Supported by the Office of Family Assistance’s Peer Technical Assistance (PeerTA), the Roadmap Series highlights responsive leadership and management practices to support the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) agencies and their partners in adapting to new ways of work and connection amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Faced with myriad COVID-19 challenges, TANF staff may experience secondary traumatic stress or compassion fatigue. This OFA PeerTA resource suggests three fundamentals — listening, trusting, and encouraging staff — to help TANF program managers strengthen their organization’s ability to thrive amid complex change. Examples include listening by being sensitive to the well-being of others; building trust by showing compassion and validating another person’s experience to increase understanding; and encouraging staff to practice professional and emotional self-care to reduce burnout and increase compassion satisfaction.

Supported by the Office of Family Assistance’s Peer Technical Assistance (PeerTA), the Roadmap Series highlights responsive leadership and management practices to support the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) agencies and their partners in adapting to new ways of work and connection amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Social or physical distancing during the pandemic has raised the likelihood that individuals may encounter feelings of isolation, disconnection, and loneliness. To combat these experiences, this OFA PeerTA resource offers TANF agencies and partners insights and practical tips to cultivate modes of connection using technology, community-mindedness, and media. Practices include using technology in new ways to create external connections; engaging with the world through media (such as television, movies, and social media); and creating shared meaning with community to feel internally connected.

Supported by the Office of Family Assistance’s Peer Technical Assistance (PeerTA), the Roadmap Series highlights responsive leadership and management practices to support the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) agencies and their partners in adapting to new ways of work and connection amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the pandemic, TANF administrators, managers, and supervisors have transitioned to a virtual environment. This change away from the workplace requires rapid adjustments and socially cohesive teams to overcome emerging challenges. This OFA PeerTA resource provides strategies for quickly adapting to the virtual environment while building team cohesion. Strategies include exploring employee attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors; compassionately supporting remote employees; adapting an approach to ongoing check-ins; and promoting staff engagement outside of work.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance (OFA) Regions IX and X held the OFA Regions IX and X Virtual Tribal TANF Technical Assistance Meeting: Building Capacity to Support Families in a New Reality on December 8-10, 2020. The meeting provided Tribal TANF and Native Employment Works (NEW) representatives an opportunity to attend sessions virtually and learn from the OFA Office of the Director, regional TANF officials, and experts about strategies they can use to build capacity and services despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Topics included ways programs are shifting to more virtual service provision and telework while considering and increasing digital inclusion; how to prepare program participants to find new or adapt existing training, employment, and career pathways opportunities; how to respond effectively to participants’ holistic needs and challenges; and strategies programs can use regarding trauma’s impact on individual, team, and organizational levels. In breakout sessions, tribal representatives shared strategies they are using to perform their work during the pandemic and serve program participants in their communities more successfully.

This Office of Family Assistance dataset includes financial data tables, interactive maps, and national and state pie charts to illustrate the uses of TANF and Maintenance-of-Effort funds and transfers in FY2019. The charts break down expenditures for TANF-allowable purposes into 15 categories, including basic assistance; work, education, and training activities; child care; refundable tax credits (state Earned Income Tax Credit programs); child welfare services; pre-K/Head Start; out-of-wedlock pregnancy prevention; non-recurrent short term benefits; work supports and supportive services (transportation, mental health/substance abuse counseling, domestic violence services, and financial education); services for children and youth (home visiting, mentoring, and after school enrichment); fatherhood and two-parent family programs; transfers to Social Services Block Grant programs; and program management for TANF administration.

The Office of Family Assistance published data tables to illustrate the characteristics and financial circumstances of TANF recipients in FY2019 for all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Guam. These tables provide information about adults and children in the TANF program, including data regarding age, gender, race/ethnicity, educational attainment, and employment status, as well as breakdowns by the average monthly dollar level of TANF received and other cash support received. There are also data tables on recipients who receive assistance under Separate State Programs Maintenance-of-Effort (SSP-MOE) funding and closed cases.

The Office of Family Assistance published data tables which show TANF and Separate State Programs-Maintenance of Effort (SSP-MOE) caseloads separately and combined by state and at the national level from October 2019 through June 2020. The tables are cross-tabbed to include total recipients, total families, total children, one-parent families, two-parent families, no parent families, adults, and monthly caseload data.

The Office of Family Assistance hosted a free PeerTA webinar on TANF and Food Insecurity on December 1, 2020. A study by the Urban Institute found that as of May 2020, two months into the COVID-19 pandemic, more than one in six adults (17.7%) and more than one in five parents living with children (21.8%) experienced food insecurity during the prior 30 days. Further, adults and families of color experienced food insecurity at higher rates than their peers. Public benefits programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs are critical resources for TANF families mitigating food insecurity during this time. Since most TANF families (84.3%) also receive SNAP benefits and other support, coordination between programs can reduce administrative burdens for participants, increasing the likelihood that participants will be able to access and receive the full suite of supportive services. Additionally, TANF partnerships with charitable organizations and food banks can help to reduce food insecurity and fill critical gaps for TANF families.

This webinar explored strategies for supporting vulnerable families, particularly as it relates to food insecurity, and the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on service delivery. A researcher panel discussed how TANF programs have addressed food insecurity with their participants through strengthened coordination with SNAP and other public programs. In addition, several State and Tribal programs discussed innovative partnerships between TANF agencies and charitable efforts to reduce food insecurity in local communities.

Speakers included: • Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach, Northwestern University/Food Research & Action Center (FRAC) • Maria Boyle and Jillian Ouellette, Abt Associates • Julie Garreau, Cheyenne River Youth Project (CRYP) (unable to attend, but her PowerPoint was presented) • Alexis Fernandez, California Department of Social Services • Tikki Brown, Minnesota Family Investment Program

In honor of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, the Office of Family Assistance hosted a webinar on October 28, 2020. A subject matter expert and a TANF program practitioner shared insights and recommendations for leveraging TANF to provide support to intimate partner violence (IPV) survivors during COVID-19 and beyond. In this webinar, speakers highlighted a variety of IPV topics, including the four types of behavior associated with IPV. Speakers answered audience questions to assist other state and tribal programs in developing and improving their own TANF responses to COVID-19 and IPV.

(See also Resources on "domestic violence" in the Resource Library)

The Office of Family Assistance offers technical assistance to support the work readiness of TANF-eligible populations and to guide case managers in the use of assessment tools. This technical assistance includes a set of three Online Work Readiness Assessment (OWRA) participant guides. These guides cover: Level 1 – resume writing, interviewing preparation, building a career portfolio, and understanding what an employer is looking for; Level 2 – identifying one’s skills and interests as well as setting career goals; and Level 3 – learning about labor market information, exploring jobs and occupations, understanding career pathways as well as information about how to find jobs and training opportunities, and how to develop one’s own education and training plan.

There is also a Case Manager Guide which covers assessments to determine literacy and adult basic education needs, evaluating English language learning needs, identifying learning disabilities and needs for soft skills training, and tools to determine abilities for career exploration. The case manager guide also offers an overview of career pathways and career clusters and how to understand and use labor market information, with references on where to access additional resources.