The Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance, Regions V and VII convened a meeting in Chicago, Illinois entitled “Building Bridges to Self-Sufficiency: Tools for ACF Region V and VII TANF Programs” from September 4 - 5, 2014. This one and one-half day in-person technical assistance meeting was aimed at State TANF managers and State leadership. Participants were provided technical assistance and training that would contribute to and facilitate improvements in their States’ ability to meet TANF program goals and Federal requirements. The Region’s focus was provided through facilitated collaboration, communication, and problem-solving sessions. Region V and VII managers shared lessons learned and gathered strategies that can improve their own programs’ ability to identify and address multiple barriers, including assisting the homeless community, understanding the foundations of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), and how executive functioning and soft skills can led to economic success. Participants were provided an opportunity to interact with presenters, while receiving new information on programmatic changes and updates, and practical approaches to take to their home States dealing with TANF Programs.

The Administration for Children and Families' Office of Family Assistance (OFA) hosted the "Strategies to Assist Noncustodial Parents in Improving Economic Well-Being" webinar. This webinar showcased several programs making headway in this area. TANF programs and their safety-net partners increasingly understand the importance of engaging noncustodial parents while also holding them accountable for the economic and social growth of their children. Barriers such as unemployment, underemployment, or incarceration can hinder noncustodial parents from providing for their children even when many want to do so. The Webinar featured three programs.

1. North Dakota PRIDE is a partnership between North Dakota's Department of Human Services, Job Service North Dakota, the Child Support Enforcement Division, and eight judicial district courts throughout the state. The program refers parents with unpaid child support obligations to Job Service North Dakota for employment support.

2. Kansas Child Support Savings Initiative is a partnership between Kansas Child Support Services and the state Treasurer's Office to empower noncustodial parents to save money for their children's education. Noncustodial parents open 529 savings accounts for their children and for every dollar they put into the account, the State reduces their child support arrears by two dollars.

3. Couples Advancing Together is a program of the Center for Urban Families in Baltimore, Maryland that provides employment development, case management services, and healthy relationship skills training to couples with children who currently receive public benefits through the Maryland Department of Social Services. Completion of the Couples Advancing Together program qualifies participants for a 10% reduction in any child support arrears they owe to the State of Maryland, which is helpful to those who are noncustodial parents to children outside their primary family unit.

On September 10-11, 2013, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance hosted the Regions V & VII TANF Priority Update Meeting in Kansas City, Missouri. Representatives from Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, and Wisconsin met to network and share lessons learned and promising practices and to seek guidance from Federal and Regional staff in a number of different areas, including: planning to implement TANF EBT requirements, understanding the implications of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, addressing homelessness through TANF, utilizing data to inform program practices, developing career pathways for TANF participants, and discussing key TANF issues with Federal ACF leadership.

This first webinar in the 2013 Region VI and VIII TANF Data Reporting and Analysis Webinar Series was held on Thursday, June 27, 2013. The webinar, sponsored by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Regions VI and VIII, was open to all Region VI and VIII State TANF Directors and staff, local TANF agencies, and contractors. The webinar featured Patrick Brannen, a Statistical Consultant to ACF's Office of Family Assistance. He was responsible for statistical aspects of data collection and reporting of the TANF Data Report and the Separate State Programs – Maintenance of Effort (SSP-MOE) Data Report and for data analysis, including the calculation of the Work Participation Rates. Patrick Brannen provided a brief overview of the Section 1-4 reports, Work Participation Rate files and feedback, TANF sampling, and common edits and error flags.

On September 11-12, 2012, the Office of Family Assistance (OFA) Regions V and VII convened State TANF program directors and other key stakeholders in Chicago, Illinois to strategically engage with peers on effectively providing services to families in a recovering economy and to brainstorm better ways to help TANF participants achieve self-sufficiency. The TANF Priority Update Meeting consisted of multiple sessions covering an array of topics, including: business process management; strategies to improve postsecondary career pathways for low-income workers; developing and sustaining employment entry, access, retention, and advancement for TANF participants and low-income clients; improving services and tracking outcomes for special populations; innovative strategies for client assessment and service coordination; and effective strategies for engaging workforce partners through summer youth employment and subsidized employment.

The capstone event for the Rural Communities Initiative was the Rural Leadership Forum that took place in Charleston, South Carolina on September 1-2, 2009. Representatives from the 16 rural TANF sites met to share lessons learned; explore leadership and sustainability plans; and discuss successes garnered and challenges encountered from the implementation of the Rural TANF sites’ TA plans over the past year.

The Rural Communities Academy was the "kick off" event for the 16 selected rural sites and included time for each rural site team (consisting of four/five team members) to participate in information gathering, networking, and action planning. The team members who attended the Academy participated in workshops and plenary sessions, and met with Rural Content Specialists and representatives from other rural communities who shared their insight into strategies being utilized in rural areas with TANF participants.

The Office of Family Assistance (OFA) hosted a Rural Communities Initiative Economic Development Roundtable in Spring 2009 to strengthen economic development activities among programs serving TANF participants in rural communities. Nine rural communities—as a component of ongoing technical assistance—attended the Rural Communities Economic Roundtable in Portland, Maine, June 8-9, 2009 and developed economic development strategic plans for their local communities. Participants were provided with tools, replicable innovative models, and guidance on designing economic development opportunities to improve the employment opportunities for TANF participants and assist them in becoming more self-sufficient.

This report provides an executive summary of the Rapid Response Technical Assistance event in Chicago, Illinois, sponsored through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance. In response to a joint technical assistance request from Regions V (Chicago) and VII (Kansas City), the Rapid Response project team conducted secondary research and telephone discussions on a variety of TANF issues, identified as being of concern to the constituent States of these regions, to present at the event. This report includes an overview of the meeting as well as the descriptions of TANF promising practices from around the country that were discussed by participating States.

Welfare Peer TA network designed the Bringing Hope to Children of Incarcerated Parents Roundtable. The first Roundtable was held in Denver, CO in November 2003. This second Roundtable, held in Nashville, TN, showcased promising practices from around the country, and provided time for participants to think strategically about how to design and implement these programs as well as opportunities to learn about and discuss “what works” in serving this population. Participants included representatives from the States of Tennessee, Florida, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. Roundtable speakers included State and local government agencies, service providers, practitioners, Federal personnel, and leaders of national organizations.