This paper provides peer technical assistance to HPOG programs on incorporating promising strategies to build relationships with TANF agencies and guide TANF participants through career pathways. In addition, the paper provides tips about collaborating with state and regional TANF offices, improving TANF participant services, and much more. This paper can also be used by organizations that work with TANF populations.

This presentation describes findings from Understanding the Dynamics of Disconnection From Employment and Assistance, a research project funded by the Office of Planning, Research & Evaluation (HHS/ACF/OPRE) to better understand how single mothers who are disconnected from both TANF and work get by and what their reasons for disconnection are.  Data was collected through in-depth interviews with 51 mothers; samples were drawn from existing longitudinal studies in Los Angeles, California and Southeast Michigan.

This presentation was given at the 2014 National Association of Welfare Research and Statistics (NAWRS) Annual Workshop.

Created by the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), the Building Better Programs initiative is a useful resource for TANF programs and other human services stakeholders looking to improve program strategies and offerings to better meet the needs of clients with reduced executive functioning. Available resources include webinars, research, practice summaries and links to additional information that offer techniques for identifying executive functioning challenges, assessing client needs and developing responsive programs.

This paper, from the Crittenton Women’s Union (CWU), discusses how executive functioning skills are important to move out of poverty. Executive functioning includes skills like impulse control, working memory, and mental flexibility. Persistent poverty can influence brain development and executive functioning and provide challenges for individuals as adults. The paper reviews how improving executive functioning can help promote positive outcomes and discusses how policy and programs can be developed to improve executive functioning.

This presentation describes a study using system dynamics modeling to determine if there is a cliff effect -- the income gap low-wage workers experience when their income exceeds eligibility limits for benefits and the loss of work supports totals more than earned income -- in Franklin County, Ohio and across the state of Ohio.

This presentation was given at the 2014 National Association of Welfare Research and Statistics (NAWRS) Annual Workshop.

The Peer Technical Assistance (TA) Network responded to a technical assistance request from the Connecticut Department of Social Services in June and July 2014. Connecticut's technical assistance request focused on understanding how other states have restructured or redesigned their Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) service delivery, intake process flows, participant engagement, and service coordination. Eight states were identified as having recently restructured various components of their TANF programs and were engaged in semi-structured conversations by Peer TA Network staff around their processes, procedures, lessons learned, and other information, including assessment, engagement of participants, case management, and service coordination. The eight states interviewed include: California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Hawaii, North Carolina, South Carolina, Washington, and Wisconsin.

On December 11, 2014, the Office of Family Assistance hosted the Online Data Collection Introduction to the TANF 196-R for State Data Personnel webinar. The webinar provided information about the changes with the ACF 196 form. The ACF-196R form was developed to improve financial management and track expenditures and related costs for the TANF program. The webinar provided an overview of the form and online data collection system. Speakers included: Patrick Wells, Director, Division of Mandatory Grants; Peter Germanis, National Expert, Office of Family Assistance; and Anna-Lisa Walters, Senior Training Expert, Synectics for Management Decisions, Inc.

Stemming from the lessons learned of the initial conditional cash transfer program, this report provides key findings from the first two years of implementing Family Rewards 2.0. Launched during 2011 in the Bronx, New York and Memphis, Tennessee, Family Rewards 2.0 targets low-income families with children primarily in the ninth and tenth grade. In addition, the program seeks to provide financial stability for disadvantaged communities through conditioned-based rewards.

On September 11, 2014, the Office of Family Assistance hosted a Webinar, titled "An Overview of OMB Approved Form ACF-196R State TANF Financial Report Form." The revised reporting form is the 196R for State submission of quarterly financial data on their State TANF and MOE expenditures, which was released in this OFA Program Instruction in July 2014. Presenters included:

• Susan Golonka, Acting Director, Office of Family Assistance, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services;
• Winston Gonzalez, Office of Information Services, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services;
• Maria Sciannameo, Office of Family Assistance, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services;
• Peter Germanis, Office of Family Assistance, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; and
• Julie Siegel, Office of Family Assistance, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Welfare is often touted as the area where rigorous social science research has been most sustained and has had the clearest impact on policy. Roundtable panelists will reflect on the history of this research, discussing questions including: Why were randomized experiments sustained over 40 years? What questions did this research answer well? How did the research inform and influence legislation, policy, and practice at the national and state levels? To what extent are lessons relevant to social policy research today and to other fields? What can be done to promote such rigorous research? Rebecca Maynard (University of Pennsylvania) will moderate this session, and Mark Greenberg (Administration for Children and Families) will serve as a discussant. Panelists are:

• Howard Rolston (Abt Associates)

• Judith Gueron (Independent Scholar)

• Ron Haskins (The Brookings Institution)

• Don Winstead (Don Winstead Consulting, LLC) (conference program description)

This presentation was given at the 2014 Welfare Research and Evaluation Conference (WREC).