The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Family Assistance (OFA) conducted the 2021 National TANF Directors’ Meeting from September 20 - 24, 2021. During this panel-style session comprised of “success snapshots,” speakers presented innovative strategies that enable programs to link people to jobs, to better communicate and respond to participant needs, and to provide training and skills development to the community. Presenters shared various strategies for finding employment opportunities, including work activities that are culturally relevant and responsive to the needs of their participants. This session also explored the option of Tribal TANF and NEW programs partnering with local organizations to fulfill community needs.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Family Assistance (OFA) conducted the 2021 National TANF Directors’ Meeting from September 20 - 24, 2021. During this concurrent workshop, a presentation examined how Connecticut’s Welfare to Work program responded to COVID-19 by shifting to a virtual service delivery system while building staff capacity to deliver services remotely statewide. Discussion covered how Connecticut’s initiative kept participants connected and engaged with their Employment Services program during COVID. Lessons learned also included a review of how COVID will impact future program operations, including the implementation of virtual orientation sessions.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Family Assistance (OFA) conducted the 2021 National TANF Directors’ Meeting from September 20 - 24, 2021. During this concurrent workshop, representatives of the TANF Data Collaborative overviewed three pilot projects showcasing their experiences. California examined wage progression for TANF participants who have left the program. New York organized its data into cohorts and spells, which is valuable in providing information about the duration of TANF receipt, reentry, and basic outcomes, and Utah created an analytic file to examine characteristics that predict a cohort of “leavers” returning to TANF.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Family Assistance (OFA) conducted the 2021 National TANF Directors’ Meeting from September 20 - 24, 2021. During this concurrent workshop, panelists explored how Tribal TANF and NEW programs can consider expanding virtual services to motivate participants to pursue opportunities, especially those which may have been previously inaccessible. Speakers discussed a variety of strategies used in the past year to create virtual education and training opportunities and virtual case management services for clients, as well as how these offerings were developed, challenges along the way, witnessed successes, and recommendations for programs considering offering similar resources. This session concluded with a review of OFA’s Coaching for Success eLearning modules, which program staff can use to provide virtual coaching and mentorship to participants.

This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation report is a quantitative analysis of the “success sequence” as an approach to reduce poverty and improve economic opportunity among adolescents and young adults. (“Success sequence” refers to a series of milestones associated with escaping poverty and joining the middle class: high school completion, full-time employment, and waiting for marriage to have children.) The report uses longitudinal data to evaluate the order and combination of milestones and to assess the associations between completing the success sequence milestones by the age of 30 and economic self-sufficiency and family stability outcomes in the late 30s.

This report identifies the four components of youth apprenticeship programs and how they fit together to offer a set of principles for adoption that improve program quality. These distinguishing components are 1) structured and paid on-the-job learning under the supervision of skilled mentors, 2) classroom-based or technical instruction aligned to the workplace environment, 3) ongoing assessment, and 4) attainment of portable, industry-recognized credentials. To illustrate these components, the report presents the Aerospace Joint Apprenticeship Committee (Washington State), the Charleston Regional Youth Apprenticeship program (South Carolina), and Early Care & Education Pathways to Success (California).

This report is a formative evaluation of two employment programs targeting young people who are aging out of the foster care system: iFoster Jobs in Los Angeles County and Mentoring Youth to Inspire Meaningful Employment (MY TIME) in Chicago. Key questions addressed in the report include do the programs operate in keeping with their logic models, who do the programs serve, are the program goals attained, what are the programs’ successes and challenges, and do the programs have the potential for future rigorous evaluation.

This toolkit presents a systematic approach for utilizing human-centered design and behavioral science to develop solutions to problems tied to participant engagement and participation at state SNAP E&T programs. The toolkit focuses on addressing four key engagement problems: 1) first contact (getting individuals interested in SNAP E&T when initially contacting the SNAP agency); 2) service matching (reflecting assessment and referrals of SNAP participants to E&T services and providers); 3) handoffs and navigation between agencies; and 4) reverse referrals (engaging potential SNAP participants in eligibility through E&T providers rather than through SNAP agencies). Also included in the toolkit are examples and worksheets to help SNAP agencies and partners utilize this systematic approach.

This online self-paced course supports identification of occupations for youth and adult apprenticeship programs based on a five-step occupational selection approach. The process helps determine whether an occupation has mutual benefits for employers and the apprentice. Key learning objectives include how to identify an occupation through labor market trends and partnerships; how to use data evaluation tools to identify whether an occupation fits an identified apprenticeship program; and how to align labor market and program data with the U.S. Department of Labor’s apprenticeable occupation list. The course includes presentations from representatives from CareerWise USA and the Institute for American Apprenticeships.

This case study describes how the Rhode Island Department of Human Services’ Rhode Island Works (RI Works) helps TANF recipients overcome barriers to workforce success before beginning their job searches. The case study overviews RI Works and presents its key features: where the program operates; how it is administered; how TANF participants experience the program; and the ways that RI Works uses data. Also highlighted are the program’s accomplishments and remaining challenges after its 2018 redesign.