This report summarizes a national conference that took place in Arlington, VA, on March 20-21, 2003. The conference was jointly sponsored by the Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families (ACF) and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). This conference brought together substance abuse treatment agency directors and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) administrators from forty States, the District of Columbia, and the Virgin Islands. The conference provided a forum for these policymakers and administrators to share information about their experience and concerns, and their promising strategies used in strengthening the collaboration and partnership of TANF and substance abuse treatment directors.

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996 replaced the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills (JOBS) and Emergency Assistance programs wit the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. Under TANF, the nature of public assistance changed from an entitlement program to one that requires individuals to work in order to receive time-limited support. This change in the welfare delivery system was accompanied by an increase in State-level flexibility in program design and operation. Welfare reform required no less than a redefinition of the role of decision makers at the Federal, State and local level, including the role played by front line workers when interacting with welfare recipients. In the journey toward reinventing the social safety net, States have met a variety of formidable challenges. Five years after the passage of welfare reform, this report takes stock of the past and current challenges that States have encountered. This report focuses on the policies and services provided to the hardest-to-serve and on the network of collaborations that States have developed to address the needs of these populations.

The National Healthy Marriage Academy, held January 8 and 9, 2003,  in Arlington, VA, provided an opportunity for representatives from several States to learn more about the Administration for Children and Families' (ACF) Healthy Marriage Initiative. The Academy afforded States an opportunity to hear presentations from nationally recognized speakers, researchers, and Federal policy makers, as well as from other States with successful Healthy Marriage Initiatives.

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 ability of States and counties to meet TANF participation goals through the use of subsidized employment, work experience and community service strategies has been a central part of TANF. Recognizing these realities, especially those facing large urban centers, the California Department of Social Services made a Technical Assistance (TA) request on behalf of their largest urban center (Los Angeles) and on behalf of four very similar urban centers (Chicago, Houston, New York City and Philadelphia.) The five target cities were led through a series of facilitated discussions involving the core subject areas of performance management and contracting, saturation engagement, diversion and immediate employment, and re-engagement and sanctions.

The ACF Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network, funded by the Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance, coordinated this one day workshop presentation by Ms. Toby Herr, the Founder of Project Match. Ms. Herr provided an in-depth description of the Pathways System developed through Project Match. This workshop was the result of a collaborative effort between the Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network and the New England Promising Practices Workgroup. The technical assistance event was a multi-state workshop with a focus on providing participants with a thorough understanding of the Pathways System philosophy and approach to serving a large and diverse welfare population with serious or multiple barriers to employment and self-sufficiency.

On June 3, 2004, the Welfare Peer Technical Assistance (TA) Network sponsored a one-day site visit to the Human Resources Administration (HRA) in New York City (NYC). The purpose of the site visit was to provide the State of Maryland, Department of Human Resources (DHR), Family Investment Administration (FIA) staff the opportunity to observe New York's use of JobStat, a program which allows the city to set goals and monitor and measure outcomes of performance indicators established for NYC welfare recipients, workers, and job centers.