This report summarizes a workshop entitled "Solutions to Rural Issues Through Partnerships - A Community-Centered Approach" that took place on September 24-25, 2003 and was jointly sponsored by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) and Department of Labor (DOL) Regional offices. The purpose of the workshop was to focus on improving service delivery in rural communities to strengthen rural families and communities and support economic development.

The Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network conducted a national needs assessment with all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the territories of Guam and Puerto Rico and documented the results in a report called "Progress and Promise of TANF Implementation." As its name suggests, the report highlights the challenges and successes of states' implementation of their TANF program. In addition to identifying the challenges faced by states, this report also highlights a variety of emerging innovations taking place throughout the country as states implement their welfare reform agendas.

This report summarizes a workshop entitled "Promoting Performance in TANF Programs" that took place on July 29-31, 2003 and was sponsored by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) Office of Family Assistance (OFA). The workshop focused on performance and performance considerations in the TANF program.

Produced by Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., the "Integrating Alcohol and Drug Treatment Into a Work-Oriented Welfare Program: Lessons from Oregon" publication is a case study of Oregon's approach to serving the needs of welfare recipients with substance abuse problems.

This issue brief highlights key facts about the impact of substance abuse on welfare reform and TANF recipients and describes innovative state welfare program attempting to lower barriers to employment and self-sufficiency.This brief is available on the National Health Policy Forum's Web site.

Authored by Rukmalie Jayakody, Kristin Seefeldt, Sheldon Danziger, and Harold Pollack. Citing new estimates of the extent of substance abuse among welfare recipients, the authors suggest that policymakers and analysts have likely overstated the contribution of substance dependence to welfare receipt. The authors note that while substance use, abuse, and dependence are barriers to self-sufficiency, so are poor education, lack of transportation, physical and mental health problems, and other difficulties that are more common than substance dependence among welfare recipients. The authors stress the need for comprehensive services to address the multiple barriers faced by the most disadvantaged welfare recipients.

In this paper, the authors examine the extent of substance use, abuse, and dependence disorders among respondents from the Women's Employment Study, women receiving welfare in 1997 and 2003. Substance use and dependence was found to co-occur with a variety of issues, including housing stability, domestic violence, work behavior, and financial stability.

Substance abuse is recognized as one of the most common barriers facing hard-to-employ TANF recipients. Due to the stringent work requirements and time limits under Federal welfare policy, substance abuse treatment and counseling services are becoming a necessity for any public assistance program attempting to move recipients from welfare to work. Under the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) Welfare Reform Technical Assistance Project, Caliber Associates produced this document as a reference tool on two specific Federal funding sources - Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) and Welfare to Work (WtW) funds - which can be targeted at supporting substance abuse treatment services for the welfare population.

A Look at State Welfare Reform Efforts to Address Substance Abuse is an eight-State case study that examines different State and county strategies in serving TANF recipients with substance abuse problems. This year-long comparative case study was commissioned by the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) to document efforts underway to address substance abuse as a barrier to employment.

Five years after the passage of the welfare reform law, States have achieved unprecedented declines in their welfare caseloads. However, one of the most prominent roadblocks that Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) clients face to a successful transition to employment is substance abuse. This fact sheet provides an overview of of important strategies to building the system infrastructure to address substance abuse issues for TANF recipients.