In 2009, the United States ranked fourteenth in college graduation rates among industrialized countries, and this research highlights ways to improve college attendance and graduation rates at 4-year colleges. This working paper, through the Center for Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis, provides a review of 38 studies on the relationship between assets and children’s education attainment. Then, authors discuss Child Development Accounts (CDAs) policies, which have been proposed as an asset approach for helping to finance college.

This resource was authored by the Alliance for Children and Families and was designed to help non-profit organizations plan for the future. The report identifies “disruptive forces” that will fundamentally change and transform the non-profit human services sector. Pulling from research, authors provide an overview of six “disruptive forces” to help organizations become adaptable to change, which include: purposeful experimentation, information liberation, integrating science, uncompromising demand for impact, branding causes, not organizations, and attracting investors, not donors.

August 22, 2011 marked the 15th anniversary of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program which was passed in an effort to “end welfare as we know it.” Although TANF cash assistance caseloads have fallen dramatically over the past 15 years, the need for assistance has remained high as the economic recovery continues to batter low-income and working families. Analyses of Federal and State caseload data, food stamp data, poverty data, and unemployment data show that TANF has not kept pace with the rates of food stamp usage or kept pace with unemployment and poverty increases, but remains an important component of the work-based safety-net for many Americans. State and Territory TANF programs are continuously challenged with developing and implementing effective work readiness, job skills, barrier reduction, and job placement activities for their TANF participants and as a result the Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance. Regions I, II, and III convened the TANF at 15: Where Do We Go from Here 2011 Tri-Regional TANF Directors’ Meeting in Providence, Rhode Island on November 1-3, 2011 to discuss the status of the TANF program and to determine appropriate next steps for programs and families. The TANF at 15 meeting focused on pertinent issues impacting TANF families and the TANF programs including improving responsiveness, engagement, fiscal management, domestic violence, asset-development, the TANF/SSI connection, and the work-based safety net during periods of sustained and increased unemployment. The meeting brought together national experts, Federal officials, researchers and program officials from the Urban Institute, MDRC, ICF International, and State and TANF directors representing nearly a third of the country to strategize around peer-developed practical solutions to common challenges facing TANF programs and participants. TANF at 15 represented a beginning of a tri-regional discussion on the status of TANF programming and laid the foundation for continued dialogue, focused planning, and increased responsiveness.

On November 29, 2011 the TANF Faith-Based and Community Organizations Initiative, sponsored by the Office of Family Assistance, hosted a Webinar that featured an innovative community-based homeless shelter, a TANF agency that successfully uses volunteering and a presentation from the Corporation for National and Community Service on ways to strategically integrate volunteers in your own community.

This brief was published by the Office of Disability Employment Policy of the U.S. Department of Labor’s National Technical Assistance and Research Center to Promote Leadership for Increasing the Employment and Economic Independence of Adults with Disabilities. The brief examines activities in place to help TANF recipients with disabilities move forward on the path to employment. It looks at opportunities and challenges for state governments in crafting supports and services, and offers a glimpse of strategies and approaches that some state TANF agencies are using to help recipients with a mental or physical disability secure and maintain employment.

Annually released by the Giving USA Foundation, this report details trends in charitable donating throughout 2010, the types of organizations giving money, and which charitable causes are receiving the funds. In 2010, contributions totaled $290.89 billion, which was a 3.8 percent increase over 2009, and 35 percent of the total was given to religious organizations and 14 percent to education.

In recent times, in part due to the economic recession, a focus on accountability and performance measurement has become more important across government agencies and programs. State and local Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs and researchers have shown an interest in the use of alternative/supplemental measures or differential metrics for measuring TANF program success and an interest in strategies for better understanding rates of poverty among families. In keeping with these salient foci, the National Association of Welfare Research and Statistics (NAWRS) Annual Workshop committee and the Colorado Department of Human Services submitted a joint technical assistance request to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Family Assistance to convene a session at the workshop entitled Understanding the Supplemental Poverty Measure and Developing Differential Metrics to Strengthen the Effectiveness of TANF Programs. The session took place on September 13, 2011 and included representation from ACF leadership, TANF policy experts, and State representatives. The technical assistance request merged the two topics in order to maximize resources and to provide the attendees the opportunity to collectively engage in discussions on strategies to tailor recommendations on the TANF program that are (1) more responsive to the economic self-sufficiency, poverty reduction, and employment needs of low-income families; and (2) better measure States’ performance in achieving greater employment and poverty reduction objectives for low-income families based on a more clear understanding of who is indeed in poverty.

The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, created in 1996, is one of the key federal funding streams provided to states to assist low-income families. A critical aspect of TANF has been its focus on employment and self-sufficiency, and the primary means to measure State efforts in this area has been TANF's work participation requirements. When the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA) reauthorized TANF, it also made changes that were generally expected to strengthen these work requirements. Given the impending extension or reauthorization of TANF, this testimony primarily draws on previous GAO work to focus on (1) how the welfare caseload and related spending have changed since TANF was created and (2) how States have met work participation rates since DRA. To address these issues, in work conducted from August 2009 to May 2010, GAO analyzed State data reported to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS); surveyed State TANF administrators in 50 States and the District of Columbia; conducted site visits to Florida, Ohio, and Oregon, selected to provide geographic diversity and variation in TANF program characteristics; and reviewed relevant federal laws, regulations, and research. In July 2011, GAO updated this work by analyzing State data reported to HHS since that time. In addition, GAO gathered information on caseload changes through its forthcoming work on TANF child-only cases.

The Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance Region IV convened the 2011 TANF Priority Update Workshop in Atlanta, Georgia on August 17-19, 2011 to discuss the status of TANF programs and foster peer dialogue among State TANF directors to discuss key issues impacting their programs and share best practices and lessons learned with their peers. The meeting brought together State TANF directors and program staff from across Region IV to strategize ways to guide low-income individuals and families to greater economic self-sufficiency while providing input and feedback on TANF legislation. Specific topics included asset building strategies for domestic violence survivors, service improvement for refugees and immigrants, career pathways and education, innovative solutions for economic recovery, and collaboration improvement strategies.

The Welfare Peer TA Web site has received an APEX award for publication excellence in the area of Web site writing and content. APEX awards are based on excellence in graphic design, editorial content, and the ability to achieve overall communications excellence. For 2011, there were 3,300 entries across a variety of categories, and 957 winners were named across 130 subcategories.