From the Lumina Foundation, this video clip provides information on a public-private partnership in Louisville, Kentucky. The partnership has set a goal of adding 55,000 bachelors and associate degrees by the year 2020. The partnership is a collaborative effort of Louisville employers, educators, and civic leaders, who are focused on building a well-educated, innovative, and productive workforce. This video is the first in a series that will be released by the Lumina Foundation.

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) created a new work-oriented framework for providing assistance to low-income families. Within this framework, states were given a block grant and considerable flexibility to create new support systems for families that encouraged work and discouraged long-term reliance on government-provided cash assistance. Responding to concerns that families that turn to the welfare system for support may find it hard to leave, states began implementing “diversion” programs to keep families whose needs could be met through other means from ever coming on to the welfare rolls. In response to higher effective work participation rates that followed the reauthorization of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program in 2005, states have added new policies and programs that divert TANF-eligible families from the TANF system.

This report describes states’ policies on and experiences with diversion programs. To document the states’ diversion strategies, Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. (MPR) conducted the Identifying Promising TANF Diversion Practices Study for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Administration for Children and Families (ACF). Data for the study were collected through a state survey, a telephone interview with designated representatives in each state, and visits to two states to learn more about their diversion strategies. Data collection began in December 2007 and ended in March 2008. (author abstract)

Many State TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) programs identify literacy services as a critical program component to provide participants. However, as most States experience budget shortfalls and are pressured to focus on job placement more often than remediation, literacy services are often underfunded. In general, those States that have been proactive in their approach to integrating adult literacy into their programs encourage personal responsibility and provide the needed foundation to engage in activities aimed at securing and maintaining employment. They have developed blended approaches that include, but are not limited to, remedial and secondary education programs, job-readiness training, employment/self-employment counseling, field training, and referral to services to improve life management skills. In these instances, the decisions were based on formal assessments and each State has amended the participant’s individual responsibility plan reflecting their training needs and including the necessary and available support services to ensure their success. The attached report provides an environmental scan of literacy resources, sample State programs and an overview of assessment tools.

In 1995, the Texas Legislature enacted H. B. 1863, which formed the basis for Texas’ waiver from existing Federal laws governing the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program. The Texas waiver, officially known as the Achieving Change for Texans (ACT) demonstration, aimed to assist participants to achieve independence from welfare through an increased emphasis on employment, training, temporary assistance and support services. It included three primary components: time-limited benefits, a personal responsibility agreement and one-time payments in lieu of welfare payments. The evaluation of the ACT demonstration consisted of three approaches: a process evaluation, a random-assignment impact analysis, and follow-up interviews with persons who reached their time limits or who elected to receive one-time payments instead of cash welfare assistance. This report summarizes findings from all facets of the evaluation and draws conclusions and policy implications for welfare policy development in the post-waiver time period. (author abstract)

This report represents the first step in the process of identifying initiatives intended to assist TANF recipients living with disabilities to obtain and maintain employment that may be worthy of further study. The outcomes and impacts of such initiatives are of substantial interest to program administrators and policymakers for several reasons. First and foremost is the concern over the well-being of these recipients and their families. Second, these initiatives often require considerable staff effort and intensive services and, therefore, can be costly to implement. Third, states and localities are under growing pressure to meet increased federally mandated work participation rates and recipients living with disabilities are one of many groups that program administrators and policymakers may consider targeting to increase those rates. To assist program administrators and policymakers in deciding how they should spend limited resources, it is critical to know whether the initiatives are, indeed, producing their desired effects. The time may be ripe for rigorously testing the impact of employment initiatives for low-income families living with disabilities and this report presents some potential options for doing so. (author abstract)

The share of low-income single mothers disconnected from work and TANF ranges from 20 to 25 percent. Most disconnected low-income single mothers experience barriers to work and most of their families live in poverty. This brief reviews what we know about the numbers and characteristics of disconnected mothers, their economic well-being, their living arrangements, and the length of time that they tend to be disconnected. The brief draws lessons for policy, including efforts for keep TANF recipients in great need from losing TANF benefits and becoming disconnected and to improve employment prospects for those with serious challenges to work. (author abstract)

In 2004, Casey Family Services underwent an organizational change to help establish permanency for children and youth with special needs in foster care called “Move to Greater Permanence” (MGP). This report details the planning, implementation, agency processes, and outcomes as a result of the organizational change. Authors provide lessons learned to help child welfare providers and human service organizations utilize when conducting similar organizational change.

The Foundation Center issued this report on foundation giving trends in 2009. Education and health have the greatest shares of foundation grant dollars, which included areas of education, health, human services, and public affairs/society benefit. Human services had the most number of grants, but grantmaking did decline 2.1 percent from 2008 to 2009. Eight out of ten major fields experienced funding declines between 2008 and 2009 due to the economic recession.

State TANF programs are continuing to develop and implement strategies to improve the economic self-sufficiency of low-income families as the programs await reauthorization. From improving outreach and engagement of eligible refugees and immigrants to successfully utilizing data to effectively make programmatic decisions, these programs are finding innovative ways to maximize resources to meet the needs of increasing families in need. The Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance Region IX convened the 2011 Innovative Solutions Workshop in San Francisco, California on September 21-22, 2011 to discuss the status of TANF programs and foster improved peer dialogue around practical solutions to common challenges facing TANF programs and participants. The meeting brought together State and Territory TANF directors and program staff to strategize on ways to move low-income and working families closer to economic self-sufficiency while providing important input on the development of new TANF legislation. Specific topics included improving service delivery for domestic violence survivors, career pathways for low-income workers, asset development strategies to improve long-term economic development, maximizing TANF funds, policy/program innovations for streamlining services, and using data to influence program development and service delivery.