Welcome to our latest edition of WonkCast: People Power Policy.
Episode # 9: TN Human Services Commissioner Clarence Carter
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the creation of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, or TANF.
After three decades, the debate remains lively—yet often largely misframed. It almost always centers on mechanics, design tweaks, or enforcement.
Much rarer are the foundational questions: Why does TANF exist? What problem was it designed to solve? And by those standards, is it succeeding?
Today’s guest is a leader who insists we start there.
Clarence Carter currently serves as Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Human Services.
During the first Trump administration, he led the Office of Family Assistance at the Administration for Children and Families, overseeing the $16.5-billion TANF program nationwide.
He also just released Our Net Has Holes in It, a book drawing on his three plus decades in safety-net policy.
In our conversation, we talk about what he learned from overseeing TANF at the national level, how he thinks about the purpose of a safety net, and what the TANF pilots he’s leading in Tennessee could mean for the next generation of federal reforms.
If you’re wondering where debates about the future of TANF are actually headed—or why so many of them feel stalled—this conversation is for you.
If this is your first listen, check out Episode 0 here to learn more about the show, and subscribe through Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
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