TA REQUEST PROCESS

The Welfare Peer TA Network provides peer-to-peer technical assistance (TA) for States, counties, localities and community-based organizations working with TANF families. This Web site provides a variety of welfare-related resources and research for agencies/organizations operating TANF programs. TA is a way for you to receive additional assistance on welfare-related challenges that you may be facing. There are two types of technical assistance:

Via the Web site, the Interactive Question & Answer (Q&A) forum allows you to submit questions to, and solicit answers from, your peers online regarding TANF self-sufficiency programs and other welfare-related questions. You are also encouraged to respond to questions posted by your peers. Please visit the Interactive Q&A page for more information and to submit and read questions.

The TA Request Form allows you to solicit the Welfare Peer TA Network for a Technical Assistance intervention (e.g., site visits, workshops, teleconferences) that shares information on innovative strategies and programs for effectively serving TANF clients, and for purposes of building linkages within and among States and their agencies. To request TA, please read the important information below and either 1) visit the online TA Request Form or 2) download the TA Request Form [PDF 33 KB].

Here are two examples of TA events conducted in response to requests:

• Improving Outcomes for Relative Caregivers in TANF Child Only Cases, January 2006
  
  The Welfare Peer TA Network implemented a Roundtable event on January 26-27, 2006 in Columbia, SC. The Roundtable event was attended by individuals representing a wide variety of Federal, state and local agencies, and community-based organizations. At the Roundtable, presenters discussed a comprehensive range of issues facing TANF child only relative caregivers and the children; the importance of an integrated approach to the child only caseload; the challenges and successes that local agencies have had in working with this population; and the importance of caregiver and child well-being. Utilizing the knowledge shared by the various faculty, the information provided by peer programs in El Paso County Colorado, and Trenton, New Jersey and the planning tools provided to the participants, the Roundtable served as a central catalyst for the collaboration of Federal, state and local agencies, and non-profit organizations to begin to develop an action plan to provide needed services to the South Carolina child-only TANF relative caseload.
  
  For more information on this event and other TANF Child Only TA Events, please see: http://www.peerta.acf.hhs.gov/index.cfm?event=viewTopic&sectionTopicId=5#child.
  
  To Request TA regarding the challenges in addressing the Child Only Caseload, please see: http://www.peerta.acf.hhs.gov/tarequest/tareques.cfm.
  
  
• Building Assets for Virginia: Using Tax Credits to Support Families, July 2005
  
  The Welfare Peer TA Network sponsored this statewide Roundtable event that took place in Charlottesville, VA from July 14-15, 2005. This Roundtable was designed to facilitate statewide discussion to impart the tools and knowledge to implement a statewide Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) awareness and outreach campaign. Roundtable participants were offered numerous presentations detailing the purpose of and eligibility for the EITC, unclaimed benefit totals from FY 2004, why TANF recipients are a good target audience for an EITC initiative, and examples of EITC Initiatives from other localities. Additionally, Federal Internal Revenue Service (IRS) staff presented on the various aspects of Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sites, the IRS rural outreach initiative, and other helpful resources available from the IRS such as TaxWise software. Also included were presentations by a local representative from the State of Oklahoma on mobile rural tax preparation and from the Nehemiah Gateway Community Development Corporation in the state of Delaware on empowering families through financial literacy. Additionally, networking sessions afforded participants the opportunity to leverage the Roundtable as a catalyst for a coordinated Statewide EITC campaign among stakeholders in urban and rural Virginia.
  
  For more information on this event and other EITC TA Events, please see: http://www.peerta.acf.hhs.gov/index.cfm?event=viewTopic&sectionTopicId=11#etic
  
  To Request TA regarding the EITC, please see: http://www.peerta.acf.hhs.gov/tarequest/tareques.cfm
  
  

Written reports of all TA interventions are posted on the TA Summaries page. You may wish to access these summaries to review lessons learned from past events.

What's the Review Process? TA requests are jointly reviewed by the Welfare Peer TA Network and the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) based on the following criteria:

• The extent to which the TA requested is likely to move TANF recipients from welfare to work, self-sufficiency, and family stability.
• The degree to which the area of requested TA is related to ACF priorities:
• Provide assistance to needy families so that children may be cared for in their own homes, or in the homes of relatives;
• End of the dependence of needy parents on government benefits by promoting job preparation, work, and marriage;
• Prevent and reduce the incidence of out-of-wedlock pregnancies and establish annual, numerical goals for preventing and reducing the incidence of these pregnancies, and;
• Encourage the formation and maintenance of two-parent families.
• The level of urgency of the requested TA .
• The degree to which the requested TA methods foster information exchange among States, counties, and communities.
• The extent to which the TA requested may have value for other States or programs.
• The cost-effectiveness of the requested TA.

Online TA Request Form

Downloadable TA Request Form [PDF 33 KB]