The Poverty and Inequality Report from the Stanford Center on Poverty & Inequality examines the “state of the union” on poverty, inequality, and labor market outcomes. This annual report provides an analysis of evidence around such issues as poverty, employment, income inequality, health inequality, economic mobility, and educational access to allow for a comprehensive assessment of where the country stands.

Child Support and TANF programs work with many of the same clients and others, including noncustodial parents, who face similar and overlapping needs. Such needs may include increasing employment skills; removing barriers to employment; and addressing non-compliance with, or ability to pay, child support orders. There are a variety of ways these programs can work together to best support the families they serve. In this webinar, state programs shared processes for establishing and maintaining effective collaborations with key partners, enhanced services to incentivize participation and completion, recruitment and retention strategies, and other lessons learned. The webinar was held on August 23, 2016, from 1:00-2:30 p.m. ET.

This report by the Urban Institute describes findings of the Work Support Strategies (WSS) initiative, which helps states improve their service delivery, run programs more effectively, and modernize. Through technical assistance, grants, and peer learning, WSS aids state programs in Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, North Carolina, Rhode Island, and South Carolina. This report discusses business process redesign efforts undertaken by these states and the outcomes of these efforts.

Kentucky has been providing education-focused and work participation-driven case management to the TANF population since 1998. The TA Requestor, Ms. Shauna King-Simms, Director of Transitional Education Programs at the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS) heard a description of Crittenton Women’s Union’s (CWU’s) Mobility Mentoring® Model and was interested in integrating components of it into Kentucky’s program. Kentucky conducts similar case management activities with its Ready to Work and Work and Learn programs, but was interested in enhancing the current practices using this model. CWU is an economic mobility organization and the largest provider of transitional housing for homeless families in the greater Boston area. The organization provides job readiness training, parenting programs, and adult education. Almost 1,300 individuals are served each year. Ninety-two percent have a high school education or less. CWU’s clients are largely TANF participants with average earnings of $730 per month per family and the population is racially diverse. Their Mobility Mentoring® Model is the long-term developmental partnership between trained staff and program participants through which participants acquire the resources, knowledge, and skills necessary to attain and preserve economic independence.

The Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services requested TA to support the integration of components of CWU’s Mobility Mentoring® Model for case management. The OFA PeerTA team agreed to support this request and created a TA plan with the following objectives:

• Collaborate with CWU to provide Kentucky with a tailored, two-day training on CWU’s Mobility Mentoring® Model for their Ready to Work staff at the KCTCS system office in Versailles, Kentucky. The training was prepared to accommodate approximately 45 Kentucky Ready to Work staff and three staff from the Department for Community Based Services (a Kentucky TANF agency), with a maximum of 50 participants in total.
• Support an outcomes-focused training that encourages implementation and sustainability of what is learned, so Kentucky can integrate the core concepts learned into their program(s) at a statewide level.

The TANF work participation rates for fiscal year (FY) 2014 have been released and posted on the OFA website. Nationwide, the overall work participation rate increased from 33.5 percent to 36.6 percent, and fewer states failed the work requirement in FY 2014 than in FY 2013. The national average overall rate for FY 2014 is 36.6 percent, up from 33.5 percent in FY 2013, while the two-parent rate is 30.8 percent, two percentage points lower than FY 2013’s 32.9 percent.