Technical Assistance

What is Technical Assistance?

Technical Assistance is a comprehensive set of consulting services that are available to help public and private entities succeed in strengthening marriages in their States or communities. These consulting services may include operational or management assistance given to aid in financial planning, program planning, legal advice, marketing, and other aids to management. Assistance may be offered directly by an ACF staff member or contractor.

Primary areas of technical assistance that are available include:

• Strategic Planning: Identification of goals and objectives and development of corresponding plans of action;
• Coalition Building: Strategies for building coalitions with public and private partners and "how-to" guidance;
• Marriage Education and Research Experts: Meetings and consultations with marriage experts and program providers;
• Service Capacity Building: Strategies for building capacity at the state, local, and community level, including the capacity to deliver marriage education training;
• Funding Information: Identification of potential sources of funding, guidance about accessing key funding streams, and grant writing; and
• Evaluation and Performance Measurement: Development of performance measures and evaluation design options, assistance with local evaluation plans.

ACF Technical Assistance Contractors

Requests to receive technical assistance from one of our TA contractors should be made through our TA request website.

The Lewin Group

Lewin and its subcontractors are available, on a limited basis, to work with sites to help identify technical assistance needs and to provide assistance.

Mathematica

Mathematica provides technical assistance to state and local organizations interested in developing services for unwed couples who are expecting or have just had a child, including program planning, curriculum selection, and implementation and operational guidance.

Online Technical Assistance

Community Tool Box

The community tool box was created by the Work Group on Health Promotion and Community Development at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas. The Tool Box provides over 6,000 pages of practical information on over 250 different topics to help your community initiative succeed. Topics include:

1. Creating and maintaining coalitions and partnerships
2. Assessing community needs and resources
3. Analyzing problems and goals
4. Developing a framework or model of change
5. Developing strategic and action plans
6. Building leadership
7. Developing an intervention
8. Increasing participation and membership
9. Enhancing cultural competence
10. Evaluating the initiative
11. Implementing a social marketing effort
12. Writing a grant application for funding
13. Sustaining your initiative

Topic sections include step-by-step instruction, examples, check-lists, and related resources.