The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) is a federal agency funding state, local, and tribal organizations to provide family assistance (welfare), child support, child care, Head Start, child welfare, and other programs relating to children and families.
State, county, city, and tribal governments, and public and private local agencies provide actual services. ACF assists these organizations through funding, policy direction, and information services.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities is one of the leading organizations in the country working on fiscal policy issues and issues affecting low and moderate income families and individuals. The Center specializes in research and analysis oriented toward policy decisions that policymakers must face at the federal and state levels. The Center also examines data and research findings and produces analyses designed to be accessible to public officials, other non-profit organizations, and the media.

The Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) has a leave no child behind mission where every child should have a healthy start, a head start, a fair start, a safe start and a moral start. CDF provides a strong, effective voice for all the children of America who cannot vote, lobby, or speak for themselves. It pays particular attention to the needs of poor and minority children and those with disabilities.

The Urban Institute is a non-profit policy research organization. The Institute's goals are to sharpen thinking about society's problems and efforts to solve them, improve government decisions and their implementation, and increase citizens' awareness about important public choices.