This brief highlights an innovative collaboration forged between a corporation, government agencies, and a community partner in New Hampshire to create a career pathway for TANF participants. Read more about how the partners designed a phased training model to directly integrate TANF program requirements and prepare participants for a pharmacy technician career.

This brief is part of the Emerging Practice Series of the Office of Family Assistance’s Integrating Innovative Employment and Economic Stability Strategies (IIEESS) initiative, which highlights the strategies of TANF agencies and their partners to help low-income individuals gain and sustain meaningful employment. Each brief describes an emerging practice that has been implemented in one site, an overview of the program model, and the results that have been achieved. Compelling stories of participants’ success and suggestions from TANF agency staff to their peers provide actionable insights and on-the-ground perspectives.

To support Child Support Awareness Month, the Office of Family Assistance, in collaboration with the Office of Child Support Enforcement, will host a webinar on Wednesday, August 21, 2019 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. ET on state pass-through and disregard policies. By attending the webinar, participants will deepen their knowledge of pass-through and disregard policies and identify factors to consider when adopting a programmatic change like a pass-through option. Speakers will include representatives from the Colorado Department of Human Services who will share their experiences implementing a full pass-through and the effects of the policy change.

The Anoka County Job Training Center is the only WIOA job center serving the county. It houses all public assistance programs, including TANF (called the Minnesota Family Investment Program), on-site WIOA partners, and child care services in the same building. As described in this brief, the Center has implemented strategies to streamline service delivery and co-enrollment among these programs, including a universal program application, a team of intake and eligibility specialists, and cross-program practices for adapting resources to meet client needs. This site also offers a rich mix of youth programming, such as employment and training opportunities for out-of-school and in-school youth, and a Human Services Youth Team to focus on young TANF recipients.

Sections of the brief discuss joint service delivery, resource sharing, shared learning, and managing collaborative activities. Readers may also access links to the state TANF plan and funding information for more context and resources. This brief is part of the TANF Works! TANF/WIOA Collaboration Series, through which the Office of Family Assistance’s Integrating Innovative Employment and Economic Stability Strategies (IIEESS) initiative seeks to highlight innovative coordination strategies of TANF and WIOA programs to serve low-income or vulnerable populations.

The American Job Centers in Pennsylvania (called PA CareerLink®) offer workforce services to TANF clients through the Employment Advancement Retention Network (EARN). As described in this brief, the PA CareerLink® in Lehigh Valley has developed a strong team-based culture, with staff organized by function instead of by program. This structure helps clients navigate the job center and encourages programs to exchange ideas, expertise, and data. These team-based collaborations are facilitated by regular meetings, cross-training on all programs, and staff and leadership dedicated to working toward integrated service delivery.

Sections of the brief discuss joint service delivery, resource sharing, shared learning, and managing collaborative activities. Readers may also access links to the state TANF plan and funding information for more context and resources. This brief is part of the TANF Works! TANF/WIOA Collaboration Series, through which the Office of Family Assistance’s Integrating Innovative Employment and Economic Stability Strategies (IIEESS) initiative seeks to highlight innovative coordination strategies of TANF and WIOA programs to serve low-income or vulnerable populations.

This case statement describes the American Job Centers in Central Arkansas (called Arkansas Workforce Centers). Strategies to coordinate cash assistance and employment services for TANF recipients and job seekers include in-house referrals between TANF and WIOA, the development of a new integrated data system (ARWINS) to track participant outcomes, and information sharing among program staff. Through strong relationships with local workforce development boards and business partners, the Workforce Centers also offer work-based learning and subsidized employment opportunities to job seekers.

Sections of the brief discuss joint service delivery, resource sharing, shared learning, and managing collaborative activities. Readers may also access links to the state TANF plan and funding information for more context and resources. This brief is part of the TANF Works! TANF/WIOA Collaboration Series, through which the Office of Family Assistance’s Integrating Innovative Employment and Economic Stability Strategies (IIEESS) initiative seeks to highlight innovative coordination strategies of TANF and WIOA programs to serve low-income or vulnerable populations.

More than half the caseload of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program consists of child-only cases, in which a child receives TANF cash assistance but the parent or caregiver does not. The most common type of child-only case is a nonparent caregiver case, consisting of children being cared for by someone other than their parents, often a grandparent. Research suggests that nonparent caregiver cases are often vulnerable with many unmet needs and that the children in these cases share characteristics with children living in foster care: mental health conditions, school-related problems, and experience with trauma. Kinship navigator programs can be an important tool for supporting these families. Most states are developing or expanding these programs, and the federal government has provided funding in fiscal years 2018 and 2019 to state and eligible tribal child welfare agencies to develop, enhance, or evaluate kinship navigator programs. The Family First Prevention Services Act amended the Social Security Act to allow title IV-E agencies to receive funding for kinship navigator programs that meet certain evidence-based criteria; see ACYF-CB-PI-18-11 for program requirements.

On July 16, 2019, the Office of Family Assistance, in collaboration with the Children’s Bureau, sponsored a webinar that featured kinship navigator programs operating in three states and the services they offer to nonparent caregivers. Arizona Kinship Support Services connects kinship families to government benefits, links them to legal services, and helps them navigate existing community support systems. California’s UWCA-211-iFoster Kinship Navigator Collaborative provides an online, self-service resource portal for kinship families that coordinates public and private resources based on the families’ individual needs and preferences. The New York State Kinship Navigator provides an information and referral network for kinship caregivers statewide. In addition to these three states, the webinar featured a representative from the Children’s Bureau who discussed the federal funding available for kinship navigator programs and a representative from the Assisting Special Populations to Improve Readiness and Engagement (ASPIRE) study team who shared information on TANF child-only cases.

The Office of Family Assistance hosted a webinar on Wednesday, July 31, 2019 showcasing several Social Enterprise Organizations (SEOs) and their unique strengths, challenges, and contexts. SEOs are hybrid organizations that aim to balance business and social missions. They use a profit-maximizing approach to solve society’s challenges and help improve individual and community well-being. SEOs target hard-to-serve populations to help remove barriers to self-sufficiency by offering opportunities such as employment, housing, or mental and physical health services. Various strategies, such as workforce training, job placement, microfinancing, literacy resources, and offering affordable health services, are just some of the approaches used by social enterprises in pursuing their missions. SEOs are unique because they use capital investment to create a social benefit and revenue, which allows the organizations to be self-sufficient. Social enterprises are a promising solution to helping resolve social problems in the future.