Systems to Family Stability National Policy Academy

The Systems to Family Stability (SFS) National Academy was an OFA initiative that consisted of eight teams (comprised of state TANF agencies, OFA representatives, and subject matter experts) that were organized to design and build collaborative systems within and across agencies to improve family economic security. In this second of three videos that were produced as a result of this initiative, leaders from the SFS National Policy Academy offer advice and ideas on supporting change.

The Systems to Family Stability (SFS) National Academy was an OFA initiative that consisted of eight teams (comprised of state TANF agencies, OFA representatives, and subject matter experts) that were organized to design and build collaborative systems within and across agencies to improve family economic security. In this first of three videos that were produced as a result of this initiative, SFS National Policy Academy participants share practical tips and ideas based on how they implemented strategies to expand their agency's capacity and support system-wide changes.

A paper from Economic Mobility Pathways discusses the importance of setting high goals and standards when helping families navigate their way out of poverty. Coach-navigator programs that seek to build resiliency and decision making view high expectations as a self-fulfilling prophecy and a crucial step to success for struggling participants. Thus, coaching relationships are most effective when they hold people to ambitious yet achievable standards that participants then willingly work to strive toward.

Skill development and job or educational training are essential tools for low-income or low-skilled workers to increase their labor market prospects and decrease their unemployment rates, so Local Workforce Development Boards (LWDBs) provide these services under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. However, child care barriers can prevent families from fully utilizing LWDB resources. The Urban Institute surveyed LWDBs that actively support child care needs to create a recommended list of best practices and administrative structures in the field. Some findings include working with local government and partners and utilizing government agencies and grants, while common difficulties included sufficient funding and high demand for a limited child care market.

Positive Youth Development (PYD) is a capacity-building approach to program interventions that aims to promote soft skills, positive relationships, community involvement, family-school-work linkages, and academic engagement among youth to create a fully supportive and safe environment. The PILOT tool, developed by Child Trends, works on implementing those strategies concretely in the workforce for youth in primarily middle skill jobs. After working with five organizations to integrate the PILOT tool into their workplaces, Child Trends found that it not only improves the work outcomes of vulnerable youth populations and generates internal and external conversations about PYD, but that many places that practice these initiatives do so without formal recognition or prompting and thus go unfunded. Child Trends expects to further help program stakeholders, leaders, and funders in the next phase of their program when they look into how to systematize PYD policies.

A seven-year government project that researched ways to strengthen social services using principles from behavioral science, called Behavioral Insights to Advance Self-Sufficiency (BIAS), recently ended and published a case study based on their field research. This workbook is designed to teach students and field practitioners about behavioral design and methodology. It provides information, exercises, and worksheets and asks readers to read first about different behavioral principles and then about a problem with a tax credit program. Using behavioral science, the publication works through the issue, proposes solutions, and ends with guided discussion questions for readers to ask themselves and their case study group. Questions pertain to readers’ newfound knowledge and insight into how to use behavioral principles to increase the efficacy of their own service provision in the future.

This brief from the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation is aimed at practitioners interested in helping clients reach self-sufficiency by focusing on goal-making abilities. The brief describes the importance of the ability to set and achieve goals and what, when, and how to measure to determine a program's ability to help its participants with this need. Specific real-world program examples are highlighted throughout the brief.

This paper tests the relationship between maternal depression, parental quality, and child outcomes. It finds that experiencing adversity as a child is a factor in current maternal depression, which in turn affects parental engagement and sensitivity to children’s distress, but not non-distress. Thus, different interventions should be used for mothers who have experienced trauma depending on whether the goal is identifying and responding to distress signals or increasing parental sensitivity to their children overall.

This Mathematica research brief examines several interventions utilizing self-regulation for workforce assistance. Traditional workforce programs focus on helping low-income individuals build skills, reduce employment barriers, and develop work experience. Recently, a new approach centers around building participants’ self-regulation. Self-regulation helps individuals to better manage their thoughts, behaviors, and emotions both in and outside of work. Implemented strategies include providing behavioral therapy, mindfulness techniques, and motivational interviewing. Poverty forces people to juggle multiple demanding factors and stressors on a limited budget, while often adhering to assistance program requirements. Self-regulation techniques aim to strengthen an individual’s emotional well-being, motivation, and self-confidence to increase resiliency.