Building Prosperity: Inside Tennessee's Bold TANF Pilot

In this high-impact episode of Essential Leadership to End Poverty, host and founder Scott C. Miller sits down with Megan Spurgeon, Director of Empower in Cookeville, TN—one of the key innovators behind Tennessee's $25 million TANF Pilot.

Together, they pull back the curtain on what's truly working to end poverty in Tennessee. From deploying economic stability teams to launching family-centered prosperity plans, Megan shares the practical wins and tough lessons from the front lines of a poverty alleviation effort to reimagine how families exit poverty.

You'll learn how Empower is helping families answer five transformational questions:

💰 How much do they really need to thrive? 💼 What's their path to earning it? 🎓 Which credentials will open the right doors? ⚖️ How can they navigate the Benefits Cliff without falling off it? 🧭 And what support will sustain their journey out—for good?

This episode is a blueprint for change—filled with tested strategies, data-driven insights, and a vision of what's possible when leadership meets innovation.