When Assistance is Insufficient

Black Women’s Informal Economic Strategies Under Temporary Cash Assistance

Bibliographic Data

ID12455350
AuthorsLaurens G Van Sluytman (0000-0002-2353-0034, Morgan State University, corresponding author), Jocelyn De Vance Taliaferro, Sharlene Allen-Milton (0000-0002-9764-9038), Ernandie Innocent
Year2026
Pages1-26
Publication date2026-03-14
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Poverty (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1087-5549 • E-ISSN: 1540-7608
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/10875549.2026.2644848
OpenAlexW7135409712
LanguageEN
References cited28

This qualitative research project examines the financial struggles of Temporary Cash Assistance (TCA) recipients using 20 in-depth interviews and five focus groups, guided by womanist and intersectional theoretical frameworks to center lived experience, racialized gendered labor, and structural inequality. Findings reveal a consistent theme of insufficient cash assistance to sustain daily living. Participants described diverse income-supplementing strategies, including small-scale entrepreneurship such as selling food, providing hairstyling services, informal cannabis sales, and sex work. These strategies reflect both resourcefulness and structural constraint. Participants also situated these practices within longer histories of survival economies in Black communities. The study recommends policy reforms including microloans, guaranteed income supports, and expanded childcare vouchers that allow recipients to increase income without punitive benefit loss, aligning policy with lived realities.

Cash · Debt · Inequality · Poverty · Social Assistance · Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics · Microfinance and Financial Inclusion · Taxation and Compliance Studies