This Action Transmittal, providing guidance on Turner v. Rogers, was disseminated by the Office of Child Support Enforcement to state agencies administering Child Support Enforcement Plans under Title IV-D of the Social Security Act and other interested individuals. The Transmittal provides an overview of Turner v. Rogers, state contempt practices, distinguishing between civil and criminal contempt, using civil contempt in child support cases in which ability to pay is at issue, and using civil contempt in child support cases in which ability to comply is at issue.

Kentucky has been providing education-focused and work participation-driven case management to the TANF population since 1998. The TA Requestor, Ms. Shauna King-Simms, Director of Transitional Education Programs at the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS) heard a description of Crittenton Women’s Union’s (CWU’s) Mobility Mentoring® Model and was interested in integrating components of it into Kentucky’s program. Kentucky conducts similar case management activities with its Ready to Work and Work and Learn programs, but was interested in enhancing the current practices using this model. CWU is an economic mobility organization and the largest provider of transitional housing for homeless families in the greater Boston area. The organization provides job readiness training, parenting programs, and adult education. Almost 1,300 individuals are served each year. Ninety-two percent have a high school education or less. CWU’s clients are largely TANF participants with average earnings of $730 per month per family and the population is racially diverse. Their Mobility Mentoring® Model is the long-term developmental partnership between trained staff and program participants through which participants acquire the resources, knowledge, and skills necessary to attain and preserve economic independence.

The Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services requested TA to support the integration of components of CWU’s Mobility Mentoring® Model for case management. The OFA PeerTA team agreed to support this request and created a TA plan with the following objectives:

• Collaborate with CWU to provide Kentucky with a tailored, two-day training on CWU’s Mobility Mentoring® Model for their Ready to Work staff at the KCTCS system office in Versailles, Kentucky. The training was prepared to accommodate approximately 45 Kentucky Ready to Work staff and three staff from the Department for Community Based Services (a Kentucky TANF agency), with a maximum of 50 participants in total.
• Support an outcomes-focused training that encourages implementation and sustainability of what is learned, so Kentucky can integrate the core concepts learned into their program(s) at a statewide level.

This new report from the National Skills Coalition (NSC) draws on examples from 14 states to see how they have addressed recommendations offered by NSC in the 2015 publication Realizing Innovation and Opportunity in WIOA: A Playbook for Creating Effective State Plans, which focused on how states could use WIOA plans to close the skill gap and help workers and employers succeed. The 2015 recommendations addressed the state planning process, as well as four key WIOA-supported strategies: 1) sector partnerships, 2) career pathways, 3) cross-program data and measurement, and 4) job-driven investments.