot landscapes emerge shared themes

With focused attention on the issue, the coalition hopes to build an evidence database and elevate emerging best practices.

“We’re asking, what would this ideal process look like for people to move forward economically in ways that support both families and the economy?” said Marielle Lovecchio, [former] director of the Tennessee Alliance for Economic Mobility (TAEM).

The programs, selected from applicants across the country, reflect the diversity of benefits cliffs mitigation approaches. Some, like Bridge to Prosperity, are smaller, highly targeted efforts centered on a vital local workforce. Others, like TAEM’s Our ChanceTN, are multi-county initiatives enrolling hundreds of participants with a wide range of needs.

Still other pilots focus on participants with at least one similar obstacle. For example, the District of Columbia Department of Human Services’ Career MAPprogram offers formerly homeless families secure housing and assistance navigating benefits cliffs as they progress toward more stable work opportunities.

Though the pilots vary in focus, funding, and scale, coalition members have identified several common themes as they swap program implementation stories. Three elements rise to the top of the list: family-centered coaching, tools to track and plan for cliffs, and flexible transitional funds.

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Read Gabriella Chiarenza’s full article here.