This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation brief summarizes findings from three different demonstration projects that are designed to support noncustodial parents: the Enhanced Transitional Jobs Demonstration (ETJD), Parents and Children Together (PACT), and the Child Support Noncustodial Parent Employment Demonstration (CSPED). The evaluations assessed whether employment and other supportive services to disadvantaged noncustodial parents affect participants’ earnings, parental engagement, and ability to make child support payments. Findings from these projects showed significant impacts on improving noncustodial parents’ employment and earnings compared to prior evaluations of similar programs. ETJD and CSPED examined child support payments, and neither study found an impact on the amount of child support paid. However, unlike previous evaluation studies, PACT and CSPED, which had parenting workshops as a core service, generated positive impacts on father-child contact.

The Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin at Madison will hold a webinar on February 10, 2021 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. ET to discuss research findings on how COVID-19 has affected the mental health and well-being of essential workers and parents with children who are distance learning. Jevay Grooms of Howard University will discuss her research on the mental health of essential workers, particularly among persons of color, and whose children are learning remotely. Anna Gassman-Pines of Duke University will present results from a survey on hourly workers with children and the impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of these workers.

This brief analyzes the relationship between educational stability (measured by school enrollment and dropout rate) and justice involvement among youth of color. Using data from 2001 to 2016, the brief focuses on 10 California counties with the strongest relationships between educational stability and justice involvement. The brief also discusses possible uses of the data, which may include guiding funding sources’ investment in education and juvenile justice systems and other supports as protective factors from youth justice involvement.

This research-to-practice brief identifies strategies that can support caregivers and teachers as they engage with families virtually as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. This family engagement is conducted to support families and children in building positive and goal-oriented relationships. Strategies in this brief include using engaging online lessons to support parent learning, implementing virtual communication to help parents integrate learning in real-life contexts, using technology to offer information and resources to parents more readily, and creating online forums and virtual group meetings. The brief also includes factors that communities may consider in delivering virtual family engagement services.

Partnering with state leaders, the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices compiled a State Roadmap for Workforce Recovery, which provides a framework to organize workforce response and recovery activities to meet four important goals toward a more equitable future post-COVID: expand access to needed support services for low-income populations, quickly connect job seekers to work, increase digital access and skill development, and improve job quality for all. Included in the report are case studies from Hawaii, Massachusetts, Ohio, and Rhode Island.

The U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (ETA) will host a webinar on March 4, 2021 from 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. ET to discuss the uses of CareerOneStop for individuals currently inside correctional facilities who will be returning to the community. The webinar will also cover pathways, tools, and resources to assist individuals with prior criminal records in engaging in employment and training activities. Presenters include representatives from ETA and the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.

This report highlights findings from a process evaluation of the Urban Alliance’s High School Internship Program in Washington, DC, Baltimore, Northern Virginia, and Chicago. The Urban Alliance program model aims to empower economically disadvantaged high school seniors to aspire, work, and succeed. The program provides youth participants with workplace skills training, opportunities for internships to gain work experience, mentorship at the internship site, and coaching support from case managers during youths’ participation in the program as well as for program alumni. The findings of this first of three reports are drawn from interviews, focus groups, and surveys of participating students, case managers, and employers as well as a review of program and secondary data.

The National Association of Workforce Development Professionals will host a webinar on February 23, 2021 at 2:00 p.m. ET to address the changed employer engagement landscape in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The webinar is targeted to workforce development professionals who engage in business services. The webinar’s three key learning objectives include understanding two new ways to engage employers, examining one tool to reach businesses with new messaging, and learning the language that can “hook” a business into partnering. There is a webinar registration fee.

The U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (ETA) hosted a webinar on January 28, 2021 to demonstrate how CareerOneStop can provide virtual services to help job seekers find immediate employment and file for unemployment benefits. This webinar was a deeper dive into two CareerOneStop user pathways that were initially presented in the September 24, 2020 “Using CareerOneStop to Provide Virtual Career and Job Services” webinar. Presenters included representatives of the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration and the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.

This toolkit is a synthesis of a blogpost, reports, and links to previous webinars to offer health and human services leaders guidance as they design and evaluate programs targeting young families. The resources offered in this compendium are divided into several topics, including economic well-being, education, foster youth, mental health, pandemic response, policy, program design, and youth voice.