The 2019-2020 Policy Academy for Innovative Employment Strategies (PAIES) was an intensive technical assistance experience. Sponsored by the Office of Family Assistance (OFA), the Academy helped participating sites improve coaching and career pathways approaches. This PAIES brief entitled "TANF Coaching to Scale" shares key insights from three OFA PAIES TANF programs that piloted, refined, and prepared to scale coaching case management strategies: District of Columbia Department of Human Services, Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance, and Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. A companion PAIES brief highlighting staff engagement strategies to support systems change is available here: https://peerta.acf.hhs.gov/content/ofa-paies-brief-series-building-syst….

The 2019-2020 Policy Academy for Innovative Employment Strategies (PAIES) was an intensive technical assistance experience. Sponsored by the Office of Family Assistance (OFA), the Academy helped participating sites improve coaching and career pathways approaches. This PAIES brief entitled "Building Systems Change Through Staff Engagement" informs TANF leadership about strategies to effectively engage staff to inform systems change. It shares key takeaways from the PAIES experience of the Division of Welfare and Supportive Services, Nevada’s TANF agency. A companion PAIES brief that highlights coaching case management strategies can be found here: https://peerta.acf.hhs.gov/content/ofa-paies-brief-series-tanf-coaching….

This brief looks at how young people ages 14 to 24 can access cash assistance through the TANF program and the effectiveness of this program in meeting young people’s needs. It discusses opportunities for and challenges with accessing TANF benefits, including eligibility gaps and the effect of COVID-19. The brief also identifies areas for future research and action steps on improving accessibility.

While change can be unexpected, TANF and other human serving programs can build change readiness to weather the unexpected and prepare themselves for proactive changes too. This first episode of the PeerTA Podcast series explores what it means for TANF and other human services programs to be change-ready. Host Bright Sarfo, MEF Associates, talks to Fannie Ashley from the Alabama Department of Human Resources and Maria Wortman-Meshberger from the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services to learn about their experiences leading big changes within their organizations. He is also joined by an expert on the topic, Michon Hicks, who serves as the Strategic Initiatives Program Lead for the D.C. Department of Employment Services’ Office of Information Technology and is a member of the Strategic Doing Institute of the University of North Alabama.

The PeerTA Podcast series facilitates information sharing across state and local agencies implementing TANF and other programs serving low-income families to provide technical assistance, facilitate dialogue, and help programs learn about effective strategies to support families.

Supported by the Office of Family Assistance’s Peer Technical Assistance (PeerTA), the Roadmap Series highlights responsive leadership and management practices to support the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) agencies and their partners in adapting to new ways of work and connection amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Faced with myriad COVID-19 challenges, TANF staff may experience secondary traumatic stress or compassion fatigue. This OFA PeerTA resource suggests three fundamentals — listening, trusting, and encouraging staff — to help TANF program managers strengthen their organization’s ability to thrive amid complex change. Examples include listening by being sensitive to the well-being of others; building trust by showing compassion and validating another person’s experience to increase understanding; and encouraging staff to practice professional and emotional self-care to reduce burnout and increase compassion satisfaction.

Supported by the Office of Family Assistance’s Peer Technical Assistance (PeerTA), the Roadmap Series highlights responsive leadership and management practices to support the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) agencies and their partners in adapting to new ways of work and connection amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Social or physical distancing during the pandemic has raised the likelihood that individuals may encounter feelings of isolation, disconnection, and loneliness. To combat these experiences, this OFA PeerTA resource offers TANF agencies and partners insights and practical tips to cultivate modes of connection using technology, community-mindedness, and media. Practices include using technology in new ways to create external connections; engaging with the world through media (such as television, movies, and social media); and creating shared meaning with community to feel internally connected.

Supported by the Office of Family Assistance’s Peer Technical Assistance (PeerTA), the Roadmap Series highlights responsive leadership and management practices to support the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) agencies and their partners in adapting to new ways of work and connection amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the pandemic, TANF administrators, managers, and supervisors have transitioned to a virtual environment. This change away from the workplace requires rapid adjustments and socially cohesive teams to overcome emerging challenges. This OFA PeerTA resource provides strategies for quickly adapting to the virtual environment while building team cohesion. Strategies include exploring employee attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors; compassionately supporting remote employees; adapting an approach to ongoing check-ins; and promoting staff engagement outside of work.

This brief summarizes potential federal funding sources and programs that can be used to address barriers facing young parents and families, such as unemployment, disruption to education, financial instability, and lack of child care access, parenting experience, or family supports. Programs listed include, but are not limited to, TANF, SNAP, SSBG, Medicaid/Children’s Health Insurance Program, Child Care Development Block Grant, WIOA, and the Family First Prevention Services Act Prevention Funds.

This Office of Family Assistance dataset includes financial data tables, interactive maps, and national and state pie charts to illustrate the uses of TANF and Maintenance-of-Effort funds and transfers in FY2019. The charts break down expenditures for TANF-allowable purposes into 15 categories, including basic assistance; work, education, and training activities; child care; refundable tax credits (state Earned Income Tax Credit programs); child welfare services; pre-K/Head Start; out-of-wedlock pregnancy prevention; non-recurrent short term benefits; work supports and supportive services (transportation, mental health/substance abuse counseling, domestic violence services, and financial education); services for children and youth (home visiting, mentoring, and after school enrichment); fatherhood and two-parent family programs; transfers to Social Services Block Grant programs; and program management for TANF administration.

The Office of Family Assistance published data tables to illustrate the characteristics and financial circumstances of TANF recipients in FY2019 for all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Guam. These tables provide information about adults and children in the TANF program, including data regarding age, gender, race/ethnicity, educational attainment, and employment status, as well as breakdowns by the average monthly dollar level of TANF received and other cash support received. There are also data tables on recipients who receive assistance under Separate State Programs Maintenance-of-Effort (SSP-MOE) funding and closed cases.