MISSION STATEMENT
The Pechanga Tribal TANF Program is committed to providing comprehensive services that strengthen and support American Indian families with children. The Pechanga Tribal TANF Program works collectively and in partnership with all community partners to provide an array of services and activities that are integrated, comprehensive, flexible, and equitable according to Pechanga customs and traditions.
OUR VISION:
Pechanga Tribal TANF’s vision is to empower, educate, and promote cultural values that preserve the traditional American Indian family unit by providing families the opportunity for improvement in the quality of life that leads to sustainable self-sufficiency.
HISTORY:
In 1996 Congress amended the Social Security Act, by replacing Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), the Job Opportunity and Basic Skills Program (JOBS), and Emergency Assistance (EA) with block grants to States and Tribes for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. Included in the authorization for this new block grant system were provisions for the “Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996” (PRWORA), which gave Federally -recognized Tribes the authority to operate their own TANF programs.
In 2011, the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians began administration of its own Tribal TANF program for enrolled Pechanga Tribal members, and federally recognized enrolled American Indian families living on the Pechanga Indian Reservation. In 2017 PTTP expanded its service are to include an enrolled Pechanga Tribal members and their families who reside in Orange County CA. Tribal Assistance for Native Families (TANF), is a Federal and State funded program that provides time-limited assistance to “needy” and “relative caretaker” families with a child in an effort for those children to be cared for in their homes or in the homes of their relatives.