The six states engaged in the Work Support Strategies (WSS) initiative are diverse in many dimensions. This brief provides information on each state as context for WSS evaluation publications. Specifically, this brief summarizes each WSS state's reasons for joining the initiative, administrative structure for delivering work supports, political governance during the initiative, and organization of the initiative within the state. More extensive information about state context at the beginning of the WSS initiative can be found in the series of individual planning year reports titled "Early Lessons from the Work Support Strategies Initiatives." (author abstract)