Recognizing the importance of expanding transportation options for their TANF participants, the North Dakota Rural Communities Initiative site sought to learn more about innovative car ownership programs serving individuals on public assistance. Through contacts at Opportunity Cars, a network of 150 innovative car ownership programs, it was suggested that the team visit programs in Minnesota, which has one of the highest number of car ownership programs in the country. The director of Opportunity Cars nominated three innovative programs that had distinctly different implementation models and were also centrally located in the state: (1) Free to Be, Inc. – Blaine, Minnesota; (2) People Responding in Social Ministry (PRISM) – Golden Valley, Minnesota; and (3) Minnesota Valley Action Council (MVAC). During site visits to these three organizations in late June 2009, the North Dakota site members met with program staff to discuss the background of their car ownership programs, service delivery models, and partnering strategies. These resources and ideas promise to be incredibly useful as the site begins moving forward on implementing their own transportation assistance program.

This Webinar took place on February 11, 2009 and included presentations from John Squires, Executive Director, Community Resource Group, Donna Shaunsesy, JAUNT Program, Virginia, and Sandy Conner, Workforce Transportation and Referral Center/Transportation Institute Partnership, Maryland.

This is a breakout session from the Rural Communities Initiative Academy.

This Webinar included presentations from Charles Rutkowski and Chris Zeilinger, Community Transportation Association of America; Mary Leahy, Senior Director, Easter Seals Project ACTION; David Schnieder, Program Specialist, Federal Transit Administration; and Nichole Goldsmith, Director, National Rural Transit Assistance Program.

The Rural Transportation Roundtable was held January 27-28, 2009 in Charleston, West Virginia. Attendees included representatives from seven of the Rural Communities Initiative Sites and various content specialists. One of the key challenges and issues facing rural TANF agencies and organizations is providing reliable and cost effective transportation. The purpose of the Rural Transportation Roundtable was for sites to learn more about additional programs in the field of rural transportation, resources on forming partnerships with local transportation stakeholders, and funding for these types of projects. Content faculty presented on lessons learned from current rural transportation models and participants had time to engage in action planning to develop programmatic and funding solutions to rural transportation challenges. Participants also conducted a site visit to the Good News Mountaineer Garage to see their service delivery model, their facilities, and meet with staff for a question and answer session.

This report discusses the correlation between car ownership and work readiness.  The publication addresses car ownership and leverages it as an asset-building strategy for helping people move into the labor market and helping low-wage workers gain access to better paying opportunities. In addition, it provides profiles and experiences of seven car-ownership programs, along with a bibliography of additional publications on transportation and poverty.

Utilizing the National Center for Children in Poverty’s Family Resource Simulator, this article reviews policies in Illinois that support work and self-sufficiency among families. It was found that Illinois is successful in providing adequate family resources, but rewarding progress in the workforce is still a challenge. The Simulator showed that full-time, low-wage workers in Illinois cannot afford basic family necessities—including housing, food, health care, child care, and transportation—without the help of public work supports.

Authored by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, this research brief provides information on car ownership programs for low-income families to support job stability. This resource offers information on local programs around the country aimed at providing low-income families with the opportunity to own their own vehicle.

This report, co-authored by the National Governors Association (NGA) Center for Best Practices and Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation (MDRC) is based largely on a roundtable meeting conducted in April 2000 by both organizations to discuss expanding postsecondary opportunities for low-income working parents and welfare recipients.

Because meaningful improvements in literacy require more hours of instruction than most adult learners receive, low student persistence is a critical issue for providers of adult education. This interim report from the Literacy in Libraries Across America persistence study describes adult students' characteristics and patterns of participation in nine library literacy programs and examines new strategies developed by the programs to raise persistence. Based on an implementation analysis and a look at participation levels before and as the strategies were put in place, the findings highlight public libraries' advantages as providers of literacy services and point to lessons for program design and implementation.