Finding Number: 2025‐001 Program Name/Assistance Listing Title: Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Assistance Listing Number: 93.558 Contact Person: Elise Lopez – Vice President, Organizational Operations Anticipated Completion Date: January 31, 2026 Planned Corrective Action: The TANF Cash Assistance eligibility for each client served is one of the dozens of data points that Emerge tracks as part of our requirements for the Arizona Department of Economic Security (ADES) funding. The categorization of whether clients are eligible for TANF Cash Assistance, while a reporting requirement, is not tied to our contract billing. In other words, the accuracy of this categorization does not affect Emerge’s funding in any manner, and reporting errors regarding this categorization has not – and cannot – result in over‐billing for service units within the contract. Nevertheless, Emerge takes its reporting obligations very seriously and strives to always provide the most complete and accurate data to funders and the community. In regard to determining a client’s eligibility for TANF Cash Assistance or other government benefits, Emerge collects information and assesses eligibility for two reasons: 1) as a means of supporting our case management services and efforts to connect clients with appropriate resources, and 2) in order to comply with ADES requests to report whether or not we serve TANF‐eligible clients. While Emerge and its employees are not trained by ADES in determining individual’s eligibility for TANF Cash Assistance or other government benefits that we do not administer, we do provide our own internal training to employees about the factors that go into determining eligibility. Historically, this information has been provided as a stand‐alone document and noted during new hire training. In researching the client files which were selected for audit, it was determined that, in some instances, clients were categorized incorrectly, or that qualifying information was not sufficiently documented as it pertains to the client’s TANF Cash Assistance eligibility. Overwhelmingly, this was a result of one or both of the following factors: (1) clients whose TANF eligibility changed during the year, but whose status was not updated in our system, and/or (2) inconsistencies in how a client’s children had been documented in our client information system (eg. clients whose children are not enrolled in Emerge’s services do not appear in this system, but staff may have marked the client eligible for TANF based on verbal information without documenting the children in their notes). Our internal inquiry into this issue also revealed that TANF income eligibility charts were not correctly updated in all areas of the client information system, which may have led to confusion among staff regarding client eligibility status changes throughout the year. To mitigate future errors, we have taken immediate steps to begin the process of updating our client information system to ensure the correct TANF eligibility charts are reflected in the appropriate areas. We also have a plan to update TANF eligibility chart updates annually, which will include a quality assurance check by the Vice President of Operations to ensure the information has been updated in all appropriate areas of the client data managements system. As of November 28, 2025, we have developed an internal performance improvement plan. This plan includes conducting an internal audit of our client information system files for 2025 to ensure accuracy, re‐training staff on TANF eligibility and documentation, and conducting monthly quality assurance checks through the end of FY26. Additionally, greater time and focus related to the details surrounding the TANF assessment process will be built into the curriculum for new hire trainings moving forward. These corrective actions, while ongoing, are expected to be fully implemented by 01.31.2026