Public System Futures – The Intersect

INITIATIVE:

Initiative: Public System Futures

The Opportunity:

Prioritizing Economic Justice, Findings and Implications from a Review of WIOA and TANF Systems Collaboration

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What We Did:

In 2014 the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) was signed into law. For the first time ever, the system that governs the nation’s workforce system mandated that the WIOA and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program collaborate. Beginning in 2018, we began monitoring systems collaboration strategies between these two systems in communities across the country.

Our methodology:

We used a mixed method research approach. First, we conducted dozens of interviews with national WIOA and TANF experts as well as current and former WIOA and TANF state and local staff at various levels of program and policy decision-making and implementation. We analyzed the Department of Labor, WIOA National Annual Performance Summary data from program years (PY) 2016 through 2021. We also analyzed data from the WIOA PY 2021 Data Book, which reflects April 2021 through March 2022. Finally, we assessed existing policy research, and engaged in historic and current policy analysis to inform our findings.

We have four primary findings:

States and communities that have historically supported WIOA and TANF system coordination and collaboration are continuing to do so, building new strategies, and leveraging state flexibility.
Public data suggest that the WIOA system nationally struggles to serve people receiving TANF as a priority WIOA population.
Stereotypes and misconceptions of people with low incomes who are TANF recipients are prevalent and damaging.
Structural policy barriers make collaboration challenging and fail to orient the workforce or TANF system toward justice.

Where do we go from here?

Our research makes the case for short and medium term strategies to foster and improve systems collaboration across WIOA and TANF public systems. Additionally, we recommend modernizing the workforce system toward an economic justice orientation.