TA REQUEST PROCESS

The Welfare Peer TA Network provides peer-to-peer technical assistance (TA) for States, counties, localities and community-based organizations working with TANF families. This Web site provides a variety of welfare-related resources and research for agencies/organizations operating TANF programs. TA is a way for you to receive additional assistance on welfare-related challenges that you may be facing. There are two types of technical assistance:

Via the Web site, the Interactive Question & Answer (Q&A) forum allows you to submit questions to, and solicit answers from, your peers online regarding TANF self-sufficiency programs and other welfare-related questions. You are also encouraged to respond to questions posted by your peers. Please visit the Interactive Q&A page for more information and to submit and read questions.

The TA Request Form allows you to solicit the Welfare Peer TA Network for a Technical Assistance intervention (e.g., site visits, workshops, teleconferences) that shares information on innovative strategies and programs for effectively serving TANF clients, and for purposes of building linkages within and among States and their agencies. To request TA, please read the important information below and either 1) visit the online TA Request Form or 2) download the TA Request Form [pdf].

Here are two examples of TA events conducted in response to requests:

• The Welfare Peer TA Network's Effective Interagency Service Integration Workshop included representatives from State TANF, Welfare-to-Work, Alcohol and Drug, and Domestic Violence and Child Welfare Departments from eight States to share innovative practices for effectively moving welfare recipients with multiple barriers to employment and self-sufficiency. Issue areas addressed included the cross-over between the agencies on screening and assessment procedures, funding opportunities, and interagency and community level collaboration.
  
  
• The Welfare Peer TA Network's Uniting Incarcerated Parents and their Families included State TANF directors and corrections staff from five States to discuss how to effectively reunite incarcerated fathers in TANF programs with their families. Participants had the opportunity to participate in a Site Visit to the Kairos Horizon's multi-faith based program. The program addresses parenting, anger management, conflict resolution, basic skills, and job readiness. Topics discussed included: ways for TANF and Correction agencies to work in a collaborative manner, program strategies for better serving incarcerated parents and their families, and research and studies on incarcerated parents.

Written reports of all TA interventions are posted on the TA Summaries page. You may wish to access these summaries to review lessons learned from past events.

What's the Review Process? TA requests are jointly reviewed by the Welfare Peer TA Network and the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) based on the following criteria:

• The extent to which the TA requested is likely to move TANF recipients from welfare to work, self-sufficiency, and family stability.
• The degree to which the area of requested TA is related to ACF priorities:
• Provide assistance to needy families so that children may be cared for in their own homes, or in the homes of relatives;
• End of the dependence of needy parents on government benefits by promoting job preparation, work, and marriage;
• Prevent and reduce the incidence of out-of-wedlock pregnancies and establish annual, numerical goals for preventing and reducing the incidence of these pregnancies, and;
• Encourage the formation and maintenance of two-parent families.
• The level of urgency of the requested TA .
• The degree to which the requested TA methods foster information exchange among States, counties, and communities.
• The extent to which the TA requested may have value for other States or programs.
• The cost-effectiveness of the requested TA.

Online TA Request Form

Downloadable TA Request Form [PDF 12 KB]