The Learning Communities Resource Center will offer a number of peer centered workshop trainings at the 2015 Annual Conference. Topics range from financial management/empowerment strategies, to evaluating complex programs. LCRC will also conduct a workshop on opportunities for CAAs to expand their role in early childhood development and child care. See below a brief list of workshops.

Evaluating and Improving Complex Programs: This session will identify effective interventions among discrete, well-defined programs that can be held constant over time and place. The workshop will explore approaches for complex, multifaceted and systematic interventions, such as place-based, policy or systems reform efforts. Also, the effectiveness factors (i.e. the essential elements) across proven and promising interventions will be highlighted. Finally, strategies for documenting short-term and ongoing progress towards achieving outcomes used for funders for accountability purposes and implementers to guide continuous learning and improvement will be presented.

Your Money, Your Goals Train-the-Trainer: CAAs across the country are using the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's "Your Money, Your Goals" financial empowerment toolkit. This four-hour, interactive training will equip you to train staff and volunteers in your agency to use the information and tools in this modular toolkit to help clients set and plan for financial goals; manage income, spending, cash flow, and debt; understand credit; choose financial products that meet their needs; and protect their money.

Peer Learning: A Scalable and Cost-Effective Training and Technical Assistance Approach for CAAs and their Clients: Training and technical assistance programs are costly and time consuming and don't always reach all who need the services. Whether you represent a state association building the capacity of your CAA members or a CAA providing training and counseling to clients, staff or volunteers, peer learning programming offers a way to reach a larger audience, facilitate rapid learning and change, and build a peer network that fosters capacity building. This workshop outlines the essential elements of creating your own Peer Learning Cluster program and offers case studies to illustrate the methodology's application for CAAs as well as target groups of clients or partners agencies.

Agency Transformation - Creating Effective Bundled Service Delivery for Maximum Participant Outcomes: Community Action Duluth, employing a new philosophy and service delivery model, is ensuring all participants receive coordinated, holistic and comprehensive services - resulting in improved employment and financial outcomes for families. Additional lessons learned from your peers in the Bundled Services Learning Cluster will also be shared.

The Learning Community - An Approach to Building CAA Capacity: During this session, an update will be provided about the Learning Community and its peer-centered topical cluster groups which focus on Decreasing Family Homelessness, Increasing Financial Empowerment for Families, Increasing Organizational Capacity, Utilizing Place-Based Strategies, Bundling Services to Improve Outcomes, Implementing Community Action Standards for States, National Trends in Poverty, Tracking the Use of CSBG Dollars.

Opportunities for CAAs in Child Care: The recent flood of research in nutrition, brain development, and the importance of parenting skills have resulted in an agreement of universities, advocacy organizations, HHS, the White House and even Congress in support of a rapid expansion of investment in children from prenatal to age five. It is a rare and wonderful thing when all the stars are in alignment. This workshop will explore ways that CAA can expand their role in early childhood development and child care.