e-Journal Story
Day 3

WIA and TANF Working Together for Better Results

This well-attended, early morning session offered insight into the need for greater collaboration between the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs.

Panelists were: Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employment and Training Brent R. Orrell; Sidonie Squier of the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Family Assistance Gerry Cain of the Ohio Shared Youth Vision Team; and James Van Der Hulst from the West Michigan WIRED region. The session was moderated by Doug Small, DOL's Deputy Assistant Secretary for Administration and National Activity.

Small kicked off the session by pointing out that TANF participants face numerous barriers to accessing WIA programs and services. Orrell reiterated this point, emphasizing the need for public systems to serve all segments of the public, especially those disconnected from the workforce, and that "we need every single person to keep our economy going." During tough economic times, Orrell told audience members that helping those that are hardest to serve "is a very important aspect for remaining true to our principles as Americans."

HHS's Squier told attendees that some collaborations with DOL involving the WIA and TANF have been more successful than others. She said this is due to conflicting goals of both programs and budget-tightening. Squier then described her experiences with WIRED. Because of it, Squier was able to indentify the employment needs of local communities, create job opportunities based on the community's needs, and then train the workers needed to fill the jobs.

Cain, from Ohio's Youth Vision team, called for changes that will make a difference in the way WIA works with TANF both nationally and locally. To illustrate her point, Cain asked the audience various questions about TANF: Who are your TANF partners? What is your TANF reserve? How are state funds distributed? Who has TANF spending authority? She said the answers to these questions are matters that those administering WIA programs need to know, but probably don't.

West Michigan WIRED's Van Der Hulst conveyed that simply providing employment isn't enough. TANF participants, he said, need continued case management to ensure they stay on the road to self-sufficiency. Additionally, employers need to see their return on investment from working with TANF recipients.

The session closed with a lively Q&A in which audience members raised issues from how to engage employers working with the TANF population to how to provide childcare and transportation services.

Social Network Analysis of WIRED regions

Analyzing social networks in your region can help improve communication, increase collaboration, and identify new opportunities.

Sherry Almandsmith of Berkeley Policy Associates defined social network analysis as the mapping and measurement of relationships and information flows between people, organizations, computers and other processing entities. In brief, it is a tool for examining how partnerships work. Applied to the WIRED initiative, each of the 13 Generation I regions has mapped 65 people through social networking analysis.

Pam Tedesco of Northwest Florida's WIRED region described the process as "The WIRED roster on steroids." It began, she said, by collecting information from five people in her region who were most significant to the WIRED partnership. By determining how frequently these individuals contact one another, researchers were able to determine the strength of the partnership and figure out how far it reaches into various organizations and communities.

Putting social network analysis into practice can yield tangible results, said Ken Dupre of Alabama's Montgomery Institute. Mississippi and Alabama, for instance, have used social network analysis to collaborate on projects and bring jobs to both states. Mississippi landed a new Toyota manufacturing facility because Alabama agreed that it would train Mississippians interested in auto-industry jobs. Alabama, for its part, attracted a new steel production plant because Mississippi agreed to train Alabamians for careers in the steel industry. According to Dupre, getting both states to the table was challenging, but the result has been increased career opportunities for residents of both states living within a sixty mile radius of one another.

Dupre also noted that through social network analysis, he was able to convince the Mississippi and Alabama Departments of Transportation to meet with one another and begin plans for additional shared projects.

Plenary III: The Nature of Transition

As the third and final plenary began Conference Chairman Bill Sanders acknowledged that this would be his final time at the helm of Workforce Innovations. He thanked everyone who made the conference possible during the past seven years, praising the hard work, talent, and dedication of the staff and conference contractors.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of Administration and National Activity Doug Small thanked Sanders for his work, and then, via video, previewed Workforce Innovations 2009's host city, Phoenix, Arizona.

The final recognition of excellence awards were announced as well. The Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County, Washington State, took home the top honor in the "Connecting America's Youth to the Workforce" category for its YouthSource program. The program provides training and education to young people facing barriers to employment. The National Council of La Raza earned top honors in the "Tapping the Talents of Special Populations in the Workforce" for its Carreras en Salud healthcare training program for bilingual workers.

Jim "Mr. Energy" Smith Jr. returned a final time to remind conference goers to use what they have learned this week and not to give in to the naysayers who might not be receptive to your new ideas.

Sanders then introduced featured speaker Steve Uzzell, who took the crowd on a photographic tour of his take on the nature of transition. Everyone on earth, and in fact everything in the world, is in a constant state of transition. He encouraged the audience to live by four guiding principles: curiosity, passion, commitment and accountability.

We shouldn't be scared of transition, said Uzzell, since we are at some stage of it every moment of our lives. Uzzell used the uneasiness of walking though a swamp as an example. To the contrary he said, the swamp is teeming with living things, all in their own varying states of transition. Things are always in flux, there is always change, and we can accept this as fact and work within the concept.

Sometimes we can identify when the change begins, other times we identify a transition after it has started. Uzzell urged conference goers to have courage to "sail into the storm," and affirmatively take on the challenges that come with transition. "The only thing you can control is yourself," Uzzell said. "Nothing is more beautiful than a drop of pure potential."