Developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance, the Urban Partnerships Initiative is a project designed to improve outcomes for low-income families by facilitating peer exchange among TANF stakeholders in urban centers. One outcome of this project, the Urban Partnerships Initiative Online Toolkit, disseminates information on promising practices to the human services community. The toolkit is a collection of resources, templates, examples, and instruments to assist TANF administrators in achieving the goal of supporting families on the path to self-sufficiency.

The Urban Partnerships Initiative Online Toolkit, a collection of innovative and promising practices representing 26 cities of the Urban Partnerships Initiative from around the country, has been updated in 2012 with updated tools and programmatic updates for existing programs featured in the toolkit. The toolkit is a dynamic resource to help cities address some of the unique issues facing low-income populations, including those associated with substance abuse, poor mental health conditions, former incarceration, recent immigration, learning disabilities, and others. TANF administrators and others can find relevant tools related to intake, case management, work attachment, work retention, and transitional services.

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) funded a study to determine how local management of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs has adapted practices to address changing needs and improve program results. To understand these local adaptations, the research team—which included staff from the Lewin Group and the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government—visited five local TANF offices to interview staff and collect data. The sites selected were among locations where field research was conducted several years ago in order to gauge changes since the early years of TANF implementation. The five sites were in Phoenix, Arizona; Macon, Georgia; Kansas City, Missouri; Newark, New Jersey; and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Site visits were conducted between February and July 2006. This report presents major findings from the site visits. Several cross-cutting findings emerged from the study: (author abstract)

The Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings recently released a report that compared the change in geographic distribution of the low-income population to trends of the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) recipients’ location. The data used to evaluate the change in geographic distribution was measured between 1999 and 2007 in the nation’s 10 largest metropolitan areas. The researchers uncovered that the distribution of low-income populations mirrored the distribution of EITC recipients. This similarity in distribution shows that EITC has operated as an effective tool to evade poverty. EITC has effectively adapted to the conditions of recession, and is an important resource for low-income populations regardless of their location.

While college attendance has increased over the last thirty years, the proportion of students who complete college has decreased. Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago authored this issue brief which provides data on the educational trajectories of Chicago youth from high school to college. Reviewing the paths that youth follow throughout high school and beyond, authors then suggest policies to support these youth as young adults as they pursue their postsecondary educational goals.

The following report describes the Urban Partnerships for Welfare Reform Academy II that took place in Minneapolis, Minnesota from October, 26-29 2003 to continue partnerships and foster collaboration to improve service delivery and TANF implementation for families residing in urban areas.

The National Alliance to End Homelessness authored this report, which is first in a series of briefs that examine the geographic distribution of homelessness in the United States. While homelessness is perceived to be an issue for urban areas only, rural areas also face homelessness, and it is often caused by the same barriers that persist in urban areas. In this report, authors provide an overview of homelessness for urban and rural areas, and offer State by State information on homelessness.

This was a session at the Urban Partnerships Initiative's National Academy in Atlanta, Georgia. Atlanta and Kansas City, MO city partners offered strategies on tracking work participation rates through innovative case management.

This was a session at the Urban Partnerships Initiative's National Academy in Atlanta, Georgia. Chicago and Houston city partners shared strategies from their cities on getting to full engagement through integrated case management teams.

During this session of the Urban Partnerships National Academy, Baltimore city participants offered information to other partner cities on developing internal quality assurance models within their TANF programs.

This was a session at the Urban Partnerships for Welfare Reform National Academy, which was held in Atlanta, Georgia. Representatives from Los Angeles and San Diego presented on strategies to increase EITC take up among their TANF participants.