The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Family Assistance (OFA) conducted the 2021 National TANF Directors’ Meeting from September 20 - 24, 2021. During this concurrent workshop, discussion focused on sharing lessons from the Pathways Clearinghouse. In addition to the enormous challenges COVID-19 posed to TANF agencies’ service delivery, it also led to sharp increases in unemployment. To help TANF agencies better serve clients during such unprecedented times, the Pathways to Work Evidence Clearinghouse undertook two projects to learn from past periods of economic difficulty and to identify innovations spurred by COVID-19. Participants learned about interventions and strategies that work during periods of economic recession and recovery.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Family Assistance (OFA) conducted the 2021 National TANF Directors’ Meeting from September 20 - 24, 2021. During this concurrent workshop, researchers from the TANF Data Collaborative (TDC) team identified key components to sustaining data analytic capacity in government agency environments, provided examples of activities and practices that fall within each sustainability component, and elicited audience participation to source additional strategies and examples of sustainable practices. The research is based on work with eight pilot states across the country and the results of a comprehensive TANF Data Needs Assessment.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Family Assistance (OFA) conducted the 2021 National TANF Directors’ Meeting from September 20 - 24, 2021. During this concurrent workshop, presenters from the TANF Data Collaborative (TDC) provided key insights from the toolkit developed for TANF administrators about the realities of accessing, linking, and analyzing wage records to inform policy and programming. Solutions for common data access barriers and an overview of key methods for linking TANF data with other datasets were also discussed with the goal of equipping participants with actionable strategies to facilitate data integration.

The Office of Family Assistance has made available preliminary FY 2020 TANF and state maintenance-of-effort (MOE) expenditures and transfer data. The data is available in tables and an interactive map, as well as national and state pie charts. Data is broken down by category of activity, including basic assistance; work, education, and training activities; and child care (including funds that states transferred to the Child Care and Development Discretionary Fund).

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Family Assistance (OFA) conducted the 2021 National TANF Directors’ Meeting from September 20 - 24, 2021. During this panel-style session comprised of “success snapshots,” speakers presented innovative strategies that enable programs to link people to jobs, to better communicate and respond to participant needs, and to provide training and skills development to the community. Presenters shared various strategies for finding employment opportunities, including work activities that are culturally relevant and responsive to the needs of their participants. This session also explored the option of Tribal TANF and NEW programs partnering with local organizations to fulfill community needs.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Family Assistance (OFA) conducted the 2021 National TANF Directors’ Meeting from September 20 - 24, 2021. During this concurrent workshop, a presentation examined how Connecticut’s Welfare to Work program responded to COVID-19 by shifting to a virtual service delivery system while building staff capacity to deliver services remotely statewide. Discussion covered how Connecticut’s initiative kept participants connected and engaged with their Employment Services program during COVID. Lessons learned also included a review of how COVID will impact future program operations, including the implementation of virtual orientation sessions.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Family Assistance (OFA) conducted the 2021 National TANF Directors’ Meeting from September 20 - 24, 2021. During this concurrent workshop, panelists explored how Tribal TANF and NEW programs can consider expanding virtual services to motivate participants to pursue opportunities, especially those which may have been previously inaccessible. Speakers discussed a variety of strategies used in the past year to create virtual education and training opportunities and virtual case management services for clients, as well as how these offerings were developed, challenges along the way, witnessed successes, and recommendations for programs considering offering similar resources. This session concluded with a review of OFA’s Coaching for Success eLearning modules, which program staff can use to provide virtual coaching and mentorship to participants.

This Information Memorandum (IM) accompanies the transmission of the FY 2020 state work participation rates from October 2019 through September 2020. The accompanying data tables provide state-by-state information on topics including combined TANF and SSP-MOE Work Participation Rates, TANF and SSP-MOE Families Work Participation Rates, and Changes in Combined Work Participation Rates.

The Office of Family Assistance will host a webinar on August 26, 2021 from 12 noon to 1:00 p.m. ET on strengthening the skills of state, local, and tribal TANF leaders. Participants will learn about the building blocks of an evidence-informed leadership practice—strategic and visionary leadership, operational management, and developmental supervision—and the benefits to organizations and people. Project IMPROVE will launch the session with a description of leadership competencies, then facilitate a panel of leaders from across the country who will share tips from their leadership practice. This session is for leaders broadly, including program administrators, supervisors, team leaders/lead case workers, analysts, or trainers, among others. Content will also be relevant for emerging leaders.

Featured panelists include Amy Kershaw, Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance and Marla Stuart, Deputy Director, Solano County Department of Health & Social Services. Michelle Derr of Adjacent Possible will facilitate the webinar.

Coaching is a person-centered, strength-based way of working with others that helps them direct the changes they want to make in their own lives. The Office of Family Assistance has made available to State and Tribal TANF agencies and Native Employment Works (NEW) programs a 14-module eLearning Curriculum called “Coaching for Success.” This curriculum aims to leverage coaching techniques to support employment case managers. Taken over time or for a specific topic, these self-paced modules on active listening, powerful questions, emotional intelligence, praise, and other important techniques can elevate TANF case management services. For additional information and sample module demonstrations, please refer to this introductory OFA webinar.