In California, as in much of the country, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)/California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) welfare-to-work program has been highly successful in reducing welfare caseloads. California has reduced its welfare caseload by 50 percent since 1996 and has shown marked success in implementing employment services and supports that help TANF participants overcome barriers to work and become more self supporting. However, many California counties are currently facing greater challenges moving their remaining CalWORKs participants into the workforce and meeting the new federally mandated work participation requirements. The state of California and its county partners are looking for new and effective programs and tools to aid them in reengaging sanctioned individuals; developing new opportunities for participants in the labor market; and linking these individuals to the skills training they need to become “work ready.” Faced with this challenge, the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) partnered with the U.S. Department of Human and Health Services Administration for Children and Families (ACF) Office of Family Assistance (OFA), to develop the California Counties Technical Assistance (TA) Academy as a way to focus on solutions and strategies to enhance California’s work participation rate. This Academy was a facilitated two and a half day event designed to introduce staff from 18 California counties to new programs, strategies, and ideas in order to strengthen their capacity to achieve higher levels of work participation rates.

This report provides an executive summary of the Rapid Response Technical Assistance event in Chicago, Illinois, sponsored through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance. In response to a joint technical assistance request from Regions V (Chicago) and VII (Kansas City), the Rapid Response project team conducted secondary research and telephone discussions on a variety of TANF issues, identified as being of concern to the constituent States of these regions, to present at the event. This report includes an overview of the meeting as well as the descriptions of TANF promising practices from around the country that were discussed by participating States.

The Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network (Welfare Peer TA) sponsored the Navajo Nation follow-up site visit conducted on December 8-12, 2008 in six locations over the course of five days. Staff from the Navajo Nation’s Native Employment Works (NEW) program requested Dr. Geni Cowan and Julie Gondry from the University of California - Davis Extension to assist them in improving services in various programmatic areas including case management, linkages and coordination with related programs and other resource groups, outreach, recruitment, and other areas essential to customer services. Welfare Peer TA staff accompanied Dr. Cowan and Ms. Gondry on the site visit. The Native Employment Works program operates within the Navajo Nation’s Department of Workforce Development (NDWD). The site visit was structured to include interviews with program directors, staff, and program participants. From the visit, the team identified areas where the NDWD could improve their services. The Navajo Nation Administrative Offices will be reviewing the team’s recommendations and seek to implement changes within the Department throughout the year.

Welfare Peer TA conducted a Site Visit to the Mille-Lacs Band of Ojibwe Tribal TANF Program based on their request for TA. Welfare Peer TA 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, Mille-Lacs 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.

Staff from the Healthy Family/Healthy Child Project in Siletz, Oregon, submitted a technical assistance (TA) request to the Welfare Peer TA Network in hopes of increasing their knowledge around collaborating among their tribal service agencies to better serve their TANF and Child Welfare participants. The Healthy Family/Healthy Child Project operates through a Tribal TANF-Child Welfare Coordination Grant from the U.S. Department of Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance. In response to the request, an event was held on December 3-5, 2008 that focused on wraparound case management practices and the Systems of Care (SOC) framework from the perspective of the Medicine Moon Initiative through the Native American Training Institute. Deb Painte, Director of the Medicine Moon Initiative, Jan Birkland, Sacred Child Project Coordinator for the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, and Claresa Blacksmith, Parent Coordinator for the St. Mary’s Parent Support Group of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, facilitated the meeting.

This Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network site exchange was conducted to support the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families in exploring the WeCARE (Wellness, Comprehensive Assessment, Rehabilitation, Employment) program of the Human Resources Administration (HRA) in New York City. The site exchange took place on October 31, 2008, and the Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network facilitated the visit and interaction between the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families, staff from the New York City Human Resources Administration (HRA) and Arbor, the contractor who operates WeCARE in Brooklyn. The site exchange featured presentations by both HRA and Arbor staff responsible for the program, tours of the Brooklyn facility; a tour of a community partner’s office, a tour of the medical facility at a local hospital and dialogue among participants to discuss the details of operations and the implementation of the current program.

On November 13-14, 2008, the Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network sponsored a two-day site exchange to New York City (NYC) Human Resources Administration (HRA). The purpose of the Technical Assistance (TA) was to provide the Hawaii Department of Human Services the opportunity to observe NYC’s use of JobStat, which allows the city to set goals, monitor, and measure outcomes of performance indicators established for NYC Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) participants, workers, job centers, and vendors. Hawaii was also able to learn about NYC HRA’s Wellness, Assessment, Rehabilitation, and Employment (WeCARE) program that serves NYC TANF and Safety Net participants who have clinical barriers to employment.

The interaction between child support and TANF is vital for the success of not only each program, but also, and more importantly, each client’s success. As a result, Welfare Peer TA sponsored a Focus Group in Anaheim, California called “TANF/Child Support Enforcement Collaboration.” The Focus Group emphasized the need for collaboration between the child support enforcement and TANF agencies, and the need for solutions to identify gaps in services for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) participants.

At the request of the Maryland Department of Human Resources, this Site Visit was initiated to visit a training center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in order for Maryland to begin developmental strategies for a program of similar services. The goal of this Site Visit was to assist Maryland in exploring the types of education and training facilities that assist unemployed and underemployed individuals with career opportunities to increase their skill set and earning potential.

Authored by ICF International, this paper was funded through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance. The paper presents the preliminary findings from an ongoing U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) sponsored study of successful TANF and Faith-Based and Community Organization partnerships. First, overviews of five partnerships are presented, then common themes among them are identified, and finally the implications are discussed for possible future collaborations in social services provision for low-income and at-risk families.