Authored by ICF International, this paper was funded through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance. The paper presents the preliminary findings from an ongoing U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) sponsored study of successful TANF and Faith-Based and Community Organization partnerships. First, overviews of five partnerships are presented, then common themes among them are identified, and finally the implications are discussed for possible future collaborations in social services provision for low-income and at-risk families.

This report was funded through the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention at the U.S. Department of Justice and completed through the Urban Institute. The Gang Reduction Program is an initiative that is focused on reducing crime associated with youth street gangs in four urban areas across the United States. This report offers findings from the implementation process and outcome evaluation of the initiative.

This resource is from the Annie E. Casey Foundation and provides information on succession planning for nonprofit organizations. Specifically, agencies should focus on aligning staff development with its vision, mission, and goals. Such alignment can ensure agency stability by building a strong foundation for staff, including executives and managers.

This Web site offers teleconferences on various topics. On May 31st, 2007 they offered a teleconference titled "Building and Maintaining State-Tribal Partnerships to Improve Child Welfare Programs". During the teleconference, representatives from two States discussed their relationships with Tribes and how to maintain a productive partnership. The representatives discussed challenges and successes in that they had experienced while cultivating these relationships.

This issue brief was part of the Strengthening Rural Families initiative from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. The Rural Family Economic Success (RuFES) framework is “Earn it, Keep it, Grow it,” and designed to help families increase their income, stabilize finances, and build assets. Specifically, this piece looks at Franklin County, Maine, which developed a consortium of local partners to bring community college courses and other job-skills training to the area.

This report provides an overview of President Bush’s Faith-Based and Community Initiative. The Initiative was developed in 2001 by President Bush to help eliminate government barriers inhibiting partnerships with faith-based and community organizations. This report gives a seven year overview of the Initiative’s progress.

Recent research shows that when work and education programs are combined, low-income families have improved outcomes. This research is from MDRC and provides evaluation information from programs that include education components to increase earnings of low-wage workers. Specifically, performance-based scholarships can have a large positive effect on academic achievement among a single-parent student population that faces multiple barriers to completing college.

This toolkit was authored by the Council for Labor and Economic Growth, Low Wage Worker Advancement Committee and provides information on how employers can support employees. Employers can often provide work supports to help retain workers by helping workers to build assets, which in turn, reduces employer turnover. Specifically, the Council provides strategies to help employers inform workers of asset building programs in the community.

From the Commonwealth Fund, this study provides insights on community health initiatives that seek to serve the uninsured by connecting people to health care services and health insurance. Community health initiatives unite key stakeholders and build on relationships to support the local safety net within the community. Findings from the study show the importance of a state context for community initiatives and challenges in replicating such initiatives.

This newsletter, from the Casey Foundation, provides information on initiatives to promote community engagement. The Plain Talk initiative was designed in the mid-1990s to help educate youth on pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Through many Casey Foundation initiatives, resident engagement strategies have been successful by giving residents a voice in shaping solutions to local challenges and in linking residents together.