P&P April Issue 2018

from the field By Liz Carver

New Staff Training Approach Supports Utah Families in Escaping Poverty

W hen the Utah state legislature passed the Intergenerational Poverty Mitigation Act in 2012 to reduce intergenerational poverty in the state, identifying solutions largely fell to the Utah Department of Workforce Services. The department was tasked with collecting data and providing annual reports about intergenerational poverty and was responsible for supporting the new inter- agency Intergenerational Welfare Reform Commission. The commission was chaired by Utah Lieutenant Governor Spencer Cox and included members of the governor’s cabinet representing workforce, human services, health, education, and juvenile justice. The commission charged each participating agency to evaluate programs, policies, and procedures to ensure effective services delivery and coordination for families experiencing intergenerational poverty. In response, the department’s Workforce Development Division reexamined how it administered case management for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families cash assistance program, known as the Family Employment Program (FEP) in Utah. The division developed a plan to shift from a participation- only focus to an emphasis on relationship building that would lead to positive outcomes for the family. In 2014, Utah began testing its family-focused case man- agement approach with a group of families and called the pilot Next Generation Kids. Workforce Services used this cohort to test motivational interviewing and family-focused case management techniques. The results were positive, helping counselors build a more relationship-based case management style and helping families to obtain sustain- able employment. As the Next Generation Kids cohort made measurable improvement, Workforce Services recognized the opportu- nity to scale the family-focused case management approach statewide. The department developed a structure for deliv- ering staff training—the FEP Refocus Academy—to teach skills rather than just policy and systems. The FEP Refocus Academy had three top priorities: „ „ Creating a philosophical shift rather than just teaching pro- cedural changes, „ „ Achieving buy-in for the new model from supervisors and other leaders, and „ „ Establishing a training model that would drive behavioral and philosophical change.

In the academy model, supervisors were first trained on concepts, and then given regular supplemental training. Training for FEP counselors followed. To continue to build on the concepts learned, supervisors were given supple- mental materials to practice as a leadership group, and then with their staff, in the months following initial counselor training. Revisiting concepts with different activities over the year helped cement the philosophical shift and con- tinues to be an ongoing practice to help maintain good case management habits. As the success of the training started to materialize and excitement for newfound skills built, it became apparent that the skills would be helpful for all staff providing direct face-to-face service to customers. Utah came up with a plan to provide the same training to all Workforce Development

See Utah on page 34

Illustration by Chris Campbell

Policy&Practice April 2018 28