Pandemic-Era Innovations for the Future of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Programs

Throughout the pandemic, the researchers collected data from TANF programs to understand the challenges they faced, the innovations they developed, and the promising strategies that were emerging. They drew on two primary sources for these data. First, they documented the experiences and topics described during virtual learning community groups with state and local TANF program leaders and staff between May and September 2020. Second, they conducted seven web-based surveys with TANF program leaders and staff between January and March 2021, addressing office safety and reopening, use of technology, staff and participant well-being, and performance and accountability. The researchers collected 965 responses across all seven surveys, including responses from 18 states. Generally, Respondents were managers, supervisors, or direct service staff in TANF programs.

The public health restrictions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic prompted TANF and workforce agencies to change their service delivery models significantly.

State or local guidelines largely restricted or suspended in-person services. As a result, many eligibility and case management personnel were reassigned from TANF programming to staff the surge in unemployment insurance claims. Many TANF agency personnel had to re-balance their work and caregiving responsibilities due to widespread disruptions in school and childcare and family illnesses. Few programs had contingency plans in place for these kinds of immediate changes. Moreover, the pandemic disrupted or prematurely ended work experience sites, internships, and community service placements, causing many TANF work activities to halt. Given the sharp rise in unemployment during the early months of the pandemic, program participants faced significant challenges in looking for and finding work. As this public health crisis continues to evolve, TANF programs face a choice about how or whether to sustain the innovations of this period.

In this report, the researchers profile changes made in response to the pandemic and guide how TANF programs can implement, adapt, and test these changes in their own settings.

(This report is six pages long and contains a few graphs associated with the data.)

Based on data collected from TANF program leaders and staff, the researchers identified the following selected findings:

1. Streamlining the TANF program experience with technology.

• Providing coaching, case management, and employment or training services through online platforms for the first time or in expanded ways.
• Offering group activities, such as orientations and workshops, virtually.

2. Bridging the digital divide.

• Providing computers or Internet access to participants, recognizing that participants had limited access to technology due to closures of public libraries and computer labs at TANF offices.
• Increasing use of phone and social media communication channels.

3. Reframing participant engagement and accountability.

• Experimenting with different messaging to participants about program expectations and engagement.
• Continuing to track and require countable hours for participants but revising the approaches to re-engagement and conciliation.
• Reevaluating the types of activities participants could engage in to fulfill participation requirements.

The researchers identified the following selected recommendations:

1. Streamlining the TANF program experience with technology.

• Learn more about how case managers, program participants, or community partners currently experience key aspects of programming and whether the use of technology could help to streamline or improve their experiences.
• Innovate by tailoring one or more of the strategies described above to each program’s unique needs; take time to briefly document what people should do and how case managers will equip them to succeed.

2. Bridging the digital divide.

• Innovate by identifying ways to repurpose existing program funds (for example, incentive or supportive services dollars) and resources (for example, job search lab laptops or tablets) to directly increase participants’ access to technology.
• Improve on these innovations by testing whether increased access to high-quality technology or the internet leads to changes in engagement and participation in program activities.

3. Reframing participant engagement and accountability.

• Learn more about how program participants respond to different types of messaging and framing by conducting a workshop to review language and ways in which expectations are communicated.
• Innovate by co-designing revised, human-centered messaging and communication materials with input directly from case managers and program participants.

• Last Updated:
• Created:
• Resource Publication Date: 2021
• Author(s): Bart, E.; McCay, J.
• Funding Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families (ACF)
• Resource Availability: Publicly available
• Posted by: Alexander Fones
• Posted in: Workforce System Strategies