The Center for Advancing Policy on Employment for Youth (CAPE-Youth) is hosting a webinar on April 8, 2024 from 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. ET to provide an overview of CAPE-Youth's new mental health policy brief. Speakers from the White House Domestic Policy Council and state governments will highlight ways that policymakers can:

• Expand culturally responsive mental health care;
• Increase access to mental health supports; and
• Embed mental health programs and supports into workforce systems.

The Rehabilitation Research and Training Center at Virginia Commonwealth University is launching a Native Outreach webinar series entitled “Voicing Resiliency: State Vocational Rehabilitation Best Practices with Indigenous Communities.” The first webinar will take place on April 3, 2024 from 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. ET and will feature Jim Warne and Treva Roanhorse. The speakers will provide insight into the culture surrounding Indigenous Disability and discuss the history of Indigenous Disability services in Indian Country throughout the past and into the present.

To boost the economy and create conditions for equitable economic advancement for all, employers must focus on the recruitment, retention, and advancement of Black working moms and other populations facing systemic barriers. This Jobs for the Future resource highlights challenges impacting Black working mothers in the workplace along with opportunities for support.

This American Institutes for Research infographic presented data that highlighted how states were making an impact in growing and diversifying Registered Apprenticeship Programs. It provided an overview of federal funding to states to support apprenticeship expansion, including a map of the number of active grants in each state and territory. It also identified states that were leading the way in registering new apprentices, increasing the percentage of apprentices in the overall labor force, and expanding apprenticeship into new industries.

March is Women’s History Month and this Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE) resource highlights women’s roles in human services programs and shares OPRE’s projects that are helping to build evidence on the human services workforce. The resource includes early care and education, home visiting, head start, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.

Chapin Hall and the American Public Human Services Association co-hosted a webinar on March 21, 2024 where they presented findings from their national survey of child welfare leaders. Presenters included the team that created and conducted the survey as well as the Acting Commissioner / Executive Deputy Commissioner for the New York State Office of Children and Families, who discussed barriers in aligning across human service agencies to better support families.

The earlier families attain stability, the better overall outcomes are for communities and individual families, and that is why investing in parents under the age of 24 and their children is key to building thriving communities. This American Public Human Services Association paper highlights key takeaways from their work with young families, providing an overview of the young families work and its early years, key takeaways along with highlights, and ending with opportunities for future work in the young families’ space.

Skills are emerging as a valuable new currency in the labor market, challenging traditional degree-based hiring practices. This Jobs for the Future resource delves into catalytic opportunities to drive the adoption of skills-based models and unlock the full potential of workers, including:

1. Connecting data systems
2. Improving data tools
3. Addressing trust issues
4. Accelerating narrative change
5. Aligning siloed skill movements

Without adequate skills training, many individuals can get stuck in a “low pay, no pay” cycle. Research has shown that sector-based training programs — which train people for high-quality jobs that align with the labor force needs of employers in targeted industry sectors — can raise individuals’ employment rates and earnings. But sector-based training programs are small and expanding them to a level that meets the economic need of workers has been challenging. This MDRC brief presents results from interviews with stakeholders in the workforce development field as well as lessons learned from earlier studies of sector-based training programs.

The purpose of the Next Steps for Rigorous Research on Two-Generation Approaches (NS2G) project was to build the evidence base for two-generation approaches. Two-generation initiatives combine economic security services for parents with accessible, high quality early care and education for children, and hold promise for improving family well-being. In this recording, co-hosted by the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation and Ascend at the Aspen Institute, NS2G team members describe the work that two-generation initiatives conducted to strengthen approaches to intentionally coordinating services for caregivers and their children. Presenters shared tools and techniques that can be used by other two-generation initiatives to strengthen their approaches.