The Oklahoma Department of Human Services has adopted an innovative approach to preparing Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) participants for employment: fully integrating relationship skills education into its work readiness program. By transforming its TANF orientation process to focus on soft skills development and navigating workplace relationships, the agency’s integrated approach is laying a foundation for helping TANF participants obtain and sustain employment.

This brief is part of the Emerging Practice Series of the Office of Family Assistance’s Integrating Innovative Employment and Economic Stability Strategies (IIEESS) initiative, which highlights the strategies of TANF agencies and their partners to help low-income individuals gain and sustain meaningful employment. Each brief describes an emerging practice that has been implemented in one site, an overview of the program model, and the results that have been achieved. Compelling stories of participants’ success and suggestions from TANF agency staff to their peers provide actionable insights and on-the-ground perspectives.

The Office of Family Assistance will be livestreaming sessions from the 2019 National Tribal TANF/NEW Summit on September 16-17, 2019, and the 2019 National TANF State Directors’ Meeting, Helping Families to Overcome: Partnering to Build a Stronger Society on September 17-19, 2019. Both events will be held in Arlington, Virginia, and will provide state, tribal, and territory TANF administrators, staff, and stakeholders with actionable and replicable implementation strategies for improving employment and self-sufficiency outcomes for customers and families.

Sessions to be livestreamed include:

Coaching as a Strategy for Supporting Client Success
September 16th, 9:00 a.m. – 10:15 am ET
This plenary will provide an overview of the intersections between executive functioning and coaching, and then dive deeper into the importance of coaching and its impact on a client’s long-term goals and employment. 

Tribal TANF and NEW Fiscal Management 101
September 16th, 10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. ET
The first of two sessions that will focus on fiscal management of TANF and NEW programs and is especially relevant for any staff involved with program finances. It will cover a variety of financial management topics, including how OFA informs programs of grant awards and how to understand grant Terms and Conditions. Speakers will explain procedures for funding draw downs, financial reporting due dates, and required reporting submissions.

Tribal TANF and NEW Fiscal Management 201
September 16th, 3:15 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. ET
The second of two sessions that focuses on fiscal management of TANF and NEW programs, and is especially relevant for any staff involved in their program’s finances. Speakers will 1) discuss how internal controls and compliance programs can help tribes protect their TANF programs from fraud and abuse; 2) highlight best practices for maintaining record-keeping systems; 3) explain how programs can prepare for an audit and potential audit resolutions; and 4) highlight why and how finance managers can eliminate unobligated balances.

Promising Practices for Using Creativity to Address Resource Challenges
September 17th, 8:30 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. ET
Several communities will highlight their innovative and impactful workforce and community development programs despite resource constraints. Speakers will share examples ranging from transit to tourism, with the intention of encouraging participants to consider how resource challenges may be reframed as opportunities to spur job creation while providing the community with a needed service.

Tools to Help Tribal TANF and NEW Programs Reach Their Full Potential and Document Their Success!
September 17th, 10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. ET
Tribal TANF and NEW program leaders will be given strategies and tools for identifying meaningful program goals, developing clear and compelling performance measures, and documenting ongoing progress toward improving outcomes for tribal members and communities.

Greeting from ACF and OFA/OFA Director Carter’s Vision: Rethinking the American Safety Net
September 17th, 1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. ET
Director Carter will provide his insights on the need to transform the American Safety Net by grounding it in a collection of core values and supporting principles, and engaging all sectors of society. This transformative effort would redefine how American society assists vulnerable individuals and families so they can grow beyond their need for supports.

Strategies for Addressing the Opioid Crisis
September 17th, 2:45 p.m. – 3:45 p.m. ET
Addiction and the misuse of opioids is a health emergency that affects the quality of life, economy, and social cohesion of communities across the United States. Speakers will describe different approaches to addressing the opioid crisis, from direct service interventions that emphasize the importance of stabilizing the entire family, to a range of community-based supportive services such as capacity-building, technical assistance, and culturally-sensitive approaches. 

Young Adult Participant Success Panel
September 17th, 3:45 p.m. – 4:45 p.m. ET
The TANF program provides family assistance to create a stable foundation and economic opportunities for low-income youth. Growing up in a low-income household creates uniquely challenging circumstances for children, making it critically important to focus on this population. Young participants in TANF programs will share their experiences and their successes in working towards economic stability and a brighter future.

Insights from ACF Leadership
September 18th, 8:55 a.m. – 10:25 a.m. ET
The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) is committed to helping families through difficult circumstances through a broad range of activities. Participants will hear from ACF Leadership in the Office of Head Start, Office of Child Support Enforcement, Office of Child Care, and Office of Family Assistance about collaborative efforts to improve social services through economic growth and work-based public policies.

Shifting the Poverty Paradigm: Moving to Results that Matter
September 18th, 10:35 a.m. – 11:50 a.m. ET
Human service agencies across America are exploring how to achieve whole-family outcomes for those they serve by transitioning procurement systems to an outcomes-oriented approach, which rigorously tracks priority outcomes using data and incentives to improve the impact of services. Speakers will showcase the outcomes-oriented work in Washington state by the Ballmer Group, the lessons learned, and the achievements in the context of the broader national outcomes’ movement that Third Sector Capital Partners has spearheaded around the country.

H2O Family Forum
September 18th, 2:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. ET
The TANF program can help individuals overcoming significant obstacles on their path toward economic mobility and self-sufficiency. In the theme of Helping Families to Overcome (H2O), previous participants will share their stories and the initiatives they have taken to transcend barriers and use their experiences as a catalyst to create change for themselves and their communities.

TANF Data Collaborative: Assessment of TANF Data Analytic Needs and Plans to Address Them
September 19th, 10:30 a.m. – 11:45 a.m. ET
Data is essential for programs to evaluate how well they are helping needy families. As part of the TANF Data Innovation (TDI) project, a needs assessment of TANF state agencies was conducted in early 2019 that focused on the use of TANF data and other related state program data, priorities for data analysis and research, and states’ preferences on technical assistance.  Speakers will provide an overview of the states’ research and analysis on data infrastructure, data sharing, priorities for data use, and use of employment and earnings data. They will also describe how the TANF Data Collaborative, an initiative of TDI, is planning on addressing the identified needs through a robust pilot and training and technical assistance effort.

Listening and State Sharing Session with OFA Leadership
September 19th, 1:15 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. ET
Participants will have the opportunity to engage in a dialogue with OFA leadership on TANF policies and implementation, including current and emerging trends, challenges, and service-delivery innovations.

WIOA and TANF Integration: Uncovering the Benefits of Blending Funding through Interagency Services Agreements
September 19th, 2:45 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. ET
Since the enactment of Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), TANF agencies and workforce development/labor agencies have taken steps to align their services to best help TANF such as fund blending and braiding. Yet, there are often barriers to this blending and braining of funds such as different rules between agencies and resistance to organizational change. Participants in this workshop will hear how Massachusetts overcame such challenges using Interagency Service Agreements (ISAs), which set expectations for collaboration, service delivery, and performance.

Legislative Perspectives from Capitol Hill on TANF Reauthorization
September 19th, 4:10 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. ET
Interest is building in substantive TANF reforms but is there time and enough political consensus to make it happen? Key staff from Senate Finance and House Ways and Means committees will discuss Congressional priorities for welfare reform, provisions of current TANF proposals, and possible timelines.

On Wednesday, September 13th from 2:00-3:30 p.m. EDT, the Office of Family Assistance hosted the second webinar in our series on helping TANF clients develop social capital. The first webinar in the series was held in April 2016 and may be viewed by using this link. The webinar series emphasizes the importance of building social connections and relationships that can enhance economic well-being among low-income families. Research has demonstrated that social capital provides valuable assets for families as they move out of poverty. This webinar offered an opportunity to hear the latest ideas, models, and practices around the development of social capital among low-income families. It featured three programs with experience implementing and developing social capital with low income families as they move toward employment and self-sufficiency. 

This Office of Family Assistance webpage is a directory of free resources available for Temporary Assistance for Needy (TANF) block grant programs and other federal workforce development programs. This 2025 edition of the Catalog includes 24 identified toolkits that were published by federal agencies, state agencies, research organizations, and workforce stakeholders. Each featured resource aligns with ACF priorities and uplifts the presidential administration’s streamlining of fragmented workforce development programs that have been historically too disconnected from propelling workers into secure, well-paying, and high-need American jobs. They include information on collaborating with employers, strengthening registered apprenticeship programs, linking community college or job training into sequential credentials, starting a Career Pathways initiative, and engaging state, local, and county partners.

Low literacy and numeracy are prevalent among TANF participants and can be barriers to pursuing education, job training, and employment. Improving literacy and numeracy may improve employment outcomes as adults with higher literacy levels tend to earn more and experience greater job stability.

This tipsheet provides TANF leaders with practical guidance on why and how to use TANF resources to support basic skills development to improve employment outcomes. By investing in foundational skills, TANF agencies can promote long-term self-sufficiency and reduced dependence on government benefits.

This tipsheet suggests ways TANF leaders can use technology to support program participation and participants’ employment outcomes. By investing in technology solutions, TANF agencies may efficiently deliver services that promote participant self-sufficiency and reduce dependence on government benefits. Technology options discussed in this resource include: 

• Virtual service delivery platforms, including digital service hubs, virtual case management tools, and online learning platforms
• Virtual platforms providing access to data and analytics
• Tools powered by artificial intelligence (AI) 

This resource also discusses factors for TANF leaders to consider when evaluating potential technology solutions.

The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Contingency Fund was created to provide temporary supplemental funding to states during economic downturns. This issue brief examines how the Fund’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) caseload benchmark and maintenance-of-effort requirement result in routine eligibility, with most states qualifying regardless of current economic distress and funding concentrated among a small number of states.

The Office of Family Assistance (OFA) has posted the fiscal year (FY) 2024 Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) financial data tables, along with national and state pie charts.

• In FY 2024, combined federal TANF and state maintenance-of-effort (MOE) expenditures and transfers totaled $37.5 billion.
• 33 states used less than half of their TANF and MOE funds on the combination of basic assistance; work, education, and training activities; and childcare.
• By the end of FY 2024, states had a total of $8 billion in federal TANF unobligated balances. With the addition of federal unliquidated obligations, the amount of unspent federal TANF funds nationwide totaled $9.7 billion.

TANF agencies can review these resources for more information on how TANF and MOE funds were used in FY 2024.

The Office of Family Assistance’s TANF Outcomes Technical Assistance and Logistics (TOTAL) team delivers training and technical assistance to state TANF programs and partners responding to the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 (FRA). The team hosted their January office hours on January 22, 2026 to review the Work Outcomes of TANF Exiters Report submission requirements and share observations from previous report submissions and learn from states’ experiences. This session included an introduction to the FRA Outcomes Working Groups and the sign-up process.

This tipsheet provides examples of strategies that Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs can use to support family economic security by helping TANF recipients make intentional and healthy decisions about their families. An unintended pregnancy can make it harder for TANF participants to improve their economic well-being and independence. Family-centered services, such as employment coaching, home visiting, mentoring, and access to family planning services, can support TANF participants in making intentional and healthy choices for their families.