The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) has launched the CLASP DataFinder tool to complement its research, analyses and advocacy.

This easy-to-use tool allows policymakers, advocates and others to download and synthesize information about various programs and trends that affect low-income people and families.

The DataFinder currently includes state and national data on:

• child care assistance spending and participation;
• Head State and Early Start participation;
• Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) expenditures;
• young child demographics; and
• poverty

The tool also provides community-level statistics on education, demographics and youth violence. Examples of questions that can be answered with the DataFinder include:

• What share of TANF spending goes to basic assistance in each state - and how has this changed in recent years?
• How many children are served by Head Start, Early Head Start, and child care subsidies?
• How many children are in extreme poverty in each state, and in selected communities?
• What percent of students in distressed communities drop out of high school in ninth grade or complete high school on time?

CLASP will add more data to this evolving tool over time. Go to www.clasp.org/data to create custom tables and explore this tool