Workforce Investment Act: Coordination of TANF Services Through One-Stops Has Increased Despite Challenges (GAO-02-739T) 

Welfare reform legislation, which created Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), directed welfare agencies to focus on helping needy adults with children find and maintain employment. Congress passed the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA) to unify a fragmented employment and training system, one that provides for a fundamental shift in the way services are designed and delivered. Despite TANF's similar fundamental focus, it was not mandated to participate in the one-stop system; however, many states are coordinating their TANF services through one-stop centers. Coordination between TANF-related programs and WIA's one-stop centers has increased since the spring of 2000, when WIA was first implemented. Nearly all states reported some coordination between the programs at either the state or local level. Most often, coordination took one of two forms: through collection whereby a client accessed TANF-related programs at the local one-stop, or through referrals and electronic linkages to off-site programs. However, despite progress, states and localities continued to report a variety of challenges. WIA funds may not be readily used to serve TANF clients in the one-stops because WIA's performance measures may be discourage serving clients who may not be successful. Moreover, when TANF clients need training to achieve self sufficiency, WIA funds may not be available because the amount of training provided under WIA has been reduced. Despite these and other challenges, some local areas have found innovative ways to provide TANF services in the one-stops, often focusing their efforts on resolving the issues that had been found in the fragmented employee training system.