A benefits cliff may occur when an increase in income (e.g., from working more hours, getting a raise, or taking a new position) pushes a worker above the income eligibility limit for one or more public assistance programs, and the loss of assistance is greater than the value of the increase. This forces people to choose between their family’s immediate financial best interest and their own longer-term wage growth and career advancement. The Federal Reserve is hosting a Connecting Communities webinar on October 12, 2023 from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET to explore this economic challenge. Participants will learn about tools developed by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta to identify and inform mitigation strategies, as well as innovation pilots including Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Washington D.C. that can inform state and community leaders working to develop solutions to the benefits cliff.

This Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration brief presents self-reports of recovery among adults aged 18 and older in the United States who thought they ever had a problem with their use of drugs or alcohol and/or mental health. Recovery for substance use or mental health problems differed by age, family income, education, marital status, and importance of religious beliefs. Adults who participated in at least one government assistance program, had a lower level of education, or had a lower family income relative to the federal poverty level tended to have a higher prevalence of substance use recovery, but a lower prevalence of mental health recovery. Some policy recommendations that SAMHSA identifies as supporting recovery include supportive employment programs and financial counseling and education as well as family support services.

Interest in the career and technical education (CTE) field has experienced a resurgence over the last decade, as the global economy has grown increasingly competitive while students have continued to leave school unprepared for well-paying twenty-first century jobs. Working both together and separately, the education and workforce sectors have sought to address these challenges and better prepare students for viable economic futures. The results have been new, innovative programs at both the secondary and postsecondary education levels that aim to give students technical training, general training, and work-based learning opportunities where they can develop connections to the workforce. This MDRC paper captures the evidence that has emerged and identifies areas where there is more evidence as well as areas where gaps in evidence still exist.

Many effective services promote healthy development in early childhood and support families’ well-being that are located across sectors. These include high-quality childcare and early education (CCEE), and support for other family health, educational, and financial needs. It can be challenging for families to benefit from all these services because they all function separately, typically in different locations and with differing eligibility, enrollment, and service provision requirements. Potential roadblocks can exacerbate disparities because they affect marginalized families the most. This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation study provided an in-depth look at different approaches to coordinating CCEE with other health and human services.

Finding and maintaining quality childcare is a challenge for many parents, and those living in low-income households often face even more obstacles. The Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin at Madison will host a virtual session on October 4, 2023 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. ET to introduce and discuss the current landscape of early care and education (ECE) as it pertains to low-income families. The panel will focus on policies and practices that offer support to low-income parents, an assessment of the current childcare subsidy program, and potential future measures could help to ensure access to affordable, high-quality ECE for all.

In recent years, policymakers and researchers have questioned the fairness and effectiveness of pursuing civil contempt to secure child support payments, particularly for parents with low incomes. Civil contempt proceedings are costly, burdensome, and often counterproductive to the goals of the child support program. They can impede employment, increase child support debt, alienate noncustodial parents from their children, and decrease parents’ future cooperation. Developed by the Office of Child Support Services, the Procedural Justice-Informed Alternatives to Contempt (PJAC) demonstration assessed a different approach to improving child support payments. PJAC services aimed to address noncustodial parents’ reasons for nonpayment, promote positive engagement with the child support program and the other parent, and improve the consistency and completeness of their payments. This MDRC report compares the benefits and costs of PJAC services with those of business-as-usual child support enforcement.

Kinship navigator programs are services that assist kinship caregivers in learning about and using programs and resources to meet the needs of the children they are raising, to provide support for the caregivers, and to promote partnerships among public and private agencies. These programs work to improve caregivers’ knowledge of services and assist them in accessing the services they need to support the family’s ongoing stability. This Chapin Hall brief reviews the four kinship navigator programs currently rated as either “promising” or “supported” on the Title IV-E Clearinghouse and the innovative practices and program components in developing models. It provides potential recommendations for child welfare leaders who are considering designing or implementing their own kinship navigator program.

Future of Wealth Discussion Series events are live, one-hour virtual convenings that are open to the public and bring together leaders across sectors and disciplines to consider wealth-building objectives that the Aspen Financial Security Program considers critical to creating widespread household financial well-being. Aspen Institute will host an episode of this series, “Boosting Income and Benefits for Household Stability” on September 27, 2023 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. ET. During this event, public benefits leaders will discuss how the end of the public health emergency is creating challenges for the benefits infrastructure, and the opportunity to fundamentally transform these systems to create real onramps to wealth building.

The U.S. Census Bureau produces annual poverty estimates to measure the economic well-being of households, families, and individuals in the United States. This 2022 report provides estimates of two measures of poverty: the official poverty measure and the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM). The official poverty measure is used to determine eligibility for several government programs and has been used as a benchmark of economic well-being since its adoption in the 1960s. The SPM, produced in collaboration with the Bureau of Labor Statistics, extends the official poverty measure by accounting for several government programs that are designed to assist low-income families but are not included in official poverty measure calculations. Highlights include that the SPM rate increased significantly, reflecting changes in economic well-being following the end of many pandemic-era programs.