This report summarizes a meeting of Region II and III Directors to address challenges to increase work participation rates in TANF programs with the expectation that work participation rates will increase with TANF reauthorization. The stakeholders took this opportunity to learn from well performing States with higher participation rates and States that had overcome barriers to improvement. The meeting provided an opportunity to promote and enhance collaboration and partnerships within the regions.

The Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network coordinated this workshop in conjunction with the Department of Labor, Employment and Training Division. The purpose of this two-day workshop was to assemble a collection of varying levels of expertise from all over the nation among the Individual Development Account (IDA) field to promote information sharing and fact finding. This workshop built on the successes of two previous IDA workshops that were hosted by the Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network during this past year. The program for this workshop was similar to the other two workshops with the additional component of focusing on the flexibility available in using Welfare to Work funds for IDA programs.

The Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network, funded by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Family Assistance (OFA), Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) coordinated this workshop in conjunction with the Office of Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), DHHS. Ms. Julia Isaacs, Director, Data and Technical Analysis Division, ASPE/HSP, led the planning and conduct of this workshop. It was intended for states or counties that were awarded specific ASPE grants in 1998 to study welfare “leavers.”

The Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network, funded by the Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance, coordinated two-day site visits at the request of several Regional and State Department of Health and Human Services Offices. States were invited to participate based on findings resulting from the Network’s national needs assessment regarding the challenges and successes of implementation of State welfare reform initiatives. Ms. Vesta Kimble, Deputy Director of the Anne Arundel County Department of Social Services, led the site visit. Ms. Kimble provided an in-depth description of Anne Arundel County’s Family Investment Program. This technical assistance event afforded participants an opportunity to observe Anne Arundel’s welfare service delivery system first hand.

The Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network, funded by the Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance, supported two 1-day workshops. The Department of Labor and the Department of Health and Human services jointly presented a Region III workshop examining job retention strategies, marketing to potential employers of welfare-to-work clients, and marketing services to those clients.

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.