Two-Generation Family Economic Security Commission

About the Commission

In 2020, the Maryland State Legislature passed HB 1363, creating a Commission within DHS.

The Commission’s Legislative Mandates are:

1. Investigate policy challenges, opportunities, and recommendations regarding the mitigation of multigenerational poverty.
2. Identify state services and policies that can be coordinated to support a multigenerational approach to addressing poverty.
3. Identify program and service gaps among federal, state, and local policies.
4. Identify, test, and recommend best practices at the federal, state, and local levels.
5. Solicit information and guidance from external sources withdirect knowledge and experience in addressing multigenerational poverty.
6. Identify tools to measure and predict the impact of the benefit cliff on an individual family basis.
7. Measure the impact of multigenerational programs.
8. Collect data to be used in evaluation of the effectiveness of programs.

What is 2Gen?

2Gen is not a program, but an intentional philosophy toward how systems, programs, and services engage with families.

A 2Gen approach seeks to support one or more of the building blocks of a stable family – social capital, postsecondary education & employment, health & well-being, economic assets, K-12 education, or early childhood education – while equally privileging the experiences and well-being of the whole family through the promotion of 2Gen principles.

What are 2Gen principles?

2Gen principles define shared baseline values across state agencies, programs, and services. The principles come from work by Ascend at the Aspen Institute and are:

1. Measure and account for outcomes for both children and parents.
2. Engage and amplify the voices of families.
3. Ensure equity.
4. Foster innovation and evidence together.
5. Align and link systems and funding streams.