This U.S. Aging guide offers a practical framework for strengthening collaboration between child welfare and aging networks to better identify and support kinship caregivers, many of whom are older adults stepping in to care for children when parents are unable. The resource outlines action steps to improve cross-system coordination, access to benefits and services, and recognition of the vital role kin caregivers play in family stability. This can help TANF agencies deepen connections with community partners serving older caregivers and reduce barriers to economic support and resource navigation.

This Office of Research, Planning and Evaluation report describes the design of the NextGen Project, which is evaluating the effectiveness of four programs that provide services for people with physical, mental, or emotional health challenges. Many of the people are potential applicants for Supplemental Security Income. The four programs highlighted are:
• Bridges from School to Work;
• Individual Placement and Support for Adults with Justice Involvement;
• Philadelphia Workforce Inclusion Networks; and
• Western Mass Mental Health Outreach for MotherS PartnershipSM.

Based on input from state TANF programs during the 2023 National TANF Directors’ Meeting, the Office of Family Assistance (OFA) developed five virtual Learning Collaboratives (LCs) on topics best addressed through a cohort-based, peer learning format. These LCs were designed to be a progressive series of interactive meetings that facilitated reflection, peer sharing, connection with experts, and human-centered design and planning activities to deeply explore facets of the collaborative topic. Sessions were held monthly from March to August 2024 for 60-90 minutes.

The Overcoming Barriers to TANF Participation LC gathered TANF program leaders motivated by the many families facing barriers to accessing TANF or needed financial support despite their eligibility. The LC provided the opportunity for states to connect with each other while learning new strategies that may increase TANF participation for greater family well-being. It was designed to encourage participants to take steps to identify a priority barrier to participation in their TANF program. Participating states and territories included New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, Virgin Islands, Pennsylvania, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Mississippi, Minnesota, New Mexico, Hawaii, and Wyoming.

This OFA resource highlights the Strengthening Overcoming Barriers to TANF Participation LC, including key takeaways and resources from each session as well as overall themes and future considerations for follow-up.

The Child Welfare Community Collaborations (CWCC) initiative is designed to mobilize communities to develop and evaluate multi-system collaboratives that address local barriers and provide a continuum of services to prevent child abuse and neglect. In 2018 and 2019, the Children’s Bureau awarded 5-year cooperative agreements to a total of 13 states, non-profit organizations, and Native American tribal organizations. This Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation brief provides a high-level description of each of the 13 CWCC projects and is one of a series of products the evaluation team will produce as part of the cross-site process evaluation. This brief contains a one-page description of each project, including its geographic catchment area, population of focus, key partners, prior experience with community-level collaboration, timeline, and local evaluation.

In 2020, the Urban Institute (UI) published a framework comprising 26 mobility metrics that can help communities understand and track the factors that most influence mobility from poverty. These metrics span three distinct but interconnected dimensions:

1. economic success,
2. power and autonomy, and
3. dignity and belonging.

To gain a nuanced understanding of local conditions, however, communities should supplement these metrics with local data, as well as the knowledge and lived experiences of community members. This UI resource offers insights into how two communities – Fresno, California and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - can effectively monitor progress toward their upward mobility goals.

More on the Mobility Metrics Framework!

This brief from the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation’s Office of Human Services Policy overviews a project that developed a calculator to help people anticipate how a change in earnings from employment would affect their net income, which in turn provided public benefit recipients with their estimated effective marginal tax rate on new earnings. The calculator was designed to support program participants and caseworkers. Demo calculators were developed for New Hampshire, Maine, Allegheny County in Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C., and were completely customized under their local programs and rules. Local governments and local organizations can download the open-source code to start creating a customized calculator for their families.

The field of workforce development helps job seekers enter and advance in the workforce, and it helps employers improve their hiring, training, and advancement practices. To optimize local workforce systems, practitioners must dismantle silos and create coherent systems and services that balance the needs of both workers and businesses. The Aspen Institute’s Economic Opportunities Program is hosting “Workforce Leadership Café,” a series of conversations with leaders who are contributing their talents and insights to this field of practice. Guests will include sponsors of local Workforce Leadership Academies and others who are exploring talent development and job quality in workforce development.

Remaining dates include:
• December 21, 2023: Workforce Solutions Alamo
• January 18, 2024: United Way of Central Maryland + Scranton Area Community Foundation
• February 1, 2024: The Greater Memphis Chamber
• February 15, 2024: Ohio Workforce Coalition and New York Association for Training and Development Professionals

The Office of Family Assistance initiative, “Leveraging America’s Social and Economic Resilience TANF Learning Community” (LASER TLC), supported ten TANF Programs across the country as they worked to address the challenges of human service delivery in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and focused on improving and delivering more responsive services to their TANF families. This document shares Pennsylvania’s journey during their participation in the 18-month learning community. The site journey conveys how their LASER TLC site team, along with support from their dedicated coaching team and application of the LI2 framework, contributed to developing their action plan and strategizing the implementation of their change agenda to benefit TANF families.

This podcast highlights the SOAR Program at Tri-County OIC, which is affiliated with the Opportunities Industrialization Centers of America in the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania region. SOAR is a reentry program for young adults (ages 18 to 24) who have been involved in the criminal justice system. The comprehensive program offers customized academic training, vocational training, intense case management, and stackable/portable credentials training. Part of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Voice of Experience video series, the podcast is presented by SOAR Project Manager Christina Johnson.

This research report is a systematic assessment of how Allegheny County, Pennsylvania has responded to intimate partner violence (IPV) by improving interagency coordination and responding more effectively and efficiently. Drawing on data and interviews conducted from June 2018 to December 2020, the report identifies three priority areas: promote the prioritization of IPV among county leaders for a set time period to support agency mobilization; shift policy to focus on victim experiences, rather than solely center on case outcomes; and reestablish IPV-focused fatality reviews.

(See also Resources on "domestic violence" in the Resource Library)