This report summarizes the key findings of the Administration for Children and Families' seminar, “Site Visit to ConnectInc: Offering Effective Post-employment Services to TANF Clients in Rural Areas,” held June 18-19, 2002, in Rocky Mount, North Carolina.

The ACF West-Central Hub sponsored a conference entitled “Outreach to Faith and Community: Renewing Our Commitment,” May 14-16, 2002, in New Orleans, Louisiana. This event was designed to support the President Bush's White House Initiative on Rallying the Armies of Compassion and the DHHS/ACF initiative to remove barriers to full participation of faith-based and community services in the delivery of government-funded social services. The conference also showcased ACF’s national initiatives in relation to strengthening families through promoting healthy marriages, parenting skills, and responsible fatherhood or male involvement in support of child well-being.

The ACF Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network coordinated this workshop on behalf of the ACF Region VII office. The network is a contract from the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Family Assistance (OFA). The contractors for the Network are AFYA, Inc. and Caliber Associates. The purpose of this two-day technical assistance event was to identify the transportation challenges of participating states, examine other state’s initiatives that have addressed these challenges, identify available resources, and explore next steps to address these challenges. Additional topics included the Transportation Equity Act of the 21st Century (TEA-21) and the wealth of resources available via the National Transit Resource Center, operated by the Community Transportation Association of America.

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 ACF Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network coordinated this presentation as part of the Arkansas Transitional Employment Assistance (TEA) Coalition Conference in collaboration with the Arkansas Department of Human Services (DHS). TEA is Arkansas’ TANF program. The conference was hosted by the Arkansas DHS and the State TEA Program Advisory Council. The purpose of this three-day conference was to provide a forum for hundreds of community leaders involved in local TEA Coalitions throughout the state to exchange ideas, make announcements, and hold discussions related to developing services and support for families in their service areas. Topics addressed included transportation, childcare, job training and development, health issues, housing, volunteer issues, and funding development issues. This summary highlights the main points from the transportation workshop presentations and subsequent discussions ensuing from them. The focus of these workshops was to discuss coordinating client transportation services at the local level.

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), coordinated this workshop involving select representatives from fourteen States (representing eleven human services offices, and nine community partners), from across five ACF Regions, and three federal agencies. Nationally recognized private sector organizations that contributed to this workshop included representatives from the Center for Social Development (CSD) at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, and the Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) in Washington, DC.

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), within the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) coordinated this workshop in conjunction with the El Paso County Department of Human Services (DHS). Ms. Barbara Drake, Deputy Director, El Paso County DHS, led the planning and carrying out of this site visit. It was intended for site visitors to gain an understanding of El Paso County’s uniquely holistic approach to integrating intake and case management activities for multiple programs including TANF, child welfare, child care, domestic violence, mental health, and substance abuse.

The Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network coordinated this site visit to the offices of the Oregon Department of Human Services (OR, DHS), Adult and Family Services (AFS) Division on behalf of staff from the Minnesota Department of Human Services (MN, DHS) and the Hennepin County, Minneapolis, MN, TEA-WERC. The MN DHS office was interested in learning more about Oregon=s efforts to integrate substance abuse and mental health treatment into their Welfare-to-Work Program. MN-DHS is in the process of implementing a program similar to OR that involves coordination among social services, employment services, welfare, and health care staff. This was the second phase of technical assistance provided to MN earlier in the year from OR coordinated and supported by the Welfare Peer TA Network.

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) provided technical assistance in support of this meeting. The meeting was coordinated by the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (NH DHHS) and the New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NH DOT). The purpose of the meeting was to begin to develop a strategy and formulate a framework for coordination that improves and/or increases mobility options for various populations of transportation users throughout the State.