This report summarizes a national conference that took place in Arlington, VA, on March 20-21, 2003. The conference was jointly sponsored by the Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families (ACF) and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). This conference brought together substance abuse treatment agency directors and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) administrators from forty States, the District of Columbia, and the Virgin Islands. The conference provided a forum for these policymakers and administrators to share information about their experience and concerns, and their promising strategies used in strengthening the collaboration and partnership of TANF and substance abuse treatment directors.

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 National Healthy Marriage Academy, held January 8 and 9, 2003,  in Arlington, VA, provided an opportunity for representatives from several States to learn more about the Administration for Children and Families' (ACF) Healthy Marriage Initiative. The Academy afforded States an opportunity to hear presentations from nationally recognized speakers, researchers, and Federal policy makers, as well as from other States with successful Healthy Marriage Initiatives.

This report describes a meeting that took place in Charleston, WV, on November 3, 2004, sponsored by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF). The meeting was a follow-up to a a Healthy Marriage Forum that took place in Charleston, WV, on June 9, 2004.

This American Correctional Association article focuses on a pilot aftercare program that targets high-risk male and female offenders ages 14 to 21 and the work of Barbara Templeton, a community resource supervisor for the West Virginia Division of Juvenile Services. The program combines intensive aftercare services and judicial supervision in an effort to hold juveniles accountable and promote positive behavior through frequent home and school visits, monthly court reviews, and graduated sanctions and rewards.

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) and the U.S. Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration's (DOLETA's) sponsored a one and a half day seminar on the development of strategies to help Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Welfare to Work (WTW) customers overcome barriers to employment. The purpose of the conference was to give practitioners an opportunity to exchange information on experiences, learn of promising program strategies, and consider what can be done to help customers with multiple barriers to work who are facing time limits get on a pathway to employment. This report provides a summary of the seminar.

This report summarizes the key findings of the Administration for Children and Families' seminar, “Site Visit to ConnectInc: Offering Effective Post-employment Services to TANF Clients in Rural Areas,” held June 18-19, 2002, in Rocky Mount, North Carolina.

This report summarizes a meeting of Region II and III Directors to address challenges to increase work participation rates in TANF programs with the expectation that work participation rates will increase with TANF reauthorization. The stakeholders took this opportunity to learn from well performing States with higher participation rates and States that had overcome barriers to improvement. The meeting provided an opportunity to promote and enhance collaboration and partnerships within the regions.

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 Welfare Peer TA Network sponsored this statewide Roundtable event that took place in Charleston, WV from January 20-21, 2005. Attended by over 60 Federal, State, and local representatives, this Roundtable was designed to impart the tools and knowledge to implement a statewide Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) awareness and outreach campaign.