The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 amends Section 403 of the Social Security Act to create a new $1 billion Pandemic Emergency Assistance Fund (PEAF) for states, tribes, and territories to assist needy families impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. On April 15, 2021, the Administration for Children and Families’ Office of Family Assistance (OFA) hosted an informative webinar for tribes to learn about the PEAF. Participants heard from OFA’s TANF policy experts on how they can use this fund, its requirements, and the process for applying for the funds. OFA speakers included Susan Golonka, Acting Director; Stan Koutstaal, Division Director, Tribal TANF Management and Regional Operations; Deborah List, Associate Deputy Director; and Peter Germanis, Senior Policy Advisor and National Expert. In addition to this webinar, OFA hosted a separate webinar for territories. Also, additional guidance will be published with more information about the allocations formulas, how to request funds, and other general policy guidelines.

The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 amends Section 403 of the Social Security Act to create a new $1 billion Pandemic Emergency Assistance Fund (PEAF) for states, tribes, and territories to assist needy families impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. On April 14, 2021, the Administration for Children and Families’ Office of Family Assistance (OFA) hosted an informative webinar for territories to learn about the PEAF. Participants heard from OFA’s TANF policy experts on how they can use this fund, its requirements, and the process for applying for the funds. OFA speakers included Susan Golonka, Acting Director; Julie Siegel, Director, Division of State TANF Policy; Stan Koutstaal, Division Director, Tribal TANF Management and Regional Operations; and Peter Germanis, Senior Policy Advisor and National Expert. In addition to this webinar, OFA hosted a separate webinar for tribes. Also, additional guidance will be published with more information about the allocations formulas, how to request funds, and other general policy guidelines.

States have discretion and flexibility in how they use TANF funds to provide services to families experiencing or at-risk of experiencing homelessness. Some states partner with their state-level housing departments, direct providers of homelessness services, local public housing agencies, and/or Continuums of Care (specifically Emergency Solutions Grants programs). This research-to-practice brief includes findings from a 2019 state TANF administrators survey, a review of state TANF plans, and a county TANF administrator survey highlighting differences between state and county approaches to identifying and assisting families experiencing homelessness.

This Administration for Children and Families Program Instruction (PI) includes a description of the Pandemic Emergency Assistance Fund (PEAF) Allotment Request Form that states, tribes, and territories must use to inform the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services whether they intend to use all of their PEAF allotment, and supporting instructions on how to submit the form.

The Pathways to Work Evidence Clearinghouse will host a webinar on April 29, 2021 from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET to discuss how TANF administrators and other service providers can find and use information on the Pathways Clearinghouse website about evidence-based interventions and their implementation. Presentations will cover the Pathways Clearinghouse’s relevance and a demonstration of the website’s new features, as well as the website’s information on how over 50 evidence-based interventions were implemented. Speakers include representatives of the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, the Archuleta County Department of Human Services, the Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance, and Mathematica.

The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 amends Section 403 of the Social Security Act to create a new $1 billion Pandemic Emergency Assistance Fund (PEAF) for states, tribes, and territories to assist needy families impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. On March 19, 2021, the Administration for Children and Families’ Office of Family Assistance (OFA) hosted an informative webinar for states to learn about the PEAF. Participants heard from OFA’s TANF policy experts on how they can use this fund, its requirements, and the process for applying for the funds. OFA speakers included Susan Golonka, Acting Director; Julie Siegel, Director, Division of State TANF Policy; Peter Germanis, Senior Policy Advisor and National Expert; and Deborah List, Associate Deputy Director. In addition to this webinar, OFA hosted separate webinars for tribes and territories. Also, additional guidance will be published with more information about the allocations formulas, how to request funds, and other general policy guidelines.

This report provides findings from a biennial survey of child welfare agencies on their expenditures for state fiscal year (SFY) 2018. The survey intends to support greater understanding among stakeholders about the challenges and opportunities that agencies encounter in delivering services. According to the survey, state and local child welfare agencies rely on multiple funding sources to administer their programs, including Medicaid, Title IV-E, Title IV-B, TANF, the Social Services Block Grant program, and other federal, state, and local sources. In this report, tabular and graphic data illustrate trends in total expenditures for child welfare agencies from SFY 2016 to SFY 2018 and the different uses of funds to cover out-of-home placements, adoption and guardianship programs, child protective services, preventive services, and assistance for older youth. The report covers recent legislation and federal policy changes and how they affect child welfare expenditures. The report also identifies points of consideration for states as they assess how to determine the type of available services they might offer, in light of how states rely on different funding structures for their respective child welfare agencies.

Coaching is a person-centered, strength-based way of working with others that helps them direct the changes they want to make in their own lives. On March 31, 2021, the Office of Family Assistance (OFA) hosted a PeerTA webinar introducing a new free resource that OFA is making available to all State and Tribal TANF agencies and Native Employment Works (NEW) programs – a 14-module eLearning Curriculum called “Coaching for Success.” Based on Public Consulting Group’s Human Services Coaching Framework, the curriculum aims at training employment case managers in how to leverage coaching techniques to improve their case management skills. The curriculum includes self-paced learning modules that will cover topics such as active listening, powerful questions, emotional intelligence, praise, and other important techniques that can elevate TANF case management services.

Speakers included: Deborah Joffe, Public Consulting Group and Paul Lefkowitz, Public Consulting Group.

The 20th Research and Evaluation Conference on Self-Sufficiency (RECS) was held virtually on October 13–15 and October 19–22, 2020. The conference sessions were organized in six thematic tracks: TANF Programs, Policies, and Populations; Employment and Mobility in the Labor Market; Youth Well-Being and the Transition to Adulthood; Strengthening Families, Fatherhood, Marriages, and Relationships; Evaluating Social Programs, Building Evidence, and Using Data; and Approaches to Alleviate Poverty and Expand Opportunity. A complete set of videos covering plenary and breakout sessions and a career panel is now available online.