This report identifies barriers and opportunities that exist for older workers accessing online programs, with a focus on their digital skill levels. The report analyzes 2017 Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies Survey data, as well as American Community Survey data to understand how older workers’ poverty status and access to broadband, internet, and computers and other devices is associated with digital skill levels. Report findings are also complemented by information collected during interviews with leaders of programs to support digital skill training for older adults.

This video webinar recording examines ways to provide adults with access to digital technologies and opportunities for digital skill development. Presenters Dr. Jen Vanek, Director of Digital Learning and Research at the EdTEch Center at World Education, and Dr. Kathy Harris, Director of the Literacy, Language, & Technology Research group at Portland State University, share their research in digital literacy and technology integration in adult basic skills education. Additionally, they review research in the areas of integrating technology in the classroom to support digital literacies, and programmatic strategies supporting technology integration. The presenters also highlight areas of needed research.

Digital Resilience in the American Workforce (DRAW) is a new initiative from Jobs for the Future and World Education, with support from the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education. DRAW better prepares adult education practitioners who support learners who struggle to fully engage in tasks that demand use of digital technologies. This article highlights DRAW, which provides flexible, evidence-based, and piloted strategies and materials that help teachers build the digital literacy skills and digital resilience of adult learners. An invitation to complete a questionnaire is included which allows respondents to share insights, experiences, and expertise with digital literacy resources. Responses will be compiled in a Landscape Scan to be released in summer 2022.

A year after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of individuals remained out of work. This report presents data on labor market weakness and describes how the COVID-19 recession has exacerbated inequality and how the threat of long-term unemployment particularly impacts people of color. This report makes the case for a permanent subsidized employment program to respond to short-term needs and support disadvantaged workers even in economically better times. It highlights research on the benefits of subsidized employment for program participants and communities. It also highlights lessons learned from the TANF Emergency Fund, enacted during the Great Recession, and the value of subsidized employment in hard economic times as a means to recover from the COVID-19 economic downturn.

This blogpost identifies research on the skills adults need to effectively navigate digital spaces and what educators can do to support adult learning to build digital skills. Topics covered include: understanding graphics, digital interfaces, and online reproduction skills; reading online and comprehending digital texts; the importance of real-time thinking, social, and emotional skills; and ways to support adult digital literacy.

Governor Chris Sununu and the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) recently released "Helping Business Thrive and Families Prosper", a paper on the impact of the “Cliff Effect” on New Hampshire’s families and employers. The paper examines how these “benefits cliffs” keep families from climbing up and out of poverty and into self-sufficiency, the resulting workforce challenges for employers, and action steps for policymakers, employers, and other stakeholders to work collectively to end the Cliff Effect.

During the 2020 Whole Family Approach Institute, participants received specialized support related to service integration, received peer-learning opportunities as well as access to expert presentations, and learned about building blocks critical to Whole Family Approach success. They also learned practical insights to improve the design of a Theory of Change, Logic Model and plan for data collection and use. Resources, presentations, session handouts, and a series of videos are available.

The family-centered coaching approach allows staff to partner with families holistically, taking into account their strengths and goals, challenges, and systemic barriers. This toolkit offers strategies, tools, and resources that can help programs, agencies, case managers, coaches, and others change how they work with families striving to reach their goals by planning for and intentionally changing the way coaching is delivered to families. A key goal of the toolkit is to encourage caseworkers to work with families toward a coaching philosophy that places the participant in the lead, with staff playing a critical supporting role. The toolkit offers a framework that incorporates multiple approaches, with goal setting as a key technique of supporting families in making the changes they need.

This blogpost illustrates how to cope with negative emotions spurred by holidays and family gatherings. The blogpost presents the Change Triangle to providers as a guide to help clients work with emotions and the ways they avoid them, as well as steps to “work the triangle” and identify and be with emotions so they stay connected with themselves. Vignettes explain how two individuals used the Change Triangle, and five suggestions are presented to help families and individuals get through the holidays.

Children and youth are dealing with new challenges due to COVID-19, like social distancing, changes to their routines, and a lost sense of security and safety, making them especially vulnerable to feeling stressed, anxious, or depressed. For some children, these challenges are exacerbated by the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on their communities. Black and Hispanic Americans, in particular, have faced a disproportionate share of COVID-19 cases. The tools offered in five interactive videos, tailored for either younger children and their parents or for youth and teens, help support their emotional wellbeing by guiding an understanding about how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are all connected.