State TANF programs are continuing to develop and implement strategies to improve the economic self-sufficiency of low-income families as they await a full reauthorization of the program scheduled for September 30, 2011. 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 Regions V and VII convened the 2011 TANF Directors' Technical Assistance Meeting in Kansas City, Missouri, on June 28-29, 2011 to discuss the status of TANF programs and foster improved peer dialogue around practical solutions to common challenges facing TANF programs and recipients. The meeting brought together State 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 and trafficking victims, and 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.

The Department of Health and Human Services launched Home Visiting Evidence of Effectiveness (HomVEE) to conduct a thorough and transparent review of the home visiting research literature and provide an assessment of the evidence of effectiveness for home visiting program models that target families with pregnant women and children from birth to age 5.

The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program was developed to assist low-income and working families transition into employment and achieve greater levels of economic self-sufficiency. State/Territory/Tribal TANF grantees are responsible for managing more than $16 billion in Federal funds and successfully managing TANF programs requires skill and understanding. On June 15-16, 2011, the Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance, Regions I, II, and III hosted the first ever fiscal management workshop for TANF programs. The 2011 Tri-Regional TANF Fiscal Management Symposium in New York, New York covered topics from caseload reduction credits and maintenance of effort (MOE), to cost allocation, audits, and penalties and provided TANF program representatives with the most comprehensive and hands-on training on managing TANF programs available.

This is a presentation given by Child Trends at the Population Association of America meetings, which provides a framework for measuring the whole child in context. The presentation offers suggestions for expansion of federal data collection, methodological issues, and the availability of geographic data. Authors conclude with information on how to coordinate federal data collection efforts.

In 1998, the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation in the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) initiated a project on rural welfare to work strategies. Competitive grants were awarded to ten states to: increase knowledge about strategies currently used in rural areas, develop new strategies and approaches to be tested, and assist in designing appropriate research questions and methods to evaluate alternative strategies for welfare reform in low-income rural communities.

Matters that the states are addressing include: 1) Ways that the rural TANF population differs from the nonrural TANF population in terms of employability, access to affordable and quality child care, special circumstances, and service needs. 2) The best strategies, policies, and programs to overcome challenges that affect TANF participants and children in rural, low-income families. 3) The most effective approaches to implement and test programs that will produce useful information for rural welfare to work strategies. (author abstract)

This cross-site analysis examines all 8 of the exemplary FBCO-TANF partnerships described in the project’s case studies, by drawing out important findings related to volunteer management, organizational infrastructure, inter-agency communication, and place-based strategies. Moreover, the 14-page report articulates some of the leading reasons a TANF agency would want to partner with an FBCO, and it describes how effective partnerships can emerge. (author abstract)

Now more than ever, the path to self-sufficiency for most welfare recipients involves finding and keeping a job. The recently enacted welfare law, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996, emphasizes the need for individuals to take personal responsibility in their move toward self-sufficiency. The law underscores the importance of work and requires most able-bodied individuals to find some type of work within two years after they start collecting welfare. For welfare recipients, the time limits that the new law imposes significantly raise the stakes of not being employed. As the new law is implemented, more individuals who are less job ready will be entering the labor market. Many of these individuals, unused to the world of work, will be in danger of losing their jobs. While time limits may motivate some to hold onto their jobs, many are likely to face situations that make it hard for them to do so. Although welfare recipients must try to deal with these challenges, external assistance and support can help them overcome some of these barriers. States and other local agencies may be able to provide support that makes individuals’ transition from welfare to work smoother and more successful. (author abstract)

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996 brought about sweeping changes in the funding structure for the nation’s cash assistance program. Among these changes was the transformation of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, rooted in an effort to shift power from the federal government to states. To encourage autonomy and innovation, a mandate was included in the federal welfare reform legislation to provide TANF block grant funds to the states, allowing greater program flexibility in spending and other decisions. Now, more than a decade after the passage of the landmark legislation, little is known about how a noteworthy portion—roughly 15 percent—of these TANF funds is used. The purpose of this study, conducted by Mathematica Policy Research on behalf of the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families (ACF), is to understand how states are spending federal TANF funds reported as “Other” and “Authorized Under Prior Law” (AUPL) on the ACF-196 federal reporting form and, based on findings and feedback from states, to provide recommendations for improving federal reporting. Based on the definitions in the instructions for completing the ACF-196 form, we chose to focus on three categories: 1. Assistance AUPL. These expenditures were previously authorized under AFDC and cover expenses for services such as juvenile justice or state foster care. 2. Nonassistance AUPL. These expenditures were previously authorized under AFDC but do not fulfill the purposes of TANF and do not meet the federal definition of assistance. 3. Nonassistance “other” (line 6). These expenditures do not meet the definition of assistance and do not fit into any of the 13 prescribed categories under line 6. “Other” expenditures must fulfill at least one of the four purposes of TANF (provide assistance for needy families; promote job preparation, work, and marriage; prevent and reduce out-of-wedlock pregnancies; and encourage the formation and maintenance of two-parent families).(author abstract)

This report presents implementation and two-year effectiveness results for the Reach for Success (RFS) program, operated by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services (DPSS). RFS offered individualized and flexible case management services to recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) cash assistance benefits –– primarily, single mothers who were working at least 32 hours per week but earned too little to leave assistance. DPSS administrators designed RFS with the goal of helping individuals retain their employment and secure better jobs, and it sought to meet this goal by increasing the availability and improving the quality of case management services, relative to services offered as part of the agency’s existing post-employment services (PES) program. Participation in services in either program was voluntary. RFS operated from March 2002 to June 2005 in three regions in the county. RFS is one of 16 innovative models across the country being evaluated as part of the Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) project under contract to the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, with additional funding from the U.S. Department of Labor. The evaluation of RFS uses a random assignment research design, whereby eligible individuals were assigned, through a lottery-like process, to one of two groups. Those assigned to the RFS group were actively recruited to participate in services and were offered personalized case management. Those assigned to the control group were eligible to request, on their own initiative, services from the county’s existing post-employment program. The report’s findings thus indicate whether Los Angeles’s new RFS program was more effective than its existing approach to providing post-employment services. (author abstract)