This AIR resource explores how Workforce Pell could expand access to short-term education and training programs that lead to employment opportunities in high-demand industries. For Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs, many participants need flexible, affordable training options that can quickly connect them to stable employment and career growth.

TANF practitioners can use this resource to better understand emerging opportunities in workforce development and how short-term credential programs may support participants who cannot commit to longer educational pathways. It also highlights ways agencies can think about aligning education, training, and supportive services to help individuals gain skills while balancing work and family responsibilities. For TANF programs focused on economic stability, the resource offers insight into strategies that can make workforce pathways more accessible and practical for families.

The Tuition Assistance Program Initiative for TANF (TAPIT) addresses an important piece of the transition puzzle: access to postsecondary education. Many youth leaving foster care want to pursue college or technical programs but face immediate financial barriers that prevent enrollment or persistence. This Washington D.C. initiative uses Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) support to reduce those barriers through tuition assistance and structured guidance so young adults can actually enter training programs, not just consider them. For TANF programs, TAPIT is an example on how TANF funding can be strategically structured to support postsecondary access as part of a broader transition strategy, ensuring that education and training are not treated separately from employment services but as a coordinated investment in long-term self-sufficiency for youth exiting foster care.

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs often serve young people who are expected to move toward independence while still developing basic skills needed for adulthood, such as managing money, maintaining housing, or making informed health and education decisions. This curriculum by the Virginia Department of Social Services offers a structured way to support that work through practical, ready-to-use workshops organized around key life domains like career preparation, money management, housing, education, health and nutrition, and risk prevention.

For TANF practitioners, the value is in the curriculum’s usability. Each topic includes multiple workshops with facilitator guides and supporting materials, which reduces the burden on staff to design programming from scratch. It can be used flexibly across settings: case management, group workshops, or partner-led programming.

Instead of relying on informal coaching or uneven program content, staff can use a shared curriculum that supports repeatable instruction across participants and sites. This helps create more continuity in services, especially for youth who need reinforcement over time rather than single-touch interventions.

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) practitioners often need a clear way to identify what a participant can already do independently and where support is still needed, especially when working with youth and young adults. This Casey Family Programs toolkit provides that structure in a straightforward way for use in everyday case management. It helps translate broad goals like “become self-sufficient” into specific skill areas such as budgeting, communication, and managing daily responsibilities. The value for TANF work is that it creates a shared language between staff and participants, making progress easier to see and track. It also helps engage clients by turning abstract expectations into visible, achievable steps.

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs frequently serve youth who are moving into adulthood without stable family support; basic planning around housing, money, and daily decision-making can determine whether they stabilize or cycle through crisis. This FosterClub toolkit gives TANF practitioners something concrete to use in those moments. It turns “transition planning” into practical activities that can be used directly in coaching sessions, rather than requiring staff to design their own materials. This toolkit addresses how young people are expected to navigate independence without structured, hands-on preparation. Practitioners can use it to make conversations more actionable and to help participants build real-world readiness step by step.

The National Youth in Transition Database (NYTD) provides data on outcomes for youth transitioning out of foster care, including education, employment, and housing. For Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) practitioners, this is a practical tool for understanding where youth are struggling and what supports are working. TANF staff can use this data to refine programs, target services, and make the case for specific supports like employment or life skills programming. It helps shift practice from reactive to data informed and provides insight into achieving long-term outcomes.

In December 2025, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) sent letters to 39 governors, calling for immediate action to protect vulnerable foster youth in their states. The letters highlighted the pressing issue of state child welfare agencies diverting foster youths’ earned Social Security survivor benefits. These agencies were intercepting federal benefits, such as Social Security survivor benefits earned through a deceased parent’s lifetime contributions, that were intended for a child in foster care. The agencies then used these funds to reimburse their own costs.

ACF has notified the governors who allowed this practice and is working with states to end it. The goal is to ensure these earned benefits are no longer taken from foster youth and are instead preserved to support them as they transition out of state care.

This Jobs for the Future case study demonstrates how apprenticeship programs can create practical pathways to stable employment for individuals who may not benefit from traditional education or training models alone. For Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) practitioners, it offers an example of how workforce partnerships can help participants earn wages while learning skills connected to real job opportunities. The resource is especially valuable for agencies interested in expanding career-focused strategies that lead to long-term employment. The case study also shows how organizations can scale apprenticeship models through employer engagement, structured support, and clear advancement opportunities, giving TANF staff ideas for building stronger employment pathways for the families they serve.

This collection of resources focuses on improving coordination across workforce, education, and human services systems. For Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) agencies, better alignment with Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) programs can help participants access job training, career pathways, and supportive services more efficiently. Families involved with TANF may interact with several programs at once, while disconnected systems can create confusion, delays, and duplicated work for both staff and clients. This collection can help practitioners understand how stronger partnerships and shared planning can improve service delivery and reduce barriers to employment. Resources in this collection can also be useful for TANF agencies looking to streamline referrals, strengthen cross-program collaboration, and build more connected pathways to economic mobility.

From the Wheatley Institute at BYU, this report examines how economic shifts, education gaps, and digital engagement patterns are influencing men’s participation in work, relationships, and family life. The resource connects broader structural trends to challenges in marriage formation and father engagement. For Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs, it provides context for understanding barriers men face in employment and family roles, and it informs efforts to strengthen fatherhood supports, workforce engagement, and family stability strategies.