Cross-System Innovation: Capacity Concept

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

State officials note that federal funding silos, different eligibility and reporting requirements, and conflicting regulations can make it difficult to serve families comprehensively and effectively. Under the flexibility provided by the 1996 TANF legislation, some states developed programs to deliver coordinated services through initiatives employing imaginative cross-program integration. Their initial promise has heightened interest in identifying new opportunities and addressing remaining barriers to such integration.

The Administration's proposal for reauthorizing TANF contains a provision, commonly known as the superwaiver, which would dramatically expand state ability to integrate social service and workforce delivery systems by waiving parts of existing program rules across federal executive agencies. This provision generated considerable debate. Proponents argue that continuing progress in serving children and families demands more front-line innovation and control. States need not only take better advantage of existing flexibility in federal law, they also require additional flexibility to design and implement programs. Opponents argue that some states have not always fully or prudently exercised the flexibility they already have and, if given more authority, might well pursue strategies and policies of questionable benefit to vulnerable families and children. They also contend that federal law should provide stronger protections for families and children and that program targeting is often desirable to ensure that more disadvantaged groups have access to essential public goods and services.

We are seeking cooperation and support for an initiative that will ultimately enhance state and local capacity for cross-system innovation. We expect this endeavor to lead to a broad discussion about the future of social assistance, workforce development, and state flexibility in developing and implementing a variety of programs. The Hudson Institute's Welfare Policy Center, the University of Wisconsin's Institute for Research on Poverty, and the National Governors Association's Center for Best Practices, in consultation with officials of other interested organizations, have developed a set of initiatives designed to reinvigorate a dialogue over state flexibility that is grounded in evidence, experience, and substantive inquiry. This initiative seeks to:

1. Determine how much flexibility exists within current law and practice, what barriers (intended and unintended) there are to using such opportunities, and why states might not be fully exercising the flexibility that does exist.
2. Facilitate a reasoned dialogue among key stakeholders about legislative and regulatory program changes that would advance state flexibility and to explore whether there is a consensus about making such changes.
3. Work with local, state, and federal officials to increase their capacity to design and implement cross-systems innovations under existing legislative and regulatory parameters.
4. Work with a broad array of state and local officials to stimulate thinking about the opportunities for innovation that might exist given more state flexibility.
5. Develop appropriate outcome measures and identify data needed to assure program accountability and monitor the well-being of target populations; and think through what is needed to examine the impacts of integrated service systems.

ACTIVITIES

To accomplish these goals, we have identified multiple strategies for exploring the different dimensions of the issue. Because this ambitious project may best be managed in smaller increments, we have structured several discrete project modules (sets of interrelated tasks and activities) that could be independently funded.

Module 1 [legalistic] focuses on federal statutory and regulatory impediments to cross-systems innovation. We plan to develop models for cross-systems integration and determine:

1. What aspects can be achieved through current options and flexibility?
2. Which rules must be changed for the proposal to succeed, and are they based in statute or regulation?
3. What processes must be followed to secure permission to proceed?
4. Who are the key actors and in which organizations are they located

Module 2 [practice] focuses on the interface between federal and state government and across state and federal agencies. We hope to identify factors that are critical to working across systems and agencies to implement comprehensive programs for families and children. We plan to interview state and federal officials, conduct site visits, review documents and develop case studies to better understand the quality of interactions among state-level officials across agencies and between state officials and federal agencies, and how those interactions affect the pursuit of cross-system innovation.

Module 3 [operational] considers how state and local statutes and regulations, institutional cultures and practices, and organizational capacity encourage or impede innovation. To better understand these issues, we propose to convene workshops involving "lighthouse" or exemplar sites. The workshops might feature teams from several sites that represent instructive examples of cross-system integration. Each team would include a local representative from each major system that had been integrated (TANF, WIA, human services, education, etc.) and one or two state officials who could provide a broader perspective.

Module 4 [accountability] assumes that state and local flexibility cannot be pursued without strengthening program accountability. In the context of cross-program integration, this typically means incorporating the capability for monitoring populations into program governance and developing and implementing effective outcome measures. We intend to work closely with those institutions and individuals engaged in efforts to improve the use of social indicators and performance measures. Organizations such as Child Trends, ASPE, Chapin Hall, and the Urban Institute have been particularly active in this area over the past decade.

Module 5 [effectiveness] is motivated by a recognition that the push for cross-systems innovation is based on plausible hypothesis rather that rigorous research and analysis. We hope to convene researchers with expertise in program evaluation and experimental design to discuss methods for assessing the effectiveness of cross-system integration models.

The five modules represent complementary strategies designed to sort out the relative contributions of legal and regulatory impediments, barriers associated with perceptions, prejudices, practices, and lack of leadership or organizational capacity. They cover the three levels of government (federal, state, and local) and encompass both the formal and informal dimensions of the problem. To develop a complete and coherent picture, these tracks will be coordinated and the products of each module will be integrated.

PRODUCTS AND OUTCOMES

We believe that the information collected in the five modules described above will be extremely useful to a diverse audience including the national policy community, the federal bureaucracy, state and local officials, and the evaluation and academic community. Taken together, findings from these activities will help inform national discussion about reauthorization of TANF, WIA and other programs; guide state and local officials in developing more integrated and comprehensive programs for families and children; and identify future research activities and opportunities for demonstration projects.

We will use the information collected in interviews, site visits, meetings, and technical analysis in each module to develop a range of products for different audiences. Such products might include:

1. Printed articles and reports tailored for policymakers, researchers, and state and local administrators, as appropriate
2. Tool Kits to help state and local officials develop and implement cross-system innovations;
3. Video and audio materials that highlight best practices.

We will also disseminate findings through organized events, such as:

1. Stakeholder Forums to present findings from the analytical work and to discuss the possible federal legislative and regulatory changes that would improve the capacity for cross-program innovation.

Finally, we will utilize our findings to assist states and localities in their efforts to improve comprehensive services for families and children. Technical assistance activities might include:

1. Policy Academy on Cross-System Integration and Collaboration to work intensely over an extended period of time with cross-agency teams of high-level officials from a small group of states.
2. Peer Exchange opportunities through existing regional networks such as WELPAN and WESTPAN, including site visits by state and local officials who are interested in initiating cross-system efforts

In our dissemination efforts, we will make optimal use of regional state networks of welfare officials, national organizations of elected and career officials such as NGA, NCSL, NACO, and APHSA; and state Family Impact Seminars to reach a wide audience.