ACF Blog Spotlight

This blog post from the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) examines promising new findings from ACF’s Assets for Independence (AFI) program. AFI was shown to increase liquid assets among participants and reduce participant use of alternative financial services. Additionally, the program participants experienced fewer material hardships and showed greater confidence in their financial security.

This ACF Family Room Blog post discusses a new partnership between ACF’s Office of Child Care and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) about strengthening investments in working families and child care. ACF and DOL will push for a national conversation on how to increase access to high-quality, affordable child care.

This blog post from the ACF Family Room Blog highlights the work of the Office of Family Assistance (OFA) on improving rural communities. OFA developed the Rural Communities Initiative, which provided information on various rural issues. In addition, OFA provides assistance on small business development, economic development, and transportation.

This blog post from the Administration for Children and Families provides a discussion of Career Pathways, which are a promising solution to help Americans acquire marketable and in-demand skills through integrated programs and services for students and job seekers transitioning from education to employment. In April 2012, the U.S. Departments of Labor, Education, and Health and Human Services formed a federal partnership and issued a joint letter of commitment. The partnership helps promote the use of career pathways to assist youth and adults in acquiring valuable skills and credentials through better alignment with employers, educational institutions, training and employment providers, and human and social service agencies. Building on that work, ACF has expanded support to multiple agencies to foster better coordination of programs and services.

This blog post highlights the efforts of the Administration for Native Americans (ANA) and its grantees to reduce domestic violence in Native communities through Social and Economic Development Strategies (SEDS) grants. The SEDS grants are designed to end community problems through culturally appropriate projects.

Every October, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) and other organizations across the country take time to raise awareness about the 12 million women and men who are victims of domestic violence each year in the United States. Throughout the month, advocates mobilize to mourn the lives lost to domestic violence, celebrate domestic violence prevention and intervention efforts, and connect to a community that collectively strives for the safety and wellbeing of all its citizens.

This blog post highlights the work of a Family and Youth Services Bureau grantee, the Alexandria Campaign on Adolescent Pregnancy (ACAP). ACAP partners with local teen pregnancy prevention groups and other stakeholders to provide more effective services to youth. In 2014, they found that most youth reported positive perceptions of their programs.

August is Child Support Awareness Month. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the child support program; throughout those years, ACF’s Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) has partnered with states to collect child support payments that increase family income. Currently, 16 million children receive services from a state or tribal child support program; in fact, 1 in 4 children in the U.S. has an active child support case. This blog post highlights ACF’s efforts to ensure that all children receive financial and emotional support from both parents, even if the parents do not reside together.

This blog post highlights the recently released final report on the accomplishments of State Advisory Councils (SAC) on early childhood education and care. SACs were authorized in the Head Start Act of 2007, with a goal of promoting partnerships between Head Start agencies, state and local governments, and the private sector.

In a post from Sylvia Burwell, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, she describes a woman who experienced homelessness and was cared for by a community health center. Secretary Burwell notes the interagency commitment to end veteran homelessness by 2015, chronic homelessness by 2017, and family, youth, and child homelessness by 2020.

This blog post spotlights the Family and Youth Services Bureau grantee Futures without Violence, located in San Francisco. Their work with the Coaching Boys into Men (CBIM) initiative aims to engage men as fathers, uncles, teachers, and coaches to teach young boys to respect women and prevent domestic violence.

This blog post was written by an employee at the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) and describes her childhood experience with child support. She highlights the work of OCSE, including their recent Child Support Report newsletter, and how the agency has improved exponentially throughout the past decades.

In addition to promoting the economic and social well being of their clients, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) takes on many health initiatives to supplement and support their mission of helping children and families across the country. This blog post highlights some of the various health-related initiatives from ACF, some of which focus on preventing abuse, ending teen pregnancy, tribal home visiting, and combating childhood obesity.

This blog post kicked off National Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month. Although the pregnancy rate among U.S. teens has decreased by more than half since 1990, disparities remain. Some youth, including those in the juvenile justice and child welfare systems, are at a much higher risk of experiencing a pregnancy than are their peers. This post highlights the need to tailor teen pregnancy prevention programs to different populations. Some approaches include empowering youth and staff, creating continuity, and testing strategies to see what works.

This blog post from ACF’s Family Room Blog highlights recent efforts by American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) youth to improve their communities and address systematic problems including teen suicide, school drop-outs, and drug and alcohol abuse. Last year, the Generation Indigenous Initiative (Gen-I) was founded to focus on the future of Indian Country at both policy and grassroots levels. Gen-I is “based on the premise that hope is contagious” and that “positive actions can beat negative outcomes.” They will focus on partnerships with Tribal leaders, community members, and other youth.

This blog entry highlights connections and collaboration opportunities utilized by service providers to strengthen immigrant and refugee communities and families. ACF’s Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), along with other key partners, aims to decrease refugees’ barriers by increasing linkages with critical mainstream resources and networks, including the Office for Civil Rights, the Department of Labor, and the ACF Office of Community Services.

Iowa’s Reliable Employment and Child Support Help program, or REACH, aims to improve the financial well-being of children by increasing the engagement of non-custodial parents in Polk County through different service offerings. The non-custodial parents are provided with job development, child support assistance, and parenting and financial education training.

This blog entry highlights a recent report that examines the early implementation activities of six Reentry grantees. The report includes descriptions of the many different services offered by these programs, feedback from program participants, and the various aspects of initial program implementation.

This entry introduces a new ACF resource, the Early Childhood Self-Assessment Tool for Family Shelters. The toolkit was created so shelters and other early learning programs could work together to create the most supportive and stable environment possible for vulnerable young children who have no place to call home. It provides strategies to collaborate efforts at the local level and to utilize community resources most effectively.

The Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) program had a successful annual grantee meeting, “Building Pathways to a Brighter Future,” which included a success story shared by an HPOG student.

The “My Brother’s Keeper” (MBK) initiative aims to help young males and boys of color create a promising future for themselves and their communities. The blog features an ACF fellow discussing her experience at an MBK Summit in Boston.