This brief highlights an innovative collaboration forged between a corporation, government agencies, and a community partner in New Hampshire to create a career pathway for TANF participants. Read more about how the partners designed a phased training model to directly integrate TANF program requirements and prepare participants for a pharmacy technician career.

This brief is part of the Emerging Practice Series of the Office of Family Assistance’s Integrating Innovative Employment and Economic Stability Strategies (IIEESS) initiative, which highlights the strategies of TANF agencies and their partners to help low-income individuals gain and sustain meaningful employment. Each brief describes an emerging practice that has been implemented in one site, an overview of the program model, and the results that have been achieved. Compelling stories of participants’ success and suggestions from TANF agency staff to their peers provide actionable insights and on-the-ground perspectives.

The Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation is accepting proposals for individual presentations, full conference sessions, and roundtables for the Research and Evaluation Conference on Self-Sufficiency (RECS) to be held in Washington, D.C. on May 27-29, 2020. Panels will cover the following topics: TANF Programs, Policies, and Populations; Employment and Mobility in the Labor Market; Youth Well-Being and the Transition to Adulthood; Strengthening Families, Fatherhood, Marriages, and Relationships; Evaluating Social Programs, Building Evidence, and Using Data; and Approaches to Alleviate Poverty and Expand Opportunity. Presentations will cover both basic and applied research targeted to a broad audience of researchers, practitioners, state and local administrators, and policymakers. The deadline for proposal submissions has been extended to September 6, 2019.

The Anoka County Job Training Center is the only WIOA job center serving the county. It houses all public assistance programs, including TANF (called the Minnesota Family Investment Program), on-site WIOA partners, and child care services in the same building. As described in this brief, the Center has implemented strategies to streamline service delivery and co-enrollment among these programs, including a universal program application, a team of intake and eligibility specialists, and cross-program practices for adapting resources to meet client needs. This site also offers a rich mix of youth programming, such as employment and training opportunities for out-of-school and in-school youth, and a Human Services Youth Team to focus on young TANF recipients.

Sections of the brief discuss joint service delivery, resource sharing, shared learning, and managing collaborative activities. Readers may also access links to the state TANF plan and funding information for more context and resources. This brief is part of the TANF Works! TANF/WIOA Collaboration Series, through which the Office of Family Assistance’s Integrating Innovative Employment and Economic Stability Strategies (IIEESS) initiative seeks to highlight innovative coordination strategies of TANF and WIOA programs to serve low-income or vulnerable populations.