Resource Terms Explained

ACA Marketplace

A service that helps people shop for and enroll in affordable health insurance. The federal government operates the Marketplace, available at HealthCare.gov, for most states. Some states run their own Marketplaces.

Case Management

Case management is the coordination of services on behalf of an individual person who may be considered a case in different settings such as health care, nursing, rehabilitation, social work, disability insurance, employment, and law.

CFPB

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is a U.S. government agency that makes sure banks, lenders, and other financial companies treat you fairly.

Child Care Assistance/CCAP

Child Care Assistance Program provides low-income, working families with access to affordable, quality child care that allows them to continue working and contributes to the healthy, emotional and social development of the child.

CHIP/SCHIP

The Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP/formerly known as SCHIP) is a partnership between the federal and state governments that provides low-cost health coverage to children in families that earn too much money to qualify for Medicaid.

CONTINUUM OF CARE

A Continuum of Care (CoC) is a regional planning body that coordinates housing and services funding for homeless families and individuals.

CSFP

Commodity Supplemental Food Program

Energy Assistance/LIHEAP, LEAP, etc

A federal program that helps low income households pay for heating or cooling their homes. In most states, it also helps people make sure their homes are more energy efficient by paying for certain home improvements, known as weatherization.

FAFSA

FAFSA is a free online application for financial aid eligibility for college. It’s used by schools to put together your federal student aid package. This package can include grants for college, work-study, federal student loans, and even state and school financial aid.

Federally Qualified Health Care Center

FQHCs are outpatient clinics that qualify for specific reimbursement systems under Medicare and Medicaid.

FITAP

The Family Independence Temporary Assistance Program (FITAP) provides cash assistance to families with children when the financial resources of the family are insufficient to meet subsistence needs. The goal of FITAP is to decrease the long-term dependency on welfare assistance by promoting job preparation and work.

Housing Authority

A housing authority or ministry of housing is generally a governmental body that governs some aspect of the territory’s housing, often providing low rent or free apartments to qualified residents

HUD

Supports community development and home ownership. HUD does this by improving affordable home ownership opportunities, increasing safe and affordable rental options, reducing chronic homelessness, fighting housing discrimination by ensuring equal opportunity in the rental and purchase markets, and supporting vulnerable populations

IRS Free File Program

IRS Free File is a partnership between the IRS and the Free File Alliance, a group of industry-leading private-sector tax preparation companies that have agreed to provide free commercial online tax preparation and electronic filing.

Job Corps

Job Corps is a program administered by the United States Department of Labor that offers free-of-charge education and vocational training to young men and women ages 16 to 24.

Lifeline Program

The Lifeline Program has provided a discount on phone service for qualifying low-income consumers to ensure that all Americans have the opportunities and security that phone service brings, including being able to connect to jobs, family and emergency services. Lifeline is part of the Universal Service Fund. The Lifeline program is available to eligible low-income consumers in every state, territory, commonwealth, and on Tribal lands.

Medicaid

Medicaid is a jointly funded, Federal-State health insurance program for low-income and needy people. It covers children, the aged, blind, and/or disabled and other people who are eligible to receive federally assisted income maintenance payments

Plan First

Family Planning services are designed to help Medicaid eligible men and women prevent or delay pregnancy. Females of childbearing age, 8 through 55, and males of any age who may be sexually active and meet the criteria for Medicaid eligibility may receive family planning services.

RAP

The Rental Assistance Program (RAP) is the major state-supported program for assisting very-low-income families to afford decent, safe, and sanitary housing in the private market.

Section 8

The Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program is the most well known and sought after housing program in America. There are more than 2,400 Public Housing Agencies (PHAs, or commonly referred to as housing authorities) that manage the Section 8 HCV program for a specific jurisdiction, such as a city, county, or region of multiple areas. PHAs are funded and overseen by the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

SNAP

SNAP (The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) is the country’s most important federal nutrition program. It helps eligible low-income households to purchase food. People must meet certain income and resource requirements to be eligible for SNAP, and they can apply at their state office.

TAFI

The TAFI Program provides temporary cash assistance and work preparation services for families with kids. The program provides cash benefits for eligible low-income families and households to help pay for food, clothing, shelter, and other essentials.

TANF

TANF stands for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. The TANF program, which is time limited, assists families with children when the parents or other responsible relatives cannot provide for the family’s basic needs. The Federal government provides grants to States to run the TANF program.

TEA/Cash Assistance

The TEA Program is a time-limited assistance program to help needy families with children become more responsible for their own support and less dependent on public assistance. … The TEA program is federally funded and provides time-limited cash assistance to needy families with (or expecting) children.

TEFAP

The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) is a Federal program that helps supplement the diets of low-income Americans, including elderly people, by providing them with emergency food assistance at no cost.

The National School Lunch Program

The National School Lunch Program is a federally assisted meal program operating in public and nonprofit private schools and residential child care institutions. It provides nutritionally balanced, low-cost or free lunches to children each school day.

Unemployment Insurance

Unemployment Insurance is temporary income for eligible workers who lose their jobs through no fault of their own.

WIC

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children – known as WIC – provides low-income pregnant women, new mothers, infants, and children with nutritious foods, nutrition education, and improved access to health care in order to prevent nutrition-related health problems in pregnancy, infancy, and early childhood.