The 2018 Family First Prevention Services Act supports funding for effective, evidence-based kinship navigator programs. This brief illustrates how kinship navigator programs operate and identifies common challenges in program evaluation. These challenges include defining the program models, selecting a comparison group, determining the sample size for the evaluation, and selecting appropriate reliable and valid measures. The brief also offers potential solutions to address these methodological problems in evaluation.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created challenges for home visit screenings and efforts to identify and support families when intimate partner violence (IPV) occurs. This research-to-practice brief reviews research evidence that explores the following key questions: how does IPV affect families?; what is home visiting's role in addressing IPV?; what are the challenges and opportunities of virtual home visits?; how can home visitors safely screen for IPV during virtual visits?; and how can home visitors support families experiencing IPV?

(See also Resources on "domestic violence" in the Resource Library)

This guide supports stakeholders in thinking through and documenting key elements in the design of a Whole Family Approach Design Plan. The guide is organized by 12 plan components; each component includes a set of questions to prompt the strategic planning process. The Design Plan is an adaptation from earlier efforts, including the Rural Integration Models for Parents and Children to Thrive (IMPACT) and two-generation/whole family approach learning efforts delivered by the Aspen Institute Community Solutions Group.

The Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP), a key program of the Family and Youth Services Bureau within the Administration on Children, Youth and Families, was created to address teen pregnancy. PREP grantees design and implement programs targeting teens and offer education on at least three of six adulthood preparation subjects (APSs) to support youth in the transition to adulthood. APSs include healthy relationships, adolescent development, financial literacy, parent-child communication, education and career success, and healthy life skills. This brief offers guidance to grantees who want to or already address one of the APSs, financial literacy, in their PREP program.

These 2020 National Indian and Native American Employment and Training Conference Western Regional Peer-to-Peer Training Conference presentations cover several areas which are relevant to tribal workforce development programs and operations. Topics included: DOL ETA 9130 Reports; Enhancing Participant Outcome under WIOA Performance Indicators; Stackable Credentials; SMART Training; Tribal Workforce Development, Self-Determination, Innovation, Policy Recommendations; and Your Money, Your Goals: New Financial Empowerment Tools for Workforce Development. The presentations also include profiles of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Indian and Native American Programs and the Cook Inlet Tribal Council.

This American Indian College Fund guidebook, intended to support Native American college students in developing career pathways, includes culturally relevant resources. The guidebook features tips and inspiring stories on job seeking, resumé preparation, cover letters, references, appropriate dress, internships, enhancing soft skills, personal branding, and interviewing. The guidebook also identifies career information about skilled trades, job opportunities in Indian Country, pursuing graduate school, networking, and joining associations.

This fact sheet from the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Indian and Native American Programs highlights the more than $7 million in spending under the Cherokee Nation’s Respond, Recover and Rebuild spending relief plan, which is designed to increase career opportunities in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The fact sheet discusses allocations for the tribe’s summer youth employment; a tribal training program known as “day work;” a work experience program; and a tuition assistance program to support careers in health care, construction, truck driving, welding, and other fields. The fact sheet also notes that the tribe is creating a career ladder program in telemedicine and health IT, expanding its online GED programs, and supporting its trade clients with technology needs.

Hybrid and competency-based approaches to Registered Apprenticeship programs are becoming increasingly popular and can be useful to participants who are enrolled in secondary education. This self-paced online course intends to support workforce development professionals, employers, and apprenticeship sponsors in planning, designing, and implementing a hybrid or competency-based Registered Apprenticeship program for youth or adults. Key elements of the course include guidance on how to build a plan, find program samples and create a work process, develop a related technical instruction (RTI) outline, create a wage scale, design a communications plan and identify success measures, and build competency assessments.

This blogpost assesses strategies state program administrators can use to support parents in managing COVID-19 pandemic-related stress through maximizing home visiting services. The blogpost notes how early childhood home visiting programs, including those federally funded by the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting program, offer three levels of support: direct information on child health and positive parenting practices; screening to identify potential needs, risks, and stressors; and connection of families to resources to address these risks or attain goals set by parents. Childhood home visiting programs can also offer cognitive behavioral therapy techniques to help parents address stress and more serious forms of parental depression. The blogpost describes how additional resources are available to promote early literacy, enhance parent-child interactions, and help parents manage their children’s behaviors and pandemic-related stressors.

A portion of the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program supporting home visits for mothers and families with young children is designated for home visiting in tribal communities. This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation report is a systematic review of home visiting models within tribal communities and includes a description of the review process and findings. The report also includes information about the evaluated models and summary conclusions about the models’ effectiveness. The review was first published in February 2011, and the updated edition covers results from research through September 2018.