The Welfare Peer Technical Assistance (TA) Network, funded by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Family Assistance (OFA), Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) assisted the Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA) in the planning and coordination of this workshop involving select representatives from sixteen Service Delivery Areas (SDAs), various workforce investment boards, several community colleges, employers, and key individuals from various private welfare service organizations from around the state of Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Department of Labor and Workforce Development also participated along with representatives from the DOL Region I office.

The ACF Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network, funded by the Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance, coordinated this one day workshop presentation by Ms. Toby Herr, the Founder of Project Match. Ms. Herr provided an in-depth description of the Pathways System developed through Project Match. This workshop was the result of a collaborative effort between the Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network and the New England Promising Practices Workgroup. The technical assistance event was a multi-state workshop with a focus on providing participants with a thorough understanding of the Pathways System philosophy and approach to serving a large and diverse welfare population with serious or multiple barriers to employment and self-sufficiency.

The Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network coordinated this presentation as part of the Administration for Children and Families’ (ACF) Region VI Head Start Mid-Winter Leadership Conference in collaboration with the Region VI office. The conference featured regional representatives from both Head Start and various public assistance agencies. These agencies included the Administration for Children and Families, the Department of Labor, the Health Care Financing Administration, the Federal Transit Administration, the Department of Education, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Health Resources and Services Administration. The conference was sponsored by the ACF Dallas Region VI Office.

The Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network coordinated a site visit for staff members from the Virgin Islands' Department of Human Services and Department of Labor to collaborate on TANF time limit preparedness strategies and post time limit strategies. The report addresses work participation rate issues, strategies for job development, placement, and retention for TANF recipients.

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF), in collaboration with the Welfare Peer Technical Assistance (TA) Network hosted, a teleconference to discuss strategies, lessons learned, and ideas to develop successful work experience (WEX) sites. The teleconference was a response to several frontier State inquiries regarding the development of WEX sites in both tribal and non-tribal rural areas. Participating Sates included Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming. Federal ACF and Welfare Peer TA contract staff also participated in the call.

CDHS requested TA regarding innovative and proven strategies for utilizing subsidized employment, supervised work experience and community service to meet work participation rates and increase self-sufficiency outcomes.

This document reports on the results of the two day meeting, A Look at Faith Programs, held October 24-25 in Indianapolis. HHS coordinated this meeting to explore the role that faith-based organizations (FBOs) can play in support of welfare reform. During the workshop, statewide faith initiatives from five states were highlighted. Program strategies for expanding the role that faith-based agencies play in supporting the state in delivering welfare related services to TANF recipients and low-income individuals were discussed. Specific topics addressed during the workshop included program planning and design, collaboration, outreach, program funding, and contract monitoring/evaluation.

With assistance from the Welfare Peer TA Network, the Partners for Community in Bloomington, Illinois and the Illinois Department of Human Services participated in a site visit to a model intermediary program in Oklahoma, the Cornerstone Assistance Network. The Cornerstone Assistance Network facilities and fosters community and faith partnerships through education and interaction. The report provides a summary of the site visit.

This report describes the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Administration for Family, Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network meeting, Strengthening Communities Through Charitable Choice Connections. The workshop, jointly sponsored by the Administration for Children and Families, the Office of Community Services, and the Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network, was held in Atlanta, GA on April 9, 2002.

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.