Designed to be used in partnership with a research or technical assistance (TA) support team, this practice guide can help leaders in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and related programs implement evidence-driven change.
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Learn, Innovate, Improve: A Practice Guide for Enhancing Programs and Improving LivesFeb 15, 2022
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Pandemic-Era Innovations for the Future of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families ProgramsDec 15, 2021
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs adapted in many innovative ways to meet the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. This brief captures promising practices developed across the country in three areas and offers considerations for TANF programs to build on these changes.
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Transforming the Early Childhood Workforce: Overview of 2019 Innovation Grants in ColoradoJul 01, 2021
This brief summarizes the experience and findings from the work of five local grantees in Colorado that launched innovations to build a qualified early childhood workforce in the state.
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Mobile Coaching: Innovation and Small-Scale Experimentation to Better Engage Program Participants in Rural ColoradoApr 30, 2019
This brief describes the development of and lessons learned from an innovative strategy designed by the county’s Colorado Works team to address these transportation challenges and coach parents on planning and achieving their goals at the same time.
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The Innovate Phase: Co-Creating Evidence-Informed Solutions to Improve Human Services ProgramsMar 31, 2019
This practice brief focuses on the second phase of the process—Innovate—which is intended to help both researchers of human services programs and the professionals who administer programs to generate new and innovative ideas to address pressing challenges.
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Improving Employment Outcomes: Using Innovative Goal-Oriented Strategies in TANF ProgramsFeb 28, 2019
This brief describes the efforts of four TANF programs to implement three new interventions that are informed by evidence on self-regulation and designed to help participants reach their personal and job-related goals.
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The Learn Phase: Creating Sustainable Change in Human Services ProgramsJan 31, 2019
This practice brief provides an overview of the first phase of LI²—the Learn phase—which is intended to lay the foundation for successful and sustainable program changes.
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Using the Science About Self-Regulation to Improve Economic Outcomes for TANF FamiliesNov 30, 2018
This brief, developed as part of the GOAL-Oriented Adult Learning in Self-Sufficiency (GOALS) project, articulates a vision for TANF programs that is informed by the science about self-regulation and goal achievement.
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Learn, Innovate, Improve (LI²): Using Evidence for Continuous Program Improvement (Presentation)Aug 30, 2018
Researchers and policymakers alike struggle to connect evidence to practice and improve programs.
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Promoting Family Engagement, Stability, and Well-Being Through Youth-Enrichment GrantsJun 30, 2018
Between June 2017 and April 2018, the Larimer County Works Program provided 282 “no strings attached” enrichment grants to children ages 12 to 18 whose parents had an active Works Program case.
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Learn, Innovate, Improve (LI²): Lessons from Adams County’s Efforts to Increase Engagement in the Colorado Works ProgramJun 30, 2018
Adams County (Colorado) Family Transition Services partnered with the Colorado Department of Human Services and Mathematica to design and implement an innovative outreach strategy to improve client engagement in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program.
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The Consortium: 2017 Year in ReviewMar 31, 2018
This brief highlights the Family Self-Sufficiency and Stability Research Consortium’s individual and collective efforts in 2017 to improve the lives of low-income families and children by integrating research, policy, and practice on family self-sufficiency and stability.
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Using a "Road Test" to Improve Human Services Programs: A PrimerFeb 28, 2018
This primer summarizes a more detailed practice brief on “road tests” (a component of the Improve stage of the larger Learn, Innovate, Improve process). It is part of a series of products designed to help program stakeholders understand and use LI² to improve human services programs.
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Using a "Road Test" to Improve Human Services Programs (Practice Brief)Dec 30, 2017
This practice brief on road tests (a component of the Improve stage of the larger Learn, Innovate, Improve process) is part of a series of products designed to help program stakeholders understand and use LI² to improve human services programs.
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Learn, Innovate, Improve (LI²): Enhancing Programs and Improving Lives (Practice Brief)Dec 30, 2017
This brief is the first in a series that seeks to advance welfare and family self-sufficiency research and practice through enhanced linkages between social science and human services programming.
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Learn, Innovate, Improve (LI²): Lessons from the Colorado Works Innovation InitiativeJul 31, 2017
This brief describes the experience of a group of county human service agencies in Colorado using an evidence-informed analytic process called “Learn, Innovate, Improve” to address the challenge of participant engagement in their Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs.
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The Consortium: 2016 Year in ReviewMar 30, 2017
This brief highlights the Family Self-Sufficiency and Stability Research Consortium’s individual and collective efforts to improve the lives of low-income families and children by integrating research, policy, and practice on family self-sufficiency and stability.
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The Consortium: 2015 Year in ReviewMar 21, 2016
This brief highlights the Family Self-Sufficiency and Stability Research Consortium’s efforts to make meaningful contributions to the field in 2015.
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Advancing Evidence-Based Decision Making: A Toolkit on Recognizing and Conducting Opportunistic Experiments in the Family Self-Sufficiency and Stability Policy AreaOct 30, 2015
This report describes in detail how researchers, policymakers, and program administrators can recognize opportunities for experiments and carry them out.
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Learning What Works: A Guide to Opportunistic Experiments for Human Services AgenciesOct 30, 2015
This report introduces human services program operators to randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and provides guidance on how to conduct them.
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BOND Implementation and Evaluation: Process Study ReportFeb 12, 2015
The Benefit Offset National Demonstration (BOND) tests variants of Social Security Disability Insurance program rules governing work and other supports.