Meeting the Multifaceted Needs of Expectant and Parenting Young Families Through the Pregnancy Assistance Fund.

Introduction: The Pregnancy Assistance Fund (PAF) program funds states and tribes to provide a wide range of services to improve health, social, educational, and economic outcomes for expectant and parenting teens and young adults, their children, and their families. This introductory article to the Maternal and Child Health Journal supplement Supporting Expectant and Parenting Teens: The Pregnancy Assistance Fund provides a description of the PAF program, including the program goals and structure, participants and communities served, and services provided; presents data on the reach and success of the program; and describes lessons learned from PAF grantees on how to enhance programs and services to have the best outcomes for expectant and parenting young families.

Methods: Performance measure data are used to describe the reach and success of the PAF program, and implementation experiences and lessons learned from PAF grantees were gathered through a standardized review of grantee applications and from interviews with grant administrators.

An Evaluation of SOAR: Implementation and Outcomes of an Effort to Improve Access to SSI and SSDI.

Objective: Accessing Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) is challenging for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness. The federally funded SSI/SSDI Outreach, Access and Recovery (SOAR) project aims to improve access to SSI and SSDI through technical assistance (TA) to communities for promoting collaboration among agencies that serve this population and training professionals to assist people with applications. This study examined how SOAR TA has influenced community implementation efforts and the outcomes of these efforts.