The Office of Family Assistance hosted a PeerTA webinar on Addressing Intergenerational Trauma among TANF Families on January 26, 2021. Understanding trauma and its transmission among families are critical considerations in human service delivery. Human services programs, including TANF, have a role to play in helping to mitigate and address the negative effects of intergenerational trauma through programming.

During this facilitated webinar, presenters defined intergenerational trauma and explored the ways in which trauma is transferred from parents to their children. Participants learned how TANF programs can minimize the impacts of intergenerational trauma, as well as heard about current research initiatives and from programs that are working to address intergenerational trauma in their communities. Presenters also examined the ways in which COVID-19 exacerbates trauma and strategies for TANF programs to identify and lessen these effects.

Presenters included Dr. Jessica Dym Bartlett and Dr. Dana Thomson, Child Trends; Dr. Mariana Chilton, Drexel University and Center for Hunger-Free Communities; Dr. Marla Conwell and Amber Hoyt, South Puget Intertribal Planning Agency (SPIPA); Alie Huxta, Associate Director of Partnerships and Strategic Planning; and Kevin Thomas, Jr., Associate Director of Operations and Asset Building, Building Wealth & Health Network. Dr. Nicole Bossard from ICF and TGC Consulting, Inc. facilitated the webinar.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance (OFA) Regions IX and X held the OFA Regions IX and X Virtual Tribal TANF Technical Assistance Meeting: Building Capacity to Support Families in a New Reality on December 8-10, 2020. The meeting provided Tribal TANF and Native Employment Works (NEW) representatives an opportunity to attend sessions virtually and learn from the OFA Office of the Director, regional TANF officials, and experts about strategies they can use to build capacity and services despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Topics included ways programs are shifting to more virtual service provision and telework while considering and increasing digital inclusion; how to prepare program participants to find new or adapt existing training, employment, and career pathways opportunities; how to respond effectively to participants’ holistic needs and challenges; and strategies programs can use regarding trauma’s impact on individual, team, and organizational levels. In breakout sessions, tribal representatives shared strategies they are using to perform their work during the pandemic and serve program participants in their communities more successfully.

Because American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) families face consistent barriers to employment and repeatedly have the highest unemployment rates in the United States, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation studied subsidized employment programs conducted by Tribal TANF programs. This resulting report found that, overall, subsidized employment programs help participants gain work experience, skills, and training necessary to lower barriers to employment. They also emphasize the variety in regional contexts that can make the transition to unsubsidized employment difficult, particularly in small economies. The eight spotlighted Tribal TANF programs provide examples for practitioners in diverse areas and show how subsidized employment can at the least be a means of temporary income, and can often be a stepping stone toward job experience and economic stability.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Family Assistance (OFA), Regions IX and X hosted the Tribal Technical Assistance Meeting on July 25‐27, 2016 at the Isleta Resort and Casino in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The meeting brought together Tribal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) stakeholders to discuss innovative strategies and collaborations to promote economic and social well‐being for individuals, families, and tribal communities. During the meeting, tribal representatives engaged in listening sessions, shared best practices, and participated in workshops in order to more successfully serve the program participants in their communities.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Family Assistance (OFA), Division of Tribal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Management hosted the Tribal TANF Summit (Summit) on August 31-September 1, 2015 at the Renaissance Washington D.C. Downtown Hotel. The Summit brought together Tribal TANF program administrators and tribal leaders to dialogue about key issues facing Tribal TANF programs. The Summit provided attendees with opportunities to engage with their peers and experts from the field, to discuss best practices and the latest research, as well as to plan ways to improve TANF programming for low-income families in their communities.

In January 2014, Ms. Gwen Gua, SPIPA’s Social Services Manager, submitted a TA Request to the Welfare Peer TA (WPTA) Network seeking onsite training on wraparound services; SPIPA hoped to enhance its case management services for the three Tribes currently operating Tribal TANF/Child Welfare coordination grants by incorporating the principles of wraparound services into its service delivery. SPIPA requested that the Native American Training Institute (NATI) conduct a five-day culture-based wraparound training session titled: “Wraparound in Indian Country: The Ways of the People Are Who We Are.” OFA PeerTA provided technical assistance by facilitating a five-day onsite Wraparound Services training for SPIPA staff that are a part of the wraparound process or are supervising individuals that are implementing the process. The training was designed to prepare the participating Tribes to implement a wraparound care framework that defines agency roles, identifies areas for resource sharing to strengthen services, and establishes a common language to facilitate collaboration. Outcomes included understanding the wraparound process and how it can enhance service delivery for multiple complex needs individuals and their families, and learning the skills necessary for the implementation of wraparound services, including facilitating the wraparound process and conducting wraparound meetings.

On August 5-6, 2014 the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance (OFA) hosted the Tribal TANF Leadership Symposium in Washington, District of Columbia. This Symposium brought together Tribal Council members and leaders from the 65 tribes operating Tribal TANF programs across the United States, along with experts from the field, to share innovative strategies and updates related to Tribal TANF program implementation and collaboration. Over the course of the two-day meeting, participants had the opportunity to attend plenary sessions and workshops, dialogue with ACF and OFA leadership, and network with peers.

On June 27-28, 2012 the Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance, Region X hosted a Tribal TANF Institute in Seattle, Washington bringing together Tribal TANF stakeholders throughout the Region to engage in dialogue and action planning on a variety of topics. The Institute featured presenters from the Tanana Chiefs Conference and their coaches from the Promising Pathways Initiative who led Institute attendees in sessions on data collection and TANF staff collaboration, developing process maps and logic models, and connecting Information Systems/Information Technology and TANF. Other sessions included: a facilitated conversation with the Tribes on work participation in rural areas; a panel on Child Welfare and Tribal TANF collaboration that included representatives from the Region X Child Welfare office, Mark Kimball from the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, and Don Shircel from the Tanana Chiefs Conference; Pamela Panther from the South Puget Intertribal Planning Agency and Ilene Stohl from the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence who presented on the Family Violence Option and how to successfully develop and implement a comprehensive response to domestic violence; and Christy Finsel, a consultant, and Karen "Jack" Granberg who led a session on creating an Individual Development Account (IDA) program within Tribal TANF programs.

The Welfare Peer TA Network held a one-day training on December 9, 2011 for the South Puget Intertribal Planning Agency in Shelton, Washington. The training entitled, “Reviving the Vision of Cultural Values and Compassion in Client Services,” developed by the University of California, Davis Extension (UC Davis), is also referred to as “Tribal TANF Town” because it utilizes experiential learning in which participants assume roles and work through the systems that TANF clients must interact with on a daily basis. The training resulted in four key learning points for training participants:

• Provide case management services with compassion;
• Model positive communication and service delivery skills;
• Follow a uniform mission of assisting participants to achieve wellness and promote economic, cultural, and social well-being of individuals, families, communities, and Tribes; and
• Practice professionalism and partnership.

The Technical Assistance summary provides additional details about the training and includes specific feedback from participants.

The 2011 Annual Region X Tribal TANF Conference was held in Tulalip, Washington at the Tulalip Resort from September 27-29, 2011. The Conference provided Tribal TANF programs from Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington an opportunity to discuss and strategize methods for improving their programs and services to better serve their families and communities. Best practices and lessons learned were shared throughout the conference on a wide range of topics, including asset building, child care, child welfare, economic development, program evaluation as a method for program enhancement, and subsidized employment.