The following report describes the Urban Partnerships for Welfare Reform Academy II that took place in Minneapolis, Minnesota from October, 26-29 2003 to continue partnerships and foster collaboration to improve service delivery and TANF implementation for families residing in urban areas.

The New York Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) requested technical assistance from the Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network to help design and implement effective strategies to mitigate the effects of the recent economic downturn on low-income families. OTDA requested assistance in identifying strategies that other jurisdictions have taken to respond to the recession and how they have successfully utilized the TANF provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). A peer-to-peer roundtable was convened in Albany, New York July 14-15, 2009 during the National Association of Welfare Research and Statistics (NAWRS) Conference in order to highlight state perspectives and to document state uses of the TANF-related components of ARRA and effective strategies for implementation.

The Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network (WPTA) offered technical assistance to the Georgia Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Asset-Building Planning Meeting with the primary purpose of bringing together EITC coalitions in the State of Georgia to talk about coming together with other organizations to form a cohesive statewide coalition of organizations and agencies. Welfare Peer TA brought together local EITC coalitions in the State of Georgia to brainstorm ideas about creating a statewide coalition, establishing a plan for the group, and developing initial plans for a broader meeting to be held in spring 2010 to kick-off the statewide group. The Coalition’s long term goal is to ultimately work together to implement initiatives in underserved areas.

Recently, the Colorado Works Program requested Technical Assistance from the Welfare Peer Technical Assistance (WPTA) Network, specifically on effective strategies for integrating subsidized employment programming into local Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs. As a result, the WPTA Network hosted two conference calls in August and September for the Colorado Works Program by facilitating a peer-to-peer dialog with the Tennessee Department of Human Services, inquiring about its subsidized employment program, specifically its successful program in Perry County, Tennessee. During these calls, Paul Lefkowitz, Director, Family Assistance Policy, Tennessee Department of Human Services, and Jan McKeel, Executive Director, South Central Tennessee Workforce Alliance, provided an overview of a subsidized employment program that began in Perry County, Tennessee, in May 2009, through the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009, to the Technical Assistance Requestor—Mary Roberto, Section Manager, Colorado Department of Human Services, Colorado Works Program. Some of the topics of the program discussed on the conference calls include eligibility, working with employers, outreach and marketing, data collection, and replication and lessons learned.

This Welfare Peer Technical Assistance (TA) Network site visit was conducted to support the Quileute Tribe Department of Human Services in developing policies and procedures regarding transporting students on educational site visits. This Welfare Peer TA Network site visit was conducted on behalf of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance. To support this goal, the Welfare Peer TA Network worked with Ms. Claude Endfield, Chair of the Early Childhood Program at Northland Pioneer College in Holbrook, Arizona. The site visit took place on February 23rd and 24th, 2009 at the Quileute Tribe Department of Human Services office in La Push, Washington. Over the course of the two day visit, Ms. Endfield worked with staff to further develop the Department’s policies and procedures for transporting students.

The United States Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance (OFA) and Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) and the United States Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (ETA) hosted a technical assistance teleconference for Newark, New Jersey’s Workforce Investment Administration. As an outgrowth of the OFA-sponsored Collaboration Initiative, Newark requested additional technical assistance on an innovative non-custodial parent initiative being integrated into the child support enforcement and workforce administrations in San Antonio, Texas.

The Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network (WPTA) offered technical assistance to the AdvoCare Conference with the primary purpose of creating a nationwide task force of organizations and agencies that can provide proven evidence-based practice plans and ideas for innovative crime prevention, prisoner reentry, and family unification using collaboration models. The Task Force's long term goal would be to ultimately provide technical assistance to others. The Welfare Peer TA Network brought together specialists from prisoner reentry, social services agencies, and judicial communities to form a task force that could solidify a process that could be used to shape a cohesive prisoner reentry program and reduce the risk for those currently receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and those who may potentially become TANF participants. The Task Force work group and sessions were held in Winchester, Virginia on July 23rd-24th, 2009.

The capstone event for the Rural Communities Initiative was the Rural Leadership Forum that took place in Charleston, South Carolina on September 1-2, 2009. Representatives from the 16 rural TANF sites met to share lessons learned; explore leadership and sustainability plans; and discuss successes garnered and challenges encountered from the implementation of the Rural TANF sites’ TA plans over the past year.

The Rural Communities Initiative conducted a Site Visit to the White Mountain Apache Tribal TANF Program based on their request for TA. Rural Communities Initiative staff partnered with consultants from the U.C. Davis Extension at the University of California to provide the Tribe with an in-depth needs assessment in order to strategize on developing solutions for programmatic improvement. The consultants, Julie Gondry and Dr. Geni Cowan, are Tribal TANF subject matter experts with program based skills in training, case management, and data reporting. Based upon the assessment results, the White Mountain Apache Tribal TANF Program will receive valuable recommendations to further enhance aspects of their program’s structure and administration to reach the end goal of self-sufficiency for their TANF participants.

This Rural Communities Initiative Webinar explores distance learning options for TANF participants living in rural areas who wish to continue their education, earn their GED, or access job training. The challenge of engaging participants in educational activities to earn their GED or other credential was identified by many Rural Community Initiative sites as key for TANF agencies in helping families move to self sufficiency. Presenters included Dr. Eleanor “Lyn” Bond from the University of Washington, School of Nursing and Ms. Tonya Crum from Kentucky Education Television. The third invited presenter, Mr. Monte Murphy from Shasta College, could not attend however, his material appears below for reference.