The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Family Assistance (OFA) hosted the 2013 Tribal TANF--Child Welfare Coordination Projects Annual Grantee Meeting on August 14-15, 2013 in Denver, Colorado. The meeting provided Tribal TANF--Child Welfare Coordination Project grantees with the opportunity to share information with their peers regarding their program structure and performance. The meeting also addressed grant requirements for Year Two of the projects, strategies for building coalitions in Native American communities, home visiting programs, program sustainability, and approaches for documenting cross-agency coordination and collaboration.

On August 14 and 15, 2012, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Administration for Children and Families (ACF) Office of Family Assistance (OFA) Regions V, VI, VII, and VIII convened the 2012 Regions V, VI, VII, and VIII Tribal TANF Workshop in St. Paul, Minnesota. Designed to bring together Tribal TANF program directors and other key stakeholders, this workshop focused on the dual issues of effectively providing services to Tribal families in a recovering economy and helping TANF participants achieve self-sufficiency. Workshop attendees were provided with opportunities to strategically engage with their peers in order to share promising practices and the latest research, as well as to plan ways to improve TANF programming for low-income families. Over the course of the day and a half workshop a number of specific topics were covered including: Dialogue with the OFA Division of Tribal TANF Management; Youth Programming and Summer Youth Employment; Subsidized Employment Programs and Employer Engagement; Use of Skill-Building Activities; Audits, Financial and Grants Management, and Data Reporting; Collaboration with Child Support Enforcement and Child Welfare; and Financial Literacy and Asset Building. The wide reach of the workshop was evident with 24 Tribes represented from four OFA Regions. During the workshop, Tribal TANF program representatives also spent time networking and dialoguing on their program strengths, challenges, partnerships, and program policies/integrity, to garner new and innovative ideas from others for serving their TANF participants.

The Chippewa Cree Tribal TANF Program, operating on the Rocky Boy Reservation in Montana, submitted a Technical Assistance Request through the Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network (Welfare PeerTA), stating their interest in integrating an official wraparound case management and intervention process for Tribal TANF participants who need services across many agencies. To support this intervention process, the Welfare PeerTA Network, a technical assistance initiative sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance, approached these objectives through a three phase technical assistance process: 1) Wraparound Services Training Event; 2) a Tribal TANF Case Review Teleconference; and 3) a Wraparound Case Management Services Webinar. Together, the phases of technical assistance contributed to the fostering of collaborations within Chippewa Cree's various social services agencies, as well as equipped Chippewa Cree staff with the tools and skills necessary to move forward on their own.

The Chippewa Cree Tribal TANF program operates on the Rocky Boy Reservation in northern Montana. At the request of Elaine Topsky (TANF Director for the Chippewa Cree Tribal TANF Program), the WPTA Network hosted a webinar for Ms. Topsky’s staff that addressed Wraparound services and how to use them effectively to best help Tribal TANF participants. The Wraparound approach is an outcome based approach that “ties the goals of the plan to observable or measurable indicators of success."

One of the key components of Wraparound services is that the program is “specialized to the unique needs of the child and their family.” The program utilizes the family, their community, case manager, and others to serve as sources of trust, collaborators who share the responsibility of accountability, and teammates who offer unconditional care. Through the duration of the Wraparound services, the case manager, who is often the facilitator, will help the family discover their strengths and determine their needs, at the same time helping the family set goals and develop strong options for their success. The WPTA Network engaged Dr. Geni Cowan of Eagle Blue Associates to facilitate the training.

The Chippewa Cree Tribal TANF Program, operating on the Rocky Boy Reservation in Montana, recently submitted a Technical Assistance Request to Welfare Peer TA on developing a formal process/model to guide their case managers in delivering wraparound case management to TANF participants. As a result, Welfare Peer TA contracted with the U.C. Davis Extension at the University of California, Sacramento to deliver the Chippewa Cree Tribal Wraparound Services Training on April 26–27, 2011. The training focused on the background and implementation of the wraparound services model and included an in-depth action planning session.

In recognition of the many case management and economic development challenges and opportunities present on Tribal lands, the Office of Family Assistance, in partnership with the Administration for Children and Families Regions VI and VIII, convened a series of Tribal Roundtable events to help address and capitalize on some of these issues. Attended by staff from sixteen different Tribal governments, the Roundtable series took place April 12-15 in Denver, Colorado, and featured three major sessions: Identifying Opportunities for Economic Development In Indian Country Roundtable; ACF Regions VI and VIII Tribal TANF Administrators Meeting, and; Identifying and Implementing Effective Case Management Strategies Workshop. With assistance from Federal and Regional staff and nationally recognized content experts and practitioners, Roundtable participants focused on a number of issues critical to the success and continued sustainability of their TANF programs. Topics covered during the Roundtable Series included job creation, green technologies, guidance on American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding, and case management strategies that empower and motivate TANF participants and staff. Roundtable attendees were provided with tools, promising program models, and resources to assist in their local economic development, case management design, and program development efforts.

Welfare Peer TA conducted a site visit to the Chippewa Cree Tribal TANF program in Box Elder, Montana based on the Tribe's Request for TA. Welfare Peer TA staff joined with consultants from the U.C. Davis Extension at the University of California to provide the Tribe with an in-depth needs assessment in order to strategize on developing solutions for programmatic improvement. The consultants, Julie Gondry and Dr. Geni Cowan, partnered to provide the Tribe with Tribal TANF subject matter expertise with program based skills in training, case management and data reporting. Based upon the assessment results, the Chippewa Cree Tribal TANF program will receive valuable recommendations to further enhance aspects of their program's structure and administration to reach the end goal of self-sufficiency for their TANF participants.