Leveraging America’s Social and Economic Resilience TANF Learning Community (LASER TLC)

A woman meets with her colleagues on a video conference.

The Leveraging America’s Social and Economic Resilience TANF Learning Community (LASER TLC) initiative builds upon the legacy of policy academies and learning communities, which OFA has conducted over the past two decades. It is grounded in the principles of knowledge building, peer learning, and team building. The LASER TLC provides technical assistance (TA) and support to state, county, and tribal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs in addressing the challenge of human services delivery in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The overarching theme— Reimagining TANF Programs to Support Family Economic Independence and Mobility in a Post-COVID World—includes three key focus areas: New Economic Realities; Evolving and Responsive Systems; and Building a Post-Pandemic Workforce. Each participating TANF agency considered this overarching theme and these focus areas as they designed their initiatives.

The LASER TLC is an intensive TA initiative that partners with the selected 10 LASER site teams, individually and collectively, to help move their change agendas forward, improve their service delivery systems, and ultimately advance outcomes for the families they serve. Over the last 18 months, a team led by BLH Technologies in partnership with Mathematica supported the 10 site teams with dedicated coaches as they used the LI2 framework to formulate their innovation and change agenda and strategize how to implement their action plans.

LASER TLC Site Journeys

During the 18-month learning community, the 10 LASER TLC site teams, along with the support from their dedicated coaches and the use of the LI2 framework, worked to develop their change agenda and strategize the implementation of their action plans. The following links share each LASER TLC site’s story and the process they went through to create lasting change.

LASER TLC Issue Briefs

Upon the conclusion of the initiative, two Issue Briefs on the learnings from the LASER TLC were produced. The first is focused on the innovations developed to create a more responsive human service delivery system and focuses on the strides made by four TLC Sites: Kentucky, North Dakota, North Carolina, and Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians. The second brief features processes sites used to reimagine partnerships and performance and highlights six TLC sites: Larimer County Colorado, Anne Arundel County, Maryland, Chippewa Cree Tribe of the Rocky Boy’s Reservation, Yurok Tribe, Pennsylvania, and Washington.

The Digital Resource Portfolio reflects the information shared at the collective TA events by BLH Technologies, Mathematica, and various other speakers. Many of these documents were used by the coaches during their work with site teams. The Portfolio includes a brief introduction of each topic, why it is important, and how to effectively use these resources as sites work to advance their change agendas.