On November 28, 2012, the Office of Family Assistance hosted the second Webinar in a series highlighting promising practices for building sustainable subsidized employment programs. This Webinar provided an overview of the available funding streams for subsidized employment programs; discussed the varied funding sources' requirements and restrictions and how they can be combined and leveraged; and outlined practical strategies used by peer agencies to create/expand subsidized employment programs for TANF participants and low-income workers. Presenters for this Webinar included representatives from MDRC, the Connecticut Department of Labor, the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving in Connecticut, and the Ohio Human Relations Council.

The Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance, Region VI hosted a hands-on and interactive training for TANF programs on September 11-13, 2012. The 2012 Fiscal and Data Management Workshop in Dallas, Texas covered topics from caseload reduction credits and maintenance of effort (MOE) to cost allocation, audits, and penalties and provided TANF program representatives with the most comprehensive and hands-on training on managing TANF programs available. The workshop brought together State TANF directors and fiscal staff to strategize on ways to manage TANF dollars, collect, analyze, and report TANF participant and program data. Attendees learned strategies for maximizing TANF dollars and local partnerships and worked with peers to understand promising strategies for improving program performance and participant outcomes.

This presentation from Kathy Deserly of the National Resource Center for Tribes was given at the Region X Tribal TANF Conference in September of 2011. The presentation focuses on the different types of kinship care, how it is used in the child welfare and TANF systems, and advantages and challenges of kinship care. Ms. Deserly highlights characteristics of child-only cases within the TANF caseload and makes suggestions for addressing the specific and unique needs of this population.

The Office of Family Assistance hosted the "The ABC's of Creating Summer Youth Programs and Partnerships" Webinar on October 17, 2012 from 1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. EDT. The Webinar featured speakers Mathematica Policy Research, the Southeast Tennessee Development District--Local Workforce Investment Area Five, the District of Columbia Department of Employment Services, and Corporate Voices for Working Families who provided an overview of strategies for developing summer youth employment programs that can work in a variety of contexts with different types of employers. Speakers also discussed the strategic partnerships, funding streams, and recruitment and placement strategies that can be utilized to increase summer youth employment opportunities.

On August 1, 2012, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance (OFA) hosted the first Webinar in a series of Webinars for the Promising Pathways Initiative. The Promising Pathways Initiative provided technical assistance to State, Tribal, and local TANF programs and nonprofit organizations to promote successful outcomes for low-income families, and seeks to address the knowledge needs of the TANF field through an evidence-informed practice approach. The Initiative is grounded in the research on evidence-based practices. The Promising Pathways Initiative supported ten selected sites from the ten OFA Regions by building capacity of the sites to identify practice and program components; develop and document evidence; and articulate the resulting "story" about the effectiveness of the program or practice. Titled "Using Data to Improve and Show Program Performance," this Webinar introduced participants to a system for identifying, collecting, and assessing information to demonstrate measurable program impacts beyond funder requirements. Participants learned about developing effective measures and creating performance plans to make data actionable. The Webinar featured an overview of LINCWorks, a program in Kansas City, Missouri which participated in the Promising Pathways Initiative performance tracking tools.

The Office of Family Assistance hosted a Webinar on August 28, 2012 to provide Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) agencies, workforce organizations, and other human services stakeholders with an overview of the strategies that can be used to provide low-income individuals with stackable credentials that will lead to long-term, sustainable employment. The Webinar featured information on what stackable credentials and career pathways are and how they can help low-income individuals achieve success. Presenters also provided information on methods for stackable credential/career pathways program design, as well as methods for integrating these components into transitional jobs and subsidized employment programs, and encouraged collaboration between government agencies and community partners to better serve TANF participants. Presenters included representatives from Heartland Human Care Services - Heartland Alliance, the Minnesota FastTRAC Initiative, the New York City Parks Opportunity Program (POP), and the Edmonds Community College HPOG program - Creating Access to Careers in Healthcare (CATCH).

On September 11-12, 2012, the Office of Family Assistance (OFA) Regions V and VII convened State TANF program directors and other key stakeholders in Chicago, Illinois to strategically engage with peers on effectively providing services to families in a recovering economy and to brainstorm better ways to help TANF participants achieve self-sufficiency. The TANF Priority Update Meeting consisted of multiple sessions covering an array of topics, including: business process management; strategies to improve postsecondary career pathways for low-income workers; developing and sustaining employment entry, access, retention, and advancement for TANF participants and low-income clients; improving services and tracking outcomes for special populations; innovative strategies for client assessment and service coordination; and effective strategies for engaging workforce partners through summer youth employment and subsidized employment.

On August 14 and 15, 2012, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Administration for Children and Families (ACF) Office of Family Assistance (OFA) Regions V, VI, VII, and VIII convened the 2012 Regions V, VI, VII, and VIII Tribal TANF Workshop in St. Paul, Minnesota. Designed to bring together Tribal TANF program directors and other key stakeholders, this workshop focused on the dual issues of effectively providing services to Tribal families in a recovering economy and helping TANF participants achieve self-sufficiency. Workshop attendees were provided with opportunities to strategically engage with their peers in order to share promising practices and the latest research, as well as to plan ways to improve TANF programming for low-income families. Over the course of the day and a half workshop a number of specific topics were covered including: Dialogue with the OFA Division of Tribal TANF Management; Youth Programming and Summer Youth Employment; Subsidized Employment Programs and Employer Engagement; Use of Skill-Building Activities; Audits, Financial and Grants Management, and Data Reporting; Collaboration with Child Support Enforcement and Child Welfare; and Financial Literacy and Asset Building. The wide reach of the workshop was evident with 24 Tribes represented from four OFA Regions. During the workshop, Tribal TANF program representatives also spent time networking and dialoguing on their program strengths, challenges, partnerships, and program policies/integrity, to garner new and innovative ideas from others for serving their TANF participants.

On May 16, 2012 the Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance, Region X hosted a Webinar on how Tribal TANF programs can use Federal TANF and State maintenance-of-effort (MOE) funds for the creation and expansion of subsidized summer youth employment programs. The Webinar provided information on how Tribes have operated summer youth employment programs within a Tribal TANF System, strategies for leveraging funds for subsidized youth employment programs through Workforce Investment Act (WIA) and the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG), and presented promising practices of Tribal TANF agencies that currently operate summer youth employment programs. The Webinar was facilitated by Judy Ogliore and Karen "Jack" Granberg from Region X, and included presentations from Tammy Kieffer, the 477 Youth Employment Coordinator for the Spokane Tribe in Washington State; Lu Ann Warrington, the Assistance Director of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin; and Arlene Templer, the Director of the Department of Human Resource Development for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of Montana.

The Peer TA Network hosted a Webinar on engaging low-income families in tax filing assistance. The Webinar, "Engaging Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Participants in Tax Filing Assistance" highlighted the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) two new free tax preparation models and introduced techniques on how to improve outreach and engagement to TANF recipients and other low-income individuals. Presenters included representatives from the Nehemiah Gateway Community Development Corporation, the Delaware Division of Social Services, and the IRS.