The Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE) and 2M Research will host a webinar on December 13, 2022 from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET which will share lessons learned and practitioner recommendations from the Human Services in Rural Contexts Project. The webinar includes findings drawn from more than 100 interviews with human services staff in rural communities and data on how needs are being met by program services in rural counties.

State and local leaders at TANF agencies have been increasingly focused on using administrative data from TANF and other state agencies to better assess how well programs are working, inform policies and practices, and improve the lives of families with low incomes. Economic mobility through employment retention and advancement is of particular interest to TANF leaders, but administrative data on TANF recipients’ earnings are often difficult to access except for the purpose of investigating noncompliance. This toolkit was created to help TANF professionals develop more robust, data-driven practices using administrative data on earnings. It offers practical guidance to state and local TANF agencies on how to access, link, and analyze employment data from unemployment insurance systems for program monitoring, reporting, and evaluation. The toolkit may also be useful to other state human services agencies (for example, SNAP and Child Support) that want to expand their data use, as well as policymakers interested in supporting improved workforce outcomes.

This report provides a new annual snapshot of the direct care workforce, including its demographics, occupational roles, job quality challenges, and projected job openings. It also provides detailed overviews of three segments of this workforce: home care workers, residential care aides, and nursing assistants in nursing homes.

There have been over a million drug overdose deaths in the United States since 1999. While this crisis is national in scope, there is considerable variation by both geography and subpopulation. One area of interest is in how changes in the labor market may be connected to increases in addiction and “deaths of despair” and, at the same time, how rising rates of drug use may be lowering overall labor force participation. This webinar recording from the University of Wisconsin at Madison’s Institute for Research on Poverty includes presentations on trends in the U.S. opioid crisis and overdose cases related to other drugs. The presenters also examined how differences in state-level policy responses to the crisis may be leading to different labor market outcomes, and how automation and other changes in manufacturing employment may be connected to increases in working-age mortality.

In 2018, change agents within the Camden County (New Jersey) Department of Corrections introduced a five-pronged community engagement strategy to reduce the use of jail and improve reentry outcomes for people released from incarceration. Central to this strategy are the County’s NuEntry Opportunity Specialists, previously incarcerated individuals who serve as credible messengers to people released from incarceration and who work to reduce the stigma of incarceration through community education and outreach. This case study describes Camden County’s community engagement strategy and examines its implementation and reported impact. Lessons and recommendations derived from implementation of the county’s community engagement strategy and its sustainability efforts are also discussed.

Video recordings of the plenary and concurrent breakout sessions are now available for the Virtual Research and Evaluation Conference on Self-Sufficiency (RECS) 2022, convened by the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation in the Administration for Children and Families, held June 1 - 3, 2022. The conference recordings include sessions on the following topics:

• Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Programs, Policies, and Populations
• Employment and Mobility in the Labor Market
• Youth Well-Being and the Transition to Adulthood
• Strengthening Families, Fatherhood, Marriages, and Relationships
• Evaluating Social Programs, Building Evidence, and Using Data
• Approaches to Alleviate Poverty and Expand Opportunity

The American Public Human Services Association has published a blog series entitled, The Core: A Cutting Edge Blog Series Getting to the Core of Modern TANF Reform. This series takes a detailed look at TANF and the ways in which TANF agencies, aligned systems, and community voices are thinking differently about TANF programs and how they can help families succeed long-term and get to the root of barriers communities face to promote opportunity for all. This blog entry, authored by Erin Oalican, Director of Reach Up (Vermont’s TANF Program), examines Vermont’s process in focusing Reach Up’s mission, vision, and practice on joining Vermont families on their respective journeys.

There are more than 2.5 million children in the U.S. growing up in “grandfamilies,” meaning they are being raised by relatives (grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, etc.) or close family friends without their parents in the home. Research shows grandfamilies are the best option for children who cannot be raised by their parents. This report includes the latest findings on grandfamilies facing high rates of hunger and food insecurity, as well as policy recommendations to help feed grandfamilies.

This white paper uses a novel dataset from CareerWise Colorado, one of the U.S.'s most widely cited youth apprenticeship models. During the program, CareerWise students split their time between a traditional classroom and the workplace, allowing apprentices to earn a wage while accessing meaningful work experience and debt-free college credits. The paper presents research findings on the extent to which CareerWise apprentices achieve the program’s stated goal of serving as an “Options Multiplier” – they transition on to postsecondary education, employment, or both. Supportive supervisors, job match, industry type, and Registered Apprenticeship status all have a significant impact on retention and completion. Better understanding of these factors means that employers can structure programs that lead to apprentice success, teaching students the skills they need for a good job and generating a high return on investment for employers.

Young adults facing homelessness are a growing demographic in need of greater economic stability—before the COVID-19 pandemic, one in ten young people experienced homelessness annually. In response to that need, MDRC and Covenant House entered into a learning partnership to explore the perspectives and experiences of those young people as they navigate the workforce amid a changing and often precarious labor market. (Covenant House is a nonprofit organization which provides housing and supportive services for young people facing homelessness and survivors of human trafficking.) Through surveys and interviews, the study team sought to learn about young people’s aspirations, reflect on their strengths and obstacles, and identify which supports they need as they navigate the workforce. The research findings shared in this brief will be used to help Covenant House develop new strategies to address youth employment needs.