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.

The Faith-Based and Community Organizations Collaboration Institutes were designed to increase collaboration of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) agencies by leveraging existing community resources to help low-income participants attain economic self-sufficiency. Five institutes across the country brought together regional and State TANF leaders, as well as their local FBCO partners, with a goal of enhancing outcomes for TANF-eligible individuals and families. The Institutes create an incubated learning environment to apply the collaboration concepts learned in the early phases of the project in an effort to strengthen existing and newly formed partnerships. This report summarizes each event along with the evaluations and feedback received from a series of post-event follow-up calls.

This Urban Institute report details how state policy decisions affect TANF program administration in five states: California, Florida, Michigan, Texas, and Washington. The authors examined both cash assistance and other aspects of the block grant, plus how states responded to the Deficit Reduction Act and the recession.

The Essex County Division of Training and Employment in New Jersey was interested in learning strategies that would help assist TANF Work Eligible recipients to achieve marketable skills that will move them to self-sufficiency and remove them from TANF roles and other forms of public assistance. The ultimate goal of Essex County was for individuals to self-provide for their families. The Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network convened a peer-to-peer conversation between Essex County and the Oklahoma Department of Human Services, Oklahoma so that Oklahoma could share strategies on running literacy programs designed to screen, assess, and provide literacy training to TANF participants. The Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network also developed an environmental scan of literacy programs in TANF organizations for Essex County to use as a tool and resource.

The Maine Office of Family Independence was interested in learning strategies for setting goals, tracking and improving performance, managing staff activities and enforcing program requirements by utilizing accessible and complete data at various levels. Through the Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network (Welfare Peer TA), the Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Office for Family Independence (OFI) and the New Hampshire Division of Family Assistance convened a peer-to-peer site exchange. This was conducted in order to initiate cross-site networking, to foster dialogue, and to exchange strategies for integrating education and training opportunities into TANF programming. A site visit and several conference calls were held, giving Maine the opportunity to observe the data collection methodology and tools utilized by the State of New Hampshire.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office found that the number of States that reported counting third party non-governmental expenditures toward their State MOE spending increased over the past five years, from three States in fiscal year 2007 to 13 States in fiscal year 2011. Food assistance was the most commonly cited service provided by third party non-governmental organizations that States counted towards MOE requirements. Other services included medical or dental services, employment assistance, and family stabilization services. This report was compiled to address previous concerns raised that counting third party non-governmental expenditures towards a State's MOE may not keep with the intent of MOE requirements directed toward State and local governments.

The implementation of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program presents a series of possible challenges and potential opportunities for local administrators providing services for low-income and working families seeking to achieve greater levels of economic independence. In an effort to assist TANF program administrators and stakeholders in understanding the application of Federal civil rights laws regarding discrimination, the Administration for Children and Families, Offices of Family Assistance (OFA) and Civil Rights (OCR) convened a virtual training on the applicable civil rights laws prohibiting discrimination. Covering topics relating to Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973; Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; the Age Discrimination Act of 1975; Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and other applicable laws meant to prevent discrimination against those with disabilities; racial, ethnic, and language minorities, and those of varied ages, the training was in response to technical assistance requests regarding the obligations of State agencies, counties, and service providers administering welfare programs. Facilitated by the OCR, the training focused on all aspects of the TANF program, including applications, assessments, work program modifications, sanctions, and time limits and is the first part of a two-part training series hosted by OFA Region VIII on improving civil rights and HIPPA compliance.