Millions of food and cash assistance customers rely on cash transfers each month to meet their family’s needs. Much of today’s benefits available to families are deposited directly onto Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards that are assigned to customers. EBT card skimming is a growing challenge to Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program participants, putting them at risk of losing crucial benefits. Challenges related to protecting beneficiaries from theft have increased for human services programs as they seek to improve the level of customer protections similar to those afforded credit cards.

The Office of Family Assistance Project IMPROVE team hosted a webinar in November 2022 that brought together a panel representing TANF and SNAP programs as well as experts on EBT card skimming prevention. Panelists discussed ways agencies can educate participants on how to protect their benefits from theft, and responded to questions around challenges, best practices, and lessons learned. Panelists included: Michael Cole, Deputy Commissioner for Policy & Programs, Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance; Jennifer Reynolds, Program Manager, Utah Department of Workforce Services; Kristi Manseau, Program Specialist, Utah Department of Workforce Services; and Ernest Baca, Deputy Systems Administrator, Arizona Department of Economic Security.

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) has published several resources under Project SPARK and Project IMPROVE. Both projects — conducted in close coordination by the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE) and the Office of Family Assistance (OFA), respectively — supported 17 research-practice partnerships to help TANF agencies design and implement evidence-informed program changes.

These available publications include the Learn, Innovate, Improve (LI2) practice guide, which outlines LI2, a program improvement approach used by many TANF and human services agencies under Projects SPARK and IMPROVE. Briefs that document the implementation of LI2 feature the Iowa Department of Human Rights (assessing a virtual home visiting program), the New York City Human Resources Administration (redesigning an intake assessment for families receiving cash assistance), and the Baltimore City Health Department (designing and implementing a transitional jobs program).

Also available are briefs on innovative approaches to technology and participant engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic and how to support mental wellness for staff and participants, as well as a podcast about how the pandemic prompted human services agencies to rethink their internal and external operations.

TANF agencies across the country are preparing to or beginning to reinstate participation requirements that had been waived during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Office of Family Assistance’s Project IMPROVE team moderated a panel of TANF leaders across the country on this topic on July 21, 2022. In this evolving service context, this webinar provided space for TANF leaders and staff across the country to share experiences, challenges, and lessons around participant engagement in TANF work activities. Panelists shared their plans for supporting staff and program participants through the transition to engaging all individuals and families. They responded to questions around challenges, best practices, and lessons learned.

This brief outlines how New York City’s Human Resources Administration (HRA) successfully restructured its upfront assessment process for individuals receiving Cash Assistance by utilizing data-driven reflection. In particular, HRA used a method called Learn, Innovate, Improve, an approach that supports rapid agency changes and ongoing improvement through the incorporation of data-informed reflection into the process of evaluating and refining solutions. HRA found that implementing this collaborative, evidence-based decision-making technique is both feasible and effective.

This practice guide, used in partnership with a research or technical assistance support team, can help program leaders make evidence-driven decisions as they manage change. The guide targets individuals thinking about or implementing a program change, including those operating TANF or workforce programs. The guide supports use of Learn, Innovate, Improve (LI2), an evidence-driven framework and process to address common practice challenges and improve programs. This practice guide was developed by Mathematica and The Adjacent Possible under the Office of Family Assistance’s Project IMPROVE initiative.

The Office of Family Assistance will host a webinar on August 26, 2021 from 12 noon to 1:00 p.m. ET on strengthening the skills of state, local, and tribal TANF leaders. Participants will learn about the building blocks of an evidence-informed leadership practice—strategic and visionary leadership, operational management, and developmental supervision—and the benefits to organizations and people. Project IMPROVE will launch the session with a description of leadership competencies, then facilitate a panel of leaders from across the country who will share tips from their leadership practice. This session is for leaders broadly, including program administrators, supervisors, team leaders/lead case workers, analysts, or trainers, among others. Content will also be relevant for emerging leaders.

Featured panelists include Amy Kershaw, Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance and Marla Stuart, Deputy Director, Solano County Department of Health & Social Services. Michelle Derr of Adjacent Possible will facilitate the webinar.

Project IMPROVE, funded by the Office of Family Assistance, aims to bridge the gap between human services research and practice. Through IMPROVE, Mathematica collaborates with TANF practitioners, empowering them to incorporate research findings and methods into their work in order to better serve families in need. Specifically, Project IMPROVE works through the Learn, Innovate, Improve framework (or LI2), which includes a series of evidence-informed program improvement activities and analytic methods to help programs design, implement, and iteratively test and refine program changes. Project IMPROVE has helped programs strengthen practice areas such as leadership and supervision, coaching, science-informed goal pursuit, rapid-cycle evaluation, behavioral insights to streamline policies and procedures, and business process management.

When TANF and related programs gather and use input from the families they serve, they are better able to understand challenges and identify opportunities for change to improve how they serve families. This video series was developed by Project IMPROVE and the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation’s (OPRE) Moving Forward: Family Input Study and consists of three short videos on why and how to use family input to improve programs. The videos feature interviews with five TANF and other human services experts, ranging from program directors to individuals with lived experience in human services programs. They explore the importance of engaging families in program improvement, how to build and maintain trust with families, and tips on establishing a family advisory council. These resources accompany this video series:

• OPRE brief: Gathering and Using Family Input to Improve Child Support and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Services: Approaches from the Human Services Field
• OPRE toolkit: Elevating Family Input in TANF and Child Support Programs: Resources for Program Staff, Leaders and Families
• PeerTA Podcast: Incorporating Lived Experiences into Decision Making

The authors behind Project IMPROVE’s recently published brief, Business Process Management: How to Make Time for What Really Matters, will be hosting a series of web-based events that will allow participants to learn more about how to implement business process management in their human services organizations to improve staff and participant experiences.

• 25-Minute Information Session, February 29th from 1:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. ET: Authors provided an overview on how to implement business process management strategies such as streamlining paperwork and operations, refining program processes, leveraging technology, and more! Review the recording of this session.
• 60-minute “Open” Office Hours, March 13th from 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. ET: For those curious about how to get started with business process management in their human service organization were able join a group discussion with the authors and ask questions.
• Individualized Office Hours, April 2nd from 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. ET: The brief authors offered individualized advice on how to implement business process management in a human service organization.

Project IMPROVE helps Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and related programs learn to use and produce evidence to improve their programs. This one-pager, developed by Mathematica and The Adjacent Possible, shares information about Project IMPROVE and how state and local TANF agencies can get involved.