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.

The ACF West-Central Hub Family Stabilization Workshop, held September 26 and 27, 2001, in Denver, CO, had three primary themes: Responsible Fatherhood, Faith-based and Community Initiatives, and Marriage and Family Stabilization. The Administration for Children and Families West-Central Hub includes Region VI (New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Arkansas) and Region VIII (Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming). The objectives of the workshop were to introduce participants to successful programs in the three key areas, to encourage networking, and to serve vulnerable children and families by focusing on making lasting connections. Speakers from various programs and perspectives  shared promising practices, challenges, and lessons learned in the area of family stabilization.

The training conference was to deliver training and education to program administrators to conform to Federal regulations, collaborate on faith- and community-based coordination, and to foster strategic plans for carrying out ACF's objectives. The conference sought to increase awareness of the priorities that contribute to the well-being of children and families.

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network conducted this workshop in collaboration with the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC). The purpose of the event was to provide and share information on Welfare-to-Work (WTW) transportation and related issues. Furthermore, the workshop provided a forum for discussing the effectiveness of current initiatives, which provide the foundation for solutions to as yet unresolved transportation dilemmas. Specific topics addressed included building upon existing resources; providing affordable, accessible, and reliable transportation to all urban, suburban, and rural areas; coordination between transportation, workforce development, and human service agencies to overcome transportation barriers, and combining resources to achieve these objectives.

The Welfare Peer TA Network hosted a broadcast call titled, “Welfare Reform and Housing—Asset Building and Individual Development Accounts (IDAs)” on August 2, 2000. The purpose of the call was to review the asset building and IDA program concepts, present examples of cooperation between State TANF agencies and asset building programs, and identify issues related to asset building and IDAs that are likely to arise for State TANF agencies.

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 TA Network sponsored this statewide Roundtable event that took place in Oklahoma City, OK, from July 25-26, 2005. Attended by over 100 Federal, State, and local representatives, this Roundtable was designed to facilitate statewide discussion to impart the tools and knowledge to implement a statewide Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) awareness and outreach campaign.

The Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network, funded by the Administration for Children and Families, supported a 2-day conference held by Office of Family Assistance, Region VI, examining the issues of domestic violence and substance abuse as barriers to self-sufficiency for the Native American Population. The focus of the conference was to help TANF case workers better understand the impact of domestic violence and substance abuse in Native American populations, and identify barriers unique to Native American Communities. The conference also focused on developing strategies for collaboration with Native American organizations and governments. See Appendix A for the complete Agenda. TANF workers from Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas were invited to attend.

This short report describes the Roundtable entitled Developing Strategies to Address the Child-Only Caseload that was held April 8-9, 2003 in Colorado Springs (El Paso County). The Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network conducted discussion with State TANF administrators around the country to assess their current policies and programs designed to meet the needs of the child-only caseload, and to gauge their level of interest in participating a Roundtable on this topic. The full report fully describes the meeting, attended by California, Colorado, Hawaii, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and Washington, and includes important highlights and lessons learned.