The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Family Assistance (OFA) conducted the 2021 National TANF Directors’ Meeting from September 20 - 24, 2021. During this concurrent workshop, panelists explored how Tribal TANF and NEW programs can consider expanding virtual services to motivate participants to pursue opportunities, especially those which may have been previously inaccessible. Speakers discussed a variety of strategies used in the past year to create virtual education and training opportunities and virtual case management services for clients, as well as how these offerings were developed, challenges along the way, witnessed successes, and recommendations for programs considering offering similar resources. This session concluded with a review of OFA’s Coaching for Success eLearning modules, which program staff can use to provide virtual coaching and mentorship to participants.

This report identifies the four components of youth apprenticeship programs and how they fit together to offer a set of principles for adoption that improve program quality. These distinguishing components are 1) structured and paid on-the-job learning under the supervision of skilled mentors, 2) classroom-based or technical instruction aligned to the workplace environment, 3) ongoing assessment, and 4) attainment of portable, industry-recognized credentials. To illustrate these components, the report presents the Aerospace Joint Apprenticeship Committee (Washington State), the Charleston Regional Youth Apprenticeship program (South Carolina), and Early Care & Education Pathways to Success (California).

This report is a formative evaluation of two employment programs targeting young people who are aging out of the foster care system: iFoster Jobs in Los Angeles County and Mentoring Youth to Inspire Meaningful Employment (MY TIME) in Chicago. Key questions addressed in the report include do the programs operate in keeping with their logic models, who do the programs serve, are the program goals attained, what are the programs’ successes and challenges, and do the programs have the potential for future rigorous evaluation.

This case study profiles Solutions for Change (Solutions), which supports families experiencing homelessness in San Diego County. The Solutions model progresses through a highly structured, three-phase, 1,000-day program. The sequence includes dedicated case management; onsite mental health services; 12-step support groups; unpaid work experience; parenting; employment readiness training classes; and a series of life skills. The case study notes where the Solutions model operates, its background and approach, and whom it serves; what services are provided; how it is organized, staffed, and funded; and how it measures participant progress. The case study also discusses the model’s accomplishments and challenges.

This report evaluates four grantees of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Ready to Work (RTW) Partnership Grant (RTW) program. RTW assists the long-term unemployed—persons who have been out of work for at least 6 months—in finding jobs and succeeding in the labor market. Support services include career guidance, occupational training, employment readiness, job search assistance, and work-based training. The evaluation, which covers a four-year period from 2014 to 2018, reviews RTW implementation among four grantees: the Maryland Tech Connection program at the Anne Arundel Workforce Development Corporation; California Skills to Work in Technology/Job Search Accelerator at San Francisco’s Jewish Vocational Service; Finger Lakes Hired at RochesterWorks! (Monroe County, New York); and Reboot Northwest at Worksystems, Inc. in Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington.

Too often, accessing public benefits requires families to travel to offices during business hours, wait in long lines, and navigate systems that were designed around administrative convenience rather than client need. The San Francisco Human Services Agency decided to try something different. Their Mobile Benefits Center was built around a simple idea of bringing human services directly to communities that face barriers getting to agency buildings and was designed in close partnership with clients of different ages, backgrounds, and experiences, as well as frontline staff and community partners. This American Public Human Services Association practical case study covers what it means to design with communities rather than for them. It raises important questions worth asking about your own Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program: Where are clients actually located? What barriers are we asking them to overcome before they even walk in the door? And what would it look like to meet them there instead?

This resource is built for parents, which makes it especially valuable for practitioners. Designed to reduce confusion and fear, this Los Angeles County webpage breaks the reunification process into steps from a family's point of view. Reading it can give Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) staff insight into what clients are experiencing: the uncertainty, the pressure, the concrete tasks the parents trying to check off. That perspective matters. When TANF practitioners understand the emotional and logistical weight families are carrying, they can offer more relevant support and have more productive conversations about solutions to the challenges parents may face.

This MDRC report explores how two workforce programs in Los Angeles adapted employment services to better meet the needs of young people. For Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) practitioners serving youth and young parents, this resource offers insight into why flexible, individualized approaches matter. The resource highlights strategies such as personalized coaching, relationship-building, and responsive support services that help young people stay engaged and move toward employment goals. Programs looking to improve participation, reduce barriers, and better connect with younger clients may find useful ideas for strengthening their own service delivery models.

The Family Resource Simulator shows how earnings, benefits, and expenses interact as circumstances change. It makes “what if” scenarios visible in a way that is difficult to capture through conversation alone. In Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) settings, the simulator can support planning discussions by helping families see how small changes in work hours, income, or benefits affect overall stability.