The Administration for Children and Families' Office of Family Assistance (OFA) Regions V, VI, VII, and VIII hosted a webinar, "Grandparents Raising Grandchildren and Other Child-Only Issues" on Wednesday, August 20, 2014 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. EDT. This webinar was the second in the 2014 Regions V, VI, VII, and VIII Tribal TANF webinar series "Addressing the Needs of Children." The Webinar provided strategies for addressing the needs of the growing population of grandparents who are raising their grandchildren, particularly those with child-only, TANF-eligible grandchildren. The speakers provided strategies and resources that were relevant to both social service providers and grandparents.

The Administration for Children and Families' Office of Family Assistance (OFA) Regions V, VI, VII, and VIII hosted a webinar, "TANF Children Endangered by Drug Use" on Tuesday, August 12, 2014 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. EDT. This webinar was the first in the 2014 Regions V, VI, VII, and VIII Tribal TANF webinar series: "Addressing the Needs of Children." It addressed the growing issue of protecting children in environments of increasing drug use. Key topics included: identifying when a child is exposed to drug use in his/her home; implementing processes for addressing the needs of drug endangered children; and strategies for keeping a child's life stable when his/her family is unstable.

The Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance Region VIII held the 2014 ACF Region VIII State Meeting, entitled “Collaboration and Innovation: Keys to Engaging TANF Customers” on September 18 - 19, 2014 in Denver, Colorado. This meeting brought together Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program directors and staff from six States to learn strategies, engage in strategic dialogue, and build linkages with peers to improve program outcomes and promote economic and social independence for individuals, children, and families. During the meeting, State representatives had opportunities to share promising practices in collaborating with State, local, and community agencies to successfully serve TANF participants. There was also a State of the State’s Panel Discussion with ACF/OFA leadership. Meeting attendees also heard from subject matter experts in the areas of program performance, employment outcomes and career pathways, kinship care and home visiting programs, housing and homelessness issues, supporting refugee populations, assisting victims of human trafficking, and engaging rural communities, among others. This interactive and collaborative event allowed for rich discussion and training opportunities.

The Colorado Department of Human Services released a resource book that shares information about many of the programs that have been supported through Colorado's TANF program. Resources range from prenatal care facilities, juvenile assessment centers, and refugee assistance programs, to mental health resources and fatherhood organizations.

In response to a technical assistance request from the Minnesota Department of Human Services pertaining to gaining a more clear understanding of the different state supervised/county administered models, the Peer Technical Assistance Network organized a peer-to-peer roundtable in Chicago, Illinois on July 18-19, 2012 with directors and staff from state supervised/county administered Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs. This report describes the technical assistance request and response, as well as the overall findings from the roundtable event and lays out potential recommendations for future discussions about the state supervised/county administered structure.

On Wednesday, May 7, 2014, the Office of Family Assistance's Peer TA Network, along with partners from the U.S. Departments of Labor, and Housing and Urban Development, hosted the Investing in Youth and the Community: Summer Youth Employment Programs Webinar. This Webinar explored emerging initiatives, partnerships, and strategies for implementing summer youth employment programs. The Webinar highlighted federal, state, private, and public services available to engage youth in summer employment, while also providing TANF-serving organizations and other stakeholders with the opportunity to learn how to engage various partners in support of summer youth employment activities. Presenters included representatives from Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, Brandeis University's Center for Youth and Communities, and the Denver Public Housing Authority's Youth Employment Academy.

 

As a followup to this presentation, OFA created a series of Summer Youth Employment Program Profiles – providing more in-depth information on the background, program model, lessons learned, outcomes, and successes for a number of programs engaging youth in summer employment. These profiles highlight the activities of the City of Richmond, Department of Employment and Training's YouthWORKS Division; the City of Buffalo, Buffalo Employment and Training Center; and the Denver Housing Authority’s Youth Employment Academy.

The Urban Institute recently published an article discussing the Work Support Strategies Initiative. Work Support Strategies (WSS) is a multiyear, multi-State initiative to implement reforms that help eligible low-income families get and keep a full package of work support benefits, including Medicaid, nutrition assistance (SNAP), and child care assistance. This report summarizes the lessons learned from the nine planning grant States (Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina), just one year into a four-year project. The report includes what the States did, how they overcame challenges, and how the planning year changed their strategies and capacities for the future.

In 2002, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) instituted the Community Healthy Marriage Initiative (CHMI) evaluation to document operational lessons and assess the effectiveness of community-based approaches to support healthy relationships, marriages, and child well-being. The evaluation is being conducted by RTI International and The Urban Institute. A component of the CHMI study involved an implementation study on initiatives approved by the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) under authority of Section 1115 of the Social Security Act.1 The goals of the initiatives were to improve the child support systems through community engagement and healthy marriage and relationship education programs. Operationally, these goals included direct improvements to the child support program, like increasing the number of child support orders established, increasing paternity establishment, and increasing payment toward support obligations. The broader context for these operational goals was improving child well-being and increasing parental responsibility.

This is the final in a series of reports being produced on the implementation of demonstrations in 14 sites receiving grants under the 1115 waivers. Earlier reports covered the implementation of initiatives in Atlanta, Georgia; Boston, Massachusetts; Chicago, Illinois; Denver, Colorado; Grand Rapids, Michigan; Jacksonville, Florida; Lexington, Kentucky; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Nampa, Idaho; and New Orleans, Louisiana. This report focuses on the initiatives in Marion County, Indiana; Clark County, Ohio; Lakewood, Washington; and Yakima, Washington. The goal of the implementation studies was to describe the nature of the community initiatives, including recruitment and outreach strategies, targeting efforts, and innovative approaches for linking child support with healthy relationship and marriage support activities. This report examines key aspects of the initiatives’ community partnerships, design and implementation of service delivery, and links with child support. It does not present estimates of program impacts or effectiveness. The report is based on site visits conducted in 2010, 3 to 5 years after the initiatives were initially approved as well as information provided over the course of operations by grantees. Because these visits took place when the initiatives were ongoing, this report is not a complete accounting of what the initiatives accomplished or how many people they served over the course of their waivers. (author abstract)

Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, North Carolina, Rhode Island, and South Carolina have been awarded three year grants to implement user-friendly and quick-to-deliver public benefit systems. The grants, as part of the "Work Support Strategies: Streamlining Access, Strengthening Families (WSS)" initiative, are largely funded through the Ford Foundation, with additional funding from the Open Society Foundations and the Annie E. Casey Foundation.