On March 26-27, 2002, the Welfare Peer TA held a technical assistance meeting in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in order to compare and contrast Louisiana’s joint interagency substance abuse initiative to that of the State of North Carolina. As part of this comparison, staff members from North Carolina’s Division of Social Services and its Division of Mental Health/Developmental Disabilities/Substance Abuse Services were onsite to participate in the meeting. Their role in this technical assistance meeting was to provide information about their initiative and informal observations and recommendations to Louisiana about their interagency substance abuse initiative. The overall goal of the meeting was to examine what “works” and what “doesn’t work” from the perspective of the North Carolina staff. The meeting included a visit to a pilot site for the State’s substance abuse initiative, which afforded the North Carolina staff an opportunity to gain an in-depth observation and understanding of Louisiana’s program.

Professionals from Cass County solicited specific technical assistance from the Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network in response to this developing problem of drug screening. Their technical assistance request broadly covered substance abuse screening in general, but also included specific aspects of methamphetamine use and identification among TANF clients. The TA request from North Dakota touched on multiple aspects of substance abuse. The technical assistance request from North Dakota solicited help in addressing substance abuse among TANF families and devising strategies to assist substance abusing families find and maintain employment. 

In March 1999, the Welfare Peer TA Network hosted a workshop for the state of Oregon on learning disabilities strategies. Oregon identified learning disabilities as a major barrier to self-sufficiency, and as their caseload dropped, many participants were identified has having some type of learning disability. This meeting included partners to how to best identify learning disabilities and provide appropriate services to their participants.

The Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network supported a one and one-half day technical assistance event in New Hampshire on April 4 and 5, 2000. The first day of the event centered on training for approximately 25 state professionals working with TANF clients with learning disabilities. The second day involved an extensive discussion with the New Hampshire Learning Disabilities Coordinator, Ms. Linda Swenson, and provided an evaluation of the current process of identification and referral for TANF clients with learning disabilities in New Hampshire. Mr. Daniel Fey, Learning Disability Project and Educational Services Coordinator for the Seattle-King County One-stop Center, and a BRIDGES2 trainer, facilitated the training day and provided his expertise in evaluating the current assessment and referral system. Dr. Jeanette Hercik, from the Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network, was also present for the training day and the evaluation.

The Pacific Hub State TANF Directors Meeting took place in Seattle, WA on July 25-26, 2001. States heard presentations on the following: national perspective on welfare reform, a learning disability program, case manager training and retention, and caseload dynamics and time limits.

The U.S. Administration for Children and Families (ACF), with support from the Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network, sponsored the Uniting Incarcerated Parents and their Families workshop on May 21-22, 2002, in Orlando, FL . Participants included representatives from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), corrections staff, and child care staff from the following States: Alabama, Florida, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana. The purpose of this 2-day seminar was two fold: to provide participants with an opportunity to understand how TANF agencies and corrections staff can work together to better serve incarcerated parents and to showcase the Kairos Horizon’s faith-based program around parenting, anger management, conflict resolution, basic skills, and job readiness.

The Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network under contract from the Office of Family Assistance (OFA), Administration for Children and Families (ACF) coordinated a workshop on the topic of Post-employment Services: Making Job Retention and Post-Employment Services Work. The contractors on the Network are AFYA, Inc. and Caliber Associates. This one day technical assistance event was a multi-state workgroup designed to review the lessons learned from the Post-employment Services Demonstration Project (PESD) and to explore strategies for job retention and post-employment support.

This two-day workshop was coordinated by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) Region IX and Region X offices, with the support of the ACF Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network. The purpose of this event was to provide a forum for the sharing of the latest research, perspectives, and promising practices regarding job retention and post-employment services for TANF clients. The workshop combined presentations from key Federal, State and corporate experts. Information related to post-placement services was provided by Region X state representatives.

This teleconference was coordinated by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) as part of its Family Independence Forum series available to ACF Regional offices and State social service offices. The purpose of the Employment Retention and Advancement Program Design Manual is to help States design strategies for improving job retention and advancement among TANF recipients. States now have an opportunity to have their strategies evaluated as part of a national evaluation funded by the ACF Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE). The Employment Retention and Advancement Project will be conducted by the Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation (MDRC) to determine the effectiveness and cost-benefits of programs designed to help current or former TANF recipients or other low income families retain and advance in employment. OPRE has issued a grant announcement for State TANF agencies to participate in the evaluation.

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.