On March 26-27, 2002, the Welfare Peer TA held a technical assistance meeting in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in order to compare and contrast Louisiana’s joint interagency substance abuse initiative to that of the State of North Carolina. As part of this comparison, staff members from North Carolina’s Division of Social Services and its Division of Mental Health/Developmental Disabilities/Substance Abuse Services were onsite to participate in the meeting. Their role in this technical assistance meeting was to provide information about their initiative and informal observations and recommendations to Louisiana about their interagency substance abuse initiative. The overall goal of the meeting was to examine what “works” and what “doesn’t work” from the perspective of the North Carolina staff. The meeting included a visit to a pilot site for the State’s substance abuse initiative, which afforded the North Carolina staff an opportunity to gain an in-depth observation and understanding of Louisiana’s program.

The Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network, funded by the Administration for Children and Families, supported a 2-day conference held by Office of Family Assistance, Region VI, examining the issues of domestic violence and substance abuse as barriers to self-sufficiency for the Native American Population. The focus of the conference was to help TANF case workers better understand the impact of domestic violence and substance abuse in Native American populations, and identify barriers unique to Native American Communities. The conference also focused on developing strategies for collaboration with Native American organizations and governments. See Appendix A for the complete Agenda. TANF workers from Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas were invited to attend.

Oklahoma requested that the Welfare Peer Technical Assistance (TA) Network sponsor a one and half- day site visit of two grandparent housing facilities in Boston, Massachusetts. In addition, representatives from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services expressed an interest in this unique issue that often presents itself among the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) caseload. Therefore, with collaboration from Administration for Children and Families (ACF) Regions I, V and VI, the Welfare Peer TA Network sponsored a visit to the Boston GrandFamilies House and the Franklin Field Grandparent Housing Development. The site visit took place on October 7th and 8th, 2003. A small delegation of participants also participated from the States of Ohio, Oklahoma and the ACF Region I Office.

In order to foster progress in stabilizing and strengthening healthy marriages, the Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network held a workshop entitled Developing a Marriage Initiative for Your State in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on September 17 and 18, 2002. Workshop participants included individuals primarily representing the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and child support staffs from nine States. The purpose of this 2-day workshop was to create an interactive dialogue with States around appropriate efforts to develop and implement statewide healthy marriage initiatives.

The Welfare Peer Technical Assistance (TA) Network sponsored a multi-State TA event on July 15-16, 2003, in Oklahoma City, OK. This event was co-coordinated with Public Strategies, the public relations firm that manages the Oklahoma Marriage Initiative. The Administration for Children and Families' region VI, VII, and IX offices provided additional supports, ensuring this event met State informational needs. The following short summary reports on this Workshop.

On March 18, 2004, the Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network sponsored a Healthy Marriage Forum that took place in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The forum educated participants about the Federal Healthy Marriage Initiative, about funding that is available, and about what types of programs that are eligible for funding.

To assist States in strategically and creatively utilizing their Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) dollars, while yielding better outcomes for low-income families, the Welfare Peer Technical Assistance (TA) Network sponsored a 1-day site visit to the Chicago Child-Parent Center (CPC) Program in Chicago, Illinois on Wednesday, April 2, 2003. The CPC program was designed in 1967 and is the second oldest federally-funded early childhood program in the United States. It is managed by the Chicago Public Schools, Office of Early Education, and targets children between the ages of 3-4. Furthermore, the CPC program is comprised of education sites or centers located within low-income areas with high concentrations of former Aid to Families With Dependent Children (AFDC) program participants.

This report describes the TA request from His Guiding Light Ministries (HGLM) in Plano, Texas on February 26, 2003. HGLM contacted the Welfare Peer TA Network because they required assistance in developing grants to gain funding for their organization. This short report provides a summary of the TA request, and the TA outcome.