February 2007
District of Columbia Child Support Services Division
In 2004, the District of Columbia’s Child Support Services Division (CSSD) launched a demonstration to improve collaboration between the child support agency and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) agency and reduce the number of TANF clients who failed to attend scheduled child support intake appointments, the first step to establishing a child support order. To accomplish this goal, child support intake workers were co-located at the TANF office in the Anacostia neighborhood. CSSD contracted with The Lewin Group to develop the demonstration and conduct the evaluation. To measure the effect of the intervention, individuals applying for TANF or visiting the office for recertification were randomly assigned to a treatment or control group. Treatment group members received child support services at the TANF office, while control group members followed the standard procedure for child support intake, which involved an in-person interview at the CSSD headquarters. The impact study found that the demonstration produced a significant increase in paternities and orders established; impacts on child support payments began to emerge after 12 months.
Client Area: State and Local Governments
Expertise Area: Income Security
January 2007
DHHS, Administration for Children and Families
The devolution of responsibility for the nation’s primary welfare program from the federal government to state and local agencies was one of the most important institutional changes in federal welfare policy during the 1990s. The Personal Responsibility and Work Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996 created the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant, which gave states considerable latitude to allocate funds across program functions and move functions outside of traditional welfare agencies to other public agencies and private organizations. This study, conducted by the Lewin Group and the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government, determined how local management of TANF programs has evolved to address changing needs and improve program results. Rather than viewing TANF implementation as a single event followed by a stable administrative structure and a static array of services and requirements, the project viewed implementation in dynamic terms. It sought to understand how local welfare offices in five areas modify their programs and adopt more effective approaches in response to changing circumstances.
Client Area: Federal Government
Expertise Area: Income Security
September 2006
Colorado Department of Human Services
his report summarizes the findings from the past year’s work on the Colorado Works Program Evaluation. It provides policy analysis of the Colorado Works program as well as descriptions of the local socioeconomic trends. It presents longitudinal data analysis of the TANF receipt and interactions among welfare recipients. It also summarizes special topic reports examining service delivery strategies and practices, which were conducted throughout the year. These include program coordination and collaboration, employment services and employer interactions, preventative services, and serving the hard-to-employ.
Client Area: State and Local Governments
Expertise Area: Income Security
June 2006
Colorado Department of Human Services
This report examines strategies Colorado counties were using to serve the hard-to-employ TANF population in 2005, highlighting promising approaches that counties might choose to adopt and providing the state with useful information that can help guide future policy choices. While there are a wide range of issues that affect welfare recipients’ ability to succeed in the job market, this report focuses on seven barriers: 1) Physical disabilities; 2) Limited education and learning disabilities; 3) Mental health; 4) Substance abuse; 5) Domestic violence; 6) Limited English skills; and 7) Homelessness.
Client Area: State and Local Governments
Expertise Area: Employment, Training, and Workforce Development, Income Security
June 2006
Colorado Department of Human Services
In Colorado, county human service and social service departments provide a range of programs for adults, youth and relative caretakers to help stabilize families, increase self-sufficiency, and prevent the intergenerational transmission of welfare dependency. This report provides an overview of services offered in Colorado. The report also highlights three broad areas of innovative family-related and prevention services, including collaborations with child welfare and other efforts to prevent out-of-home placements, programs designed to increase child well-being through parental involvement and access to quality child care, and a broad array of youth programs including non-marital pregnancy prevention programs, summer employment and training initiatives, and in-school services for high-risk youth.
Client Area: State and Local Governments
Expertise Area: Children, Youth, and Family Policy, Income Security
June 2006
Colorado Department of Human Services
This report describes employment services in local Colorado Works programs, particularly strategies that involve interaction with employers and industries, highlighting promising practices for other programs. It finds that the most common employment-specific activities in Colorado counties are (1) job readiness workshops that generally include some guided job search activity, and (2) work experience activities. It also finds that counties generally tailor their employment services to local labor market trends, working with both public and nonprofit agencies as well as private sector business when possible. Finally, several county programs are found to have developed large and formal networks of employers for such employment activities which may serve as a model for other counties.
Client Area: State and Local Governments
Expertise Area: Employment, Training, and Workforce Development, Income Security
June 2006
Colorado Department of Human Services
This report examines the variety of cross-agency collaboration and coordination strategies used by county Colorado Works/TANF programs across the state. Based primarily upon information collected during site visits to 18 Colorado Works county programs, this report focuses on collaborative arrangements in two major areas: (1) partnerships with local Workforce Centers and other community organizations to obtain employment, education, and training services; and (2) collaboration with other public agencies and private organizations to obtain a wide array of support services. The report finds that program coordination is extensive and that there is wide variation in the network of collaboration across Colorado counties.
Client Area: State and Local Governments
Expertise Area: Employment, Training, and Workforce Development, Income Security
October 2005
Colorado Department of Human Services
The State of Colorado’s Department of Human Services funded The Lewin Group to perform an in-depth study of Colorado’s TANF program, Colorado Works. The objective is to provide administrators with information about program strategies and approaches being used in various counties that others might find useful for improving program implementation, performance, and outcomes. This report summarizes findings from a survey of county Colorado Works directors conducted in 2005. It documents the diversity of the policies, organization and staffing approaches, and activities and services found across the state.
Client Area: State and Local Governments
Expertise Area: Income Security
January 2005
DHHS, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE)
Child support is an important income source for many low-income families, and the receipt of support may be most critical for women as they transition off welfare. In the post-welfare reform era emphasizing work and self-sufficiency, many policymakers now consider child support as a key income support. In the effort to support self-sufficiency, for example, it is important that custodial parents, primarily mothers, know the rules of child support, establish orders, begin to receive child support while on welfare and receive child support payments on a regular basis after leaving welfare. To examine the interaction of child support and welfare receipt, researchers from MDRC, The Lewin Group, and The University of Wisconsin-Madison analyzed several data sources to address questions concerning child support receipt of current and former welfare recipients. This report is the second and final in a series for this project. The first report, produced by The Lewin Group, provided an extensive literature review.
Client Area: Federal Government
Expertise Area: Income Security
September 2004
DHHS, Office of Child Support Enforcement
This report was prepared for the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) under contract with The Lewin Group. The study reviews the implementation of the performance-based incentive funding system through which the Federal government awards payments to state Child Support Enforcement programs. OCSE implemented the new incentive formula over the fiscal year 2000 to 2002 period. The statute provided a gradual phase-in, in part, so that state officials would havetime to perfect their measurement of performance and identify factors that affect performance. This final report explores state experiences in implementing the new system, including problems, successes, advantages and disadvantages. It also reports changes to the new system that were recommended by child support stakeholders.
Client Area: Federal Government
Expertise Area: Income Security
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