On August 1, 2012, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance (OFA) hosted the first Webinar in a series of Webinars for the Promising Pathways Initiative. The Promising Pathways Initiative provided technical assistance to State, Tribal, and local TANF programs and nonprofit organizations to promote successful outcomes for low-income families, and seeks to address the knowledge needs of the TANF field through an evidence-informed practice approach. The Initiative is grounded in the research on evidence-based practices. The Promising Pathways Initiative supported ten selected sites from the ten OFA Regions by building capacity of the sites to identify practice and program components; develop and document evidence; and articulate the resulting "story" about the effectiveness of the program or practice. Titled "Using Data to Improve and Show Program Performance," this Webinar introduced participants to a system for identifying, collecting, and assessing information to demonstrate measurable program impacts beyond funder requirements. Participants learned about developing effective measures and creating performance plans to make data actionable. The Webinar featured an overview of LINCWorks, a program in Kansas City, Missouri which participated in the Promising Pathways Initiative performance tracking tools.

On September 11-12, 2012, the Office of Family Assistance (OFA) Regions V and VII convened State TANF program directors and other key stakeholders in Chicago, Illinois to strategically engage with peers on effectively providing services to families in a recovering economy and to brainstorm better ways to help TANF participants achieve self-sufficiency. The TANF Priority Update Meeting consisted of multiple sessions covering an array of topics, including: business process management; strategies to improve postsecondary career pathways for low-income workers; developing and sustaining employment entry, access, retention, and advancement for TANF participants and low-income clients; improving services and tracking outcomes for special populations; innovative strategies for client assessment and service coordination; and effective strategies for engaging workforce partners through summer youth employment and subsidized employment.

This report describes work in Connecticut, Indiana, South Carolina, and Wisconsin to link Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) with other administrative data for operational and research purposes. The report describes the agencies and organizations involved, each state’s planning process, goals, and achievements, and the Urban Institute’s role as technical assistance contractor. All four states proposed linkages with the National Directory of New Hires (NDNH), but two states dropped these plans after learning of costs and limitations of the NDNH. The report concludes with recommendations for supporting future state efforts and for facilitating research use of the NDNH. (author abstract)

STAR is a training and technical assistance initiative of the Department of Education, Office of Vocational and Adult Education, Division of Adult Education and Literacy. It contains helpful research and information on adult literacy. One of their issue papers titled "The Role of Diagnostic Assessment in Implementing Evidence-Based Reading Instruction" may be particularly helpful to look at when implementing literacy assessments with their TANF population.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities recently published their revised version of "Online Services for Key Low-Income Benefit Programs: What States Provide Online with Respect to SNAP, TANF, Child Care Assistance, Medicaid, CHIP, and General Assistance." This report makes available to the public basic program information in these five main State-administered low-income benefit programs for most States. Application forms and data on the number of program participants is provided, as well as links that will provide additional information on eligibility and benefits.

The Congressional Research Service released a report on October 02, 2012 that examined the work participation standards and requirements for cash assistance recipients of the TANF block grant, which was created in the 1996 Welfare Reform law. This report provides a short history of work requirements in programs that provide cash assistance to needy families with children; reviews the major studies that contribute to the knowledge of what types of welfare-to-work programs are effective; discusses the TANF work provisions that apply directly to individuals; discusses the TANF work participation standards that apply to States; and addresses future issues for Congressional discussion, such as how work standards can address changing circumstances and the difficulties of measuring performance of States in the context of a block grant.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Administration for Children and Families (ACF) developed a Guide to Resources and Funding for Community and Faith-based Organizations as an effort to inform the public about the wide range of programs and resources provided by them. This Guide contains an overview of the agency, basic information about finding and applying for federal funds, specific information about ACF's grant opportunities, and numerous resources and toolkits available for community or faith-based organizations.

Developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance, the Urban Partnerships Initiative is a project designed to improve outcomes for low-income families by facilitating peer exchange among TANF stakeholders in urban centers. One outcome of this project, the Urban Partnerships Initiative Online Toolkit, disseminates information on promising practices to the human services community. The toolkit is a collection of resources, templates, examples, and instruments to assist TANF administrators in achieving the goal of supporting families on the path to self-sufficiency.

The Urban Partnerships Initiative Online Toolkit, a collection of innovative and promising practices representing 26 cities of the Urban Partnerships Initiative from around the country, has been updated in 2012 with updated tools and programmatic updates for existing programs featured in the toolkit. The toolkit is a dynamic resource to help cities address some of the unique issues facing low-income populations, including those associated with substance abuse, poor mental health conditions, former incarceration, recent immigration, learning disabilities, and others. TANF administrators and others can find relevant tools related to intake, case management, work attachment, work retention, and transitional services.

On October 18, 2011, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance (OFA) convened an orientation meeting in Washington, D.C. for the Promising Pathways Initiative. The three primary meeting goals of the Promising Pathways All-Site Orientation Meeting were to orient site representatives to the Promising Pathways Initiative, provide hands-on, interactive training for site coordinators on how to define and document their practice using logic models, and plan the first intensive full team site visit. Participants included one or two representatives from each of the ten selected Promising Pathways sites, OFA staff, and ICF International site coaches and team staff. This executive summary describes the proceedings of the All-Site Orientation Meeting and includes the meeting agenda, participant list, and materials as appendices.