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Family Support & Well-being

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Know Your American Rescue Plan Benefits Checklist

Many different sources of financial relief are available for families through the American Rescue Plan (ARP). This relief is designed to provide necessities, such as food and nutrition, energy and water, technology, housing, unemployment insurance, and child care. However, many families may not know that they are eligible for this relief.

Use the information in this checklist to:

  • Explore with families the full range of benefits available through the ARP and elsewhere
  • Discover if families are eligible for benefits
  • Support families to apply for and receive benefits

The Child Tax Credit is an important benefit available through the ARP, but it is not the only one. When staff use this checklist with families, they can help make sure that families do not use their Child Tax Credit for needs that they can address through other parts of the ARP or other general benefits. By receiving the full range of benefits they are entitled to, families may then be in a position to use their Child Tax Credit to reach their economic mobility goals — paying down debt, putting money away towards education or training, and more.

Explore the Economic Mobility Toolkit for Head Start and Early Head Start for information about partnering with families to work on their financial goals.

Benefits Information

To help families find the benefits they may be eligible for, use the Benefits.gov website. The Benefit Finder tool on this website is a prescreening questionnaire used to evaluate an individual’s situation and compare it with eligibility criteria for more than 1,000 federally funded benefit and assistance programs. In addition, you can filter by location and benefits category.

For specific benefits based on the American Rescue Plan, explore Partnering with Families to Access Benefits Through the American Rescue Plan.

Handouts 

Download the checklist.

Share the accompanying handout, Ask Us About the ARP Benefits Available for Families, with families to begin a conversation and better understand their needs.

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