The FAST-LC Capstone Convening was hosted on August 20-21, 2024 in Bethesda, Maryland. This convening brought teams from all the participating sites together to discuss their experiences and learn from one another. The session, Sustaining Your Work to Make a Difference, was presented by keynote speaker Linda Spears. Spears delivered motivating remarks about the sustainability of the FAST-LC work and offered principles and practical considerations for ensuring that site initiatives do not lose momentum and continue beyond the life of federal TA support. Following the presentation, OFA facilitated an audience Q&A.

The FAST-LC Capstone Convening was hosted on August 20-21, 2024 in Bethesda, Maryland. This convening brought teams from all the participating sites together to discuss their experiences and learn from one another. Day one ended with time for attendees to share their insights, closing thoughts, and reflections on their Gallery Walk experience, wherein the FAST-LC participating sites were able to review posters from all the sites describing their initiative, their next steps, and the lessons they learned from participating in the FAST-LC. This session was led by OFA Deputy Director La Sherra Ayala. After this interactive debrief, closing remarks were provided by Deputy Commissioner Cheri Hoffman of the Administration on Children, Youth and Families.

The Office for Family Assistance partnered with Children’s Bureau to develop the Families Are Stronger Together Learning Community (FAST-LC), which focused on preventing family involvement in the child welfare system through developing, implementing, and enhancing Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)-Child Welfare partnerships and innovations. FAST-LC was a one-year initiative that involved eight state and two tribal TANF-Child Welfare partnerships. The FAST-LC launched in September 2023 and concluded in September 2024. OFA published the webpage that highlights various resources, including a journey recap for each participating site and research briefs.

This National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse brief discusses some of the key issues facing American Indian/ Alaska Native (AI/AN) and Indigenous families in the United States, particularly fathers. The brief highlights three programs that are working with AI/AN fathers to strengthen their roles in Native families, includes an overview of each program, and provides a discussion of key takeaways to help other programs better serve AI/AN fathers and their families.

The Office of Family Assistance and Children’s Bureau’s initiative, “Families Are Stronger Together Learning Community” (FAST-LC), supported ten TANF and child welfare programs across the country as they worked to promote innovative prevention strategies to mitigate and reduce families’ involvement with the child welfare system through partnerships between TANF and Child Welfare programs. The FAST-LC Site Journeys capture and convey the participating states’ and tribes’ motivation for change, the partnership and prevention innovations they developed and implemented, and the lessons they learned from their journey experiences. This site journey features Arizona’s FAST-LC story.

This brief synthesizes the work the states and tribes participating in the Office for Family Assistance and Children’s Bureau’s joint-initiative “Families Are Stronger Together Learning Community” (FAST-LC) accomplished. It highlights implementation issues and the strategies the participating states and tribes employed in their partnership efforts and their prevention-oriented activities. The brief also identifies sustainability issues the sites confronted and addressed.

Traffickers exploit individuals through economic coercion or abuse. Many individuals who experience trafficking are not allowed to decide when or how to earn money, keep their earnings, or control their personal finances. A provision in the Fair Credit Reporting Act serves as an important tool for helping people who have experienced trafficking; the Debt Bondage Repair Act (DBRA) allows for removal of adverse credit information resulting from someone’s trafficking experience. This Office on Trafficking in Persons resource highlights DBRA success stories where individuals in California and Arizona were able to remove adverse credit information that accumulated during their trafficking experience.

The Office of Family Assistance and Children’s Bureau have announced the 10 sites selected to participate in the FAST-LC. The FAST-LC is a 12-month initiative operating from September 2023 through September 2024. The Learning Community will focus on promoting innovative prevention strategies to mitigate and reduce families’ involvement with the child welfare system through partnerships between TANF and Child Welfare programs. Site teams will benefit from a robust suite of individualized training, technical assistance, and coaching support, as well as regular opportunities for collaborative learning and sharing across site teams.

The states and tribes participating in the FAST-LC are:
• Arizona Department of Child Safety and Department of Economic Security;
• Arkansas Department of Human Services;
• California Department of Social Services;
• Chippewa Cree Tribe of the Rocky Boys Reservation (Montana),
• Iowa Department of Health and Human Services;
• Kentucky Department for Community Based Services;
• Michigan Department of Health and Human Services;
• Oregon Department of Human Services;
• Pascua Yaqui Tribe (Arizona); and
• West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources.

The U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration will host a webinar on June 22, 2021 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. ET which will examine the assessment and development of soft skills for job seekers. Presenters will share how they selected and implemented soft skills assessment tools in their organizations, and discuss tips and advice for improving the soft skills of job seekers. Speakers include representatives of GPS Education Partners, the Alamo Colleges District, the State of Arizona, and the Washington Greene County Job Training Agency, Inc.

The U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration will host a webinar on March 16, 2021 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET to cover best practices in work-based learning at the state level. Work-based learning offers participants the ability to combine employment with training. Presentations will be made by representatives of the Missouri Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development, WorkSource Oregon, the New Hampshire Department of Employment Security, the Maricopa County (Arizona) Human Services Department, the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, and Adaptive Construction Solutions, Inc.