This report summarizes a meeting of Region II and III Directors to address challenges to increase work participation rates in TANF programs with the expectation that work participation rates will increase with TANF reauthorization. The stakeholders took this opportunity to learn from well performing States with higher participation rates and States that had overcome barriers to improvement. The meeting provided an opportunity to promote and enhance collaboration and partnerships within the regions.

The Network has created a Q&A on the "Charitable Choice" provision under PRWORA. Additionally, we have compiled a list of Faith-Community Based Initiatives. To view these resources, click on the following links.

The ACF West-Central Hub sponsored a conference entitled “Outreach to Faith and Community: Renewing Our Commitment,” May 14-16, 2002, in New Orleans, Louisiana. This event was designed to support the President Bush's White House Initiative on Rallying the Armies of Compassion and the DHHS/ACF initiative to remove barriers to full participation of faith-based and community services in the delivery of government-funded social services. The conference also showcased ACF’s national initiatives in relation to strengthening families through promoting healthy marriages, parenting skills, and responsible fatherhood or male involvement in support of child well-being.

This panel discussion, held in Brooklyn, New York, is about Building on Faith: Tools to Fund Faith-Based & Community Programs.

The Hudson Institute, with the Center for Public Justice, hosted a panel discussion at the National Press Club in Washington, DC on September 4, 2002. The dual purposes of this panel were: 1) to announce the release of a study by Amy Sherman, Ph.D., a Senior Fellow at Hudson, and John Green, Ph.D., Director of the Bliss Institute at the University of Akron, and; 2) to discuss results of the study from the Federal, State, and local/grassroots perspective.

This conference was to educate, inform, and assist stakeholders from across Alabama about ACF's priority initiatives, to aggressively incorporate the initiatives throughout ACF programs and communities to strengthen families. The focus was on the importance of partnering faith- and community based programs with ACF at the State and local levels to bring fatherhood, healthy marriages, and youth development to strengthen families and to improve the quality of life for children, mothers, fathers, and communities.

Partnering with employers and support workers in the workplace is important to helping TANF participants reach stable employment opportunities. A successful collaboration with employers can help support job retention among participants to maintain stable employment and gain necessary work experience. Moving participants immediately into work activities renders the importance of providing needed supports while on the job. Participants at the Urban Partnerships National Academy held in Atlanta, GA in May heard successful strategies and innovative programs for partnering with local employers from Kansas City, Memphis, and Dallas/Fort Worth. These presentations give information on effective job readiness and placement services, and provides guidance for entities that are determining collaborative roles and responsibilities, including willingness to collocate services and staff.

As part of Phase 2 of the Initiative (2008-2009), this report is based on the analysis of the 139 promising programs (see the Compendium) and offers a window into a subset of the nation’s leading faith- and community-based intermediary organizations that are working everyday with TANF participants and other low-income populations. The selected programs range from those deeply motivated by faith commitments to those which are entirely secular in nature; from highly professionalized to volunteer-driven efforts; from groups serving TANF families to those who support ex-offenders re-integrate into society; and from organizations serving highly urbanized to rural settings representing all 10 ACF regions. The project team conducted structured phone-based discussions with Executive Directors of the 23 FBCOs, summarizing key findings in this report. (Two programs elected not to participate in the study.) Under the leadership of senior policymakers at OFA, eight of these programs were selected for further study.

The ACF Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network coordinated this workshop on behalf of the ACF Region VII office. The network is a contract from the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Family Assistance (OFA). The contractors for the Network are AFYA, Inc. and Caliber Associates. The purpose of this two-day technical assistance event was to identify the transportation challenges of participating states, examine other state’s initiatives that have addressed these challenges, identify available resources, and explore next steps to address these challenges. Additional topics included the Transportation Equity Act of the 21st Century (TEA-21) and the wealth of resources available via the National Transit Resource Center, operated by the Community Transportation Association of America.

The ACF Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network coordinated this workshop on behalf of the ACF Region IV office. The network is a contract from the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Family Assistance (OFA). The contractors for the network are AFYA, Inc. and Caliber Associates. The purpose of this two day technical assistance event was to identify the participating states’ transportation priority challenges, to examine other state’s initiatives that have addressed these challenges, to identify available resources, and to explore lessons learned that participants could use as a background for formulating next steps to address these challenges. Additional topics addressed included TEA-21 (Transportation Equity Act of the 21st Century), the role of Head Start, and the wealth of resources available via the National Transit Resource Center (operated by the Community Transportation Association of America).