This discussion paper, from the Urban Institute, summarizes how States are serving clients with multiple barriers on their TANF caseloads and provides information on recent changes in States’ approaches to serving this population. Authors interviewed TANF program officials in the States of California, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin.

This paper summarizes findings from MAXIMUS studies about the awareness and use of the EITC among welfare recipients, leavers, and applicants. The findings are based on surveys conducted in five states: California, Illinois, New Mexico, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996 replaced the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills (JOBS) and Emergency Assistance programs wit the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. Under TANF, the nature of public assistance changed from an entitlement program to one that requires individuals to work in order to receive time-limited support. This change in the welfare delivery system was accompanied by an increase in State-level flexibility in program design and operation. Welfare reform required no less than a redefinition of the role of decision makers at the Federal, State and local level, including the role played by front line workers when interacting with welfare recipients. In the journey toward reinventing the social safety net, States have met a variety of formidable challenges. Five years after the passage of welfare reform, this report takes stock of the past and current challenges that States have encountered. This report focuses on the policies and services provided to the hardest-to-serve and on the network of collaborations that States have developed to address the needs of these populations.

The ACF Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network coordinated this workshop on behalf of the ACF Region IV office. The network is a contract from the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Family Assistance (OFA). The contractors for the network are AFYA, Inc. and Caliber Associates. The purpose of this two day technical assistance event was to identify the participating states’ transportation priority challenges, to examine other state’s initiatives that have addressed these challenges, to identify available resources, and to explore lessons learned that participants could use as a background for formulating next steps to address these challenges. Additional topics addressed included TEA-21 (Transportation Equity Act of the 21st Century), the role of Head Start, and the wealth of resources available via the National Transit Resource Center (operated by the Community Transportation Association of America).

The Olmstead Decision and Welfare-to-Work ACF Region IV Meeting was held on August 23-24, 2000, at The Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia. More than 80 participants attended, including State Temporary Assistance For Needy Families (TANF) Directors, and Welfare-to-Work (WtW) administrators along with representatives from State Medicaid offices, and representatives of the Developmental Disabilities Network (State developmental disabilities councils, protection and advocacy agencies, and the university affiliated programs). The focus of this Regional meeting was to examine how the Olmstead Decision and Welfare-to-Work initiatives can be incorporated into each States’ Strategic Plan.

This short report describes the Roundtable entitled Developing Strategies to Address the Child-Only Caseload that was held April 8-9, 2003 in Colorado Springs (El Paso County). The Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network conducted discussion with State TANF administrators around the country to assess their current policies and programs designed to meet the needs of the child-only caseload, and to gauge their level of interest in participating a Roundtable on this topic. The full report fully describes the meeting, attended by California, Colorado, Hawaii, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and Washington, and includes important highlights and lessons learned.

During this Roundtable, participants heard presentations from El Paso County, Colorado, and the States of Alabama and New Jersey about innovative practices in those locations. South Carolina shared results of a large-scale research effort regarding the demographics and wellbeing of the TANF child-only caseload. The Roundtable also enjoyed sessions regarding economic security, presented by staff from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the AARP. Thanks to the hospitality of the State of Alabama Department of Human Resources, Roundtable participants were given a tour of Alabama’s Kinship Care (KC) program. Participants in the Roundtable were also able to speak with program specialists, staff, and clients of these child-only services.

The Welfare Peer TA Network implemented a Roundtable event on January 26-27, 2006, in Columbia, SC. The Roundtable event was attended by individuals representing a wide variety of Federal, state, and local agencies, and community-based organizations. The goal of this TA effort was to assist the South Carolina Department of Social Services to improve the well being of children and families and family stability among TANF child only cases.

In order to foster progress in stabilizing and strengthening healthy marriages, the Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network held a workshop entitled Developing a Marriage Initiative for Your State in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on September 17 and 18, 2002. Workshop participants included individuals primarily representing the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and child support staffs from nine States. The purpose of this 2-day workshop was to create an interactive dialogue with States around appropriate efforts to develop and implement statewide healthy marriage initiatives.

The Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network under contract from the Office of Family Assistance (OFA), Administration for Children and Families (ACF) coordinated a workshop on the topic of Post-employment Services: Making Job Retention and Post-Employment Services Work. The contractors on the Network are AFYA, Inc. and Caliber Associates. This one day technical assistance event was a multi-state workgroup designed to review the lessons learned from the Post-employment Services Demonstration Project (PESD) and to explore strategies for job retention and post-employment support.