Blending and Braiding Your TANF (BBYT)

The Blending and Braiding Your TANF Initiative (BBYT) will develop technical assistance tools to help Colorado communities implement comprehensive funding strategies that can meet the needs of families in systems of care.

 

Project Overview

TANF may be braided with funding from other government and community partners to establish flexible, sustainable strategies to strengthen the safety net for low-income families.  Joint funding and strategic financing approaches are a key priority in cross-systems efforts to improve access to a broad array of effective prevention, intervention, and treatment services. 

The Blending and Braiding Your TANF Initiative (BBYT) is an opportunity for local communities to collaborate and learn to use multiple funding streams to support evidence-based and best practice services, while maintaining the transparency and accountability required by Temporary Assistance for Need Family (TANF)’s outcome-focused funding stream.

 

The BBYT Initiative will

• Research federal and state eligibility requirements and regulations to clarify what uses of TANF funds are permitted and how to maintain compliance while using TANF funds;
• Work with 8 demonstration counties to provide technical assistance to create individualized, Colorado Works Division approved braiding plans with TANF and one or more additional funding streams to serve low income families; and
• Develop concrete tools and provide statewide training to prepare any interested county to fully use their TANF dollars and braid them with other relevant funding streams.

 

What is the timeline?

• October 2009: Call for applications for demonstration sites
• December 2009: Selection of eight demonstration sites
• January – June 2010: Technical assistance with the eight demonstration sites, including community meetings, family & consumer involvement, and key informant interviews.
• July – September 2010: Customized fiscal guides will be developed in partnership with the demonstration sites. 
• October – December 2010: A fiscal template for all Colorado communities will be developed based on the community fiscal guides; technical assistance to the demonstration sites will aid in implementing the custom fiscal guides.
• January – June 2011: Regional and on-line trainings and technical assistance will be disseminated statewide.
• April – June 2011: An evaluation will follow-up with each demonstration site to find out how their fiscal integration is working!   Technical assistance to resolve any barriers will be provided to the demonstration sites.

 

Key BBYT Partners

The Colorado Department of Human Service’s Colorado Works Division is funding the BBYT Initiative with a grant from the Statewide Strategic Use Fund.  BBYT is a partnership of:

• The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, where the project director is housed;
• The Colorado Systems of Care Collaborative, as the advisory group;
• The Family Resource Center Association, family advocacy organizations, and local counties to provide insight, expertise, and implementation opportunities;
• The Center for Systems Integration, to provide staff support and fiscal coordination expertise; and

• The Colorado Foundation for Public Health and the Environment is the fiscal agent.

 

Contact Information

Questions?  Please contact Natalie Portman-Marsh or Jewlya Lynn at the Center for Systems Integration, 303-455-1740, BBYT@csi-policy.org.