Authored by Chelsea Farley. This issue brief describes the Philadelphia-based Amachi program, which partners faith-based organizations with public agencies and nonprofit service providers to identify children of prisoners and match them with caring adult volunteers.

This report explores the active role faith-based organizations are taking to better serve human, economic and neighborhood needs in their communities. The report is authored by John M. Wallace, Jr. PhD. of the University of Pittsburgh's School of Social Work, Valerie L. Meyers, PhD. of the University of Michigan's School of Public Health, and Jim Holley, PhD. of the Historic Little Rock Missionary Baptist Church. In particular, the report notes that African-American churches have tended to take the lead in implementing holistic methods to solving community problems. It includes a case study of one such ministry that has been using a holistic approach to transform an inner-city neighborhood in Detroit.

Authored by Courtney Burke, James Fossett, and Thomas Gais. This report finds that significant activity at federal and state levels to extend opportunities for partnerships between government and faith-based social service organizations (FBOs) comes at a time of challenging long-term trends. According to the report, these trends include revenue pressures, shifting priorities, administrative barriers in health services, and increasing competition for social service contracts and grants.

The Urban Institute examined state and local contracting under three block grant programs with "Charitable Choice" provisions, including Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment (SAPT), and the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG)-and one discretionary program aimed specifically at engaging faith based organizations in public contracting, the Compassion Capital Fund. This article provides information on the role of faith within publicly funded programs.

Authored by David A. Long and Tammy Ouellette. Despite the TANF program's emphasis on employment, the policies, practices, and attitudes of the employers of TANF recipients have received limited attention. This study, conducted by Abt Associates and the Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, synthesizes existing research regarding employers, workforce intermediaries, and TANF recipients and considers options for further study -- including a national survey of employers and workforce intermediaries -- to improve understanding in this area.

Employers can be a key component to help TANF recipients maintain employment. This resource, from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, reviews information from the Jobs Initiative on what kinds of employers are willing to work with workforce intermediaries and what activities are likely to help support workers.

This guidebook was developed specifically for small community-based, faith-based, and minority nonprofit organizations in Louisiana who are committed to providing valuable social services, leadership, and hope to needy citizens in Louisiana's most vulnerable communities. Information is provided on the competitive RFP process and contracting work with the State. The guidebook is part of a broader effort by Louisiana State government to increase the capacity of non-profit organizations in the State.

This resource reviews a project through New York City's Administration for Children's Service project called Neighborhood Networks. This project builds a foundation for collaboration among organizations that work with children and families. The goal of the project is to increase access to social services for families and decrease the number of children in foster care. The article reviews the effectiveness of these networks.

As part of Phase 2 of the Initiative (2008-2009), this report is based on the analysis of the 139 promising programs (see the Compendium) and offers a window into a subset of the nation’s leading faith- and community-based intermediary organizations that are working everyday with TANF participants and other low-income populations. The selected programs range from those deeply motivated by faith commitments to those which are entirely secular in nature; from highly professionalized to volunteer-driven efforts; from groups serving TANF families to those who support ex-offenders re-integrate into society; and from organizations serving highly urbanized to rural settings representing all 10 ACF regions. The project team conducted structured phone-based discussions with Executive Directors of the 23 FBCOs, summarizing key findings in this report. (Two programs elected not to participate in the study.) Under the leadership of senior policymakers at OFA, eight of these programs were selected for further study.

The Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network, with the CalWORKs/Child Welfare Partnership Project, hosted a Roundtable entitled Establishing Linkages Between TANF and Child Welfare Programs May 31, 2002 in Sacramento, CA. This Roundtable was attended by representatives from four States (NC, NJ, WI, CO) as well as the State of California and ten of its counties currently working toward improving service coordination.