This is the second video in a three-part series that aims to help Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs incorporate communication skill-building techniques from Healthy Marriage and Relationship Education (HMRE) programs that can promote the maintenance of two-parent families and improve job readiness, skills-building, and employment outcomes among TANF participants.

This video highlights one simple strategy—called relationship agreements—that TANF, program service staff could use with families, and families can use together to turn tension into teamwork.

This is the first video in a three-part series that aims to help Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs incorporate communication skill-building techniques from Healthy Marriage and Relationship Education (HMRE) programs that can promote the maintenance of two-parent families and improve job readiness, skills-building, and employment outcomes among TANF participants.

This video explores how one intentional strategy, active listening, can transform conversations between TANF program participants and their case managers, their families, and their employers or prospective employers—leading to better participant and program outcomes.

The Tennessee Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Opportunity Act of 2021 set the TANF cash benefit amount at no less than 25 percent of the Consolidated Need Standard, which is the estimated amount of income a family in Tennessee needs to cover basic living expenses. This change increased the monthly cash benefit for a family of three from $277 to $387, a 40 percent increase. The benefit increase was implemented in July 2021 and remains at that amount. This MEF paper examines the effects of this benefit increase on families participating in Tennessee’s TANF program.

As part of the Tennessee Opportunity Act (TOA), the Tennessee Department of Human Services launched the Tennessee Opportunity Pilot Initiative, awarding $25 million grants to seven community initiatives to support low-income families' economic mobility and well-being. The pilots provide families with direct services and connections to existing services within their communities. The service mix and structure of the pilots vary, but they include similar components such as care coordination and coaching, employment support, financial support, and family or other individual support. TOA also established a rigorous evaluation to inform future policy and programs. The evaluation aimed to create a state-level learning laboratory to produce evidence on program effectiveness and implementation, enabling Tennessee to enhance human services delivery.

This MEF report builds upon the information in the first report, details progress on the evaluation in 2024, and looks towards the upcoming evaluation work.

As part of the Tennessee Opportunity Act (TOA), the Tennessee Department of Human Services launched the Tennessee Opportunity Pilot Initiative, awarding $25 million grants to seven community initiatives to support low-income families' economic mobility and well-being. The pilots provide families with direct services and connections to existing services within their communities. The service mix and structure of the pilots vary, but they include similar components such as care coordination and coaching, employment support, financial support, and family or other individual support. TOA also established a rigorous evaluation to inform future policy and programs. The evaluation aimed to create a state-level learning laboratory to produce evidence on program effectiveness and implementation, enabling Tennessee to enhance human services delivery.

This MEF report discusses the overall research design, presents each pilot’s program characteristics and impact evaluation design, summarizes the planned data sources and data collection methods, and describes the study participants’ characteristics as of March 2024.

As part of the Tennessee Opportunity Act (TOA), the Tennessee Department of Human Services launched the Tennessee Opportunity Pilot Initiative, awarding $25 million grants to seven community initiatives to support low-income families' economic mobility and well-being. The pilots provide families with direct services and connections to existing services within their communities. The service mix and structure of the pilots vary, but they include similar components such as care coordination and coaching, employment support, financial support, and family or other individual support.

This MEF and Urban Institute resource describes the demographic and economic context within which the seven pilot programs are operating as of the start of the programs’ implementation. The context described includes demographic information, income measures and poverty rates, employment and education data, safety net program caseloads, and health information.

As part of the Tennessee Opportunity Act (TOA), the Tennessee Department of Human Services launched the Tennessee Opportunity Pilot Initiative, awarding $25 million grants to seven community initiatives to support low-income families' economic mobility and well-being. The pilots provide families with direct services and connections to existing services within their communities. The service mix and structure of the pilots vary, but they include similar components such as care coordination and coaching, employment support, financial support, and family or other individual support. TOA also established a rigorous evaluation to inform future policy and programs. The evaluation aimed to create a state-level learning laboratory to produce evidence on program effectiveness and implementation, enabling Tennessee to enhance human services delivery.

This MEF resource includes recommendations for a set of outcome measures to more fully describe the impact of services on individual and family capacity for self-sufficiency, as well as use of safety net programs. This resource was a result of nearly 300 sources and input from five experts from the field. While these recommendations were developed to support the TOA pilot evaluations, findings may be applied more broadly to efforts to promote capacity for self-sufficiency among families with low-income.

While an effective intake assessment helps build an initial impression of each father’s individual situation and needs, fatherhood program staff also know ongoing one-on-one and group interaction is needed to fully understand him and see who he might become. Even then, it can be hard to accurately follow his progress through the program and ensure his needs are met in the best way possible. This National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse brief presents an overview of customer journey mapping, an evidence-based tool that helps program administrators and staff members reflect on a father’s journey through a program and make service adjustments based on the father’s perspective as he progresses through that program.

The Center for Adoption Support and Education (C.A.S.E.) offers a training institute consisting of an array of evidence-based, trauma-informed, and accredited programs. The training programs include both free and fee-based trainings, web-based and instructor-led programs, virtual and in-person options, and a range of topics to meet the training needs of professionals supporting children and their adoptive, foster, and kinship families.

Coaching is not an approach you bring to supervision occasionally – it’s a set of tools and behaviors you use in some combination daily. The Coaching for Supervisors modules aim to leverage coaching techniques to support supervisors of case managers. These four self-paced modules will help supervisors develop and sustain a person-centered, relationship-based, goal-driven mindset.

The Coaching for Supervisors modules build upon and incorporate the previous modules from the Coaching for Success series designed for TANF employment case managers.