A prevailing belief suggests that having a job brings financial security, though many workers hold jobs that do not support financial stability. WorkRise and the Aspen Institute’s Financial Security Program (FSP) will host a webinar on April 28, 2021 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. ET on research covering workers’ financial health and on building pathways to support financial security and economic mobility. The webinar will also present a new report explaining how work arrangements relate to worker benefit provisions and how work and benefits can determine whether workers can attain financial security. The report examines the disparity in financial security outcomes among low- and moderate-income workers, particularly for persons of color, women, and younger workers. Speakers include representatives of the Aspen Institute’s Financial Security Program, Institute for the Future, the Plousha Moore Group, WorkRise, and the Urban Institute.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Family-Centered Community Change® initiative used a two-generation approach to support parents and their children in three high-poverty communities. On April 29, 2021 from 12:00 p.m. to 1:15 p.m. ET, the Foundation will host a webinar with a panel discussion of practitioners and evaluators from the Urban Institute on how two-generation approaches influenced the practitioners’ work and how the approaches evolved during the initiative. Panelists also include representatives of the United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County, Community Properties of Ohio Impact Corporation, and Buffalo Promise Neighborhood.

The demands for parents and caregivers to adapt their caregiving roles due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as their educational, occupational, and social responsibilities, have caused extended stress and uncertainty. This brief highlights how the pandemic has impacted parents and caregivers, especially those with trauma histories. The brief also identifies resiliency factors for these populations and shares guidance for policymakers, providers, agencies, and families on how to support these parents and caregivers throughout the pandemic and beyond.

This research-to-practice brief assesses the implications and lessons learned from implementing evidence-based home visiting services for child welfare-system involved families under the Family First Prevention Services Act. For this assessment, the brief examines a pilot project of 10 Healthy Families America programs, administered by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. The assessment’s results are drawn from program and administrative data as well as interviews of program participants. The brief notes positive benefits of home visiting services, such as increased knowledge of child development, enhanced parenting skills, and improved co-parenting relationships. It also recognizes the difficulty of delivering home visiting services where there are unstable living arrangements and mental health crises among participants.

This research-to-practice brief presents a new model for job search assistance based on delivering virtual job search services in New Jersey. The brief identifies how job search assistance must be understood in the context of what does and does not work for unemployed job seekers and explores the principles behind effective job search interventions. It also illustrates the components of a three-tiered job search model: the need for physical and psychological safety and stability; the foundations of a sustainable job search to create maintainable patterns and schedules for persons whose lives are in disarray as a result of COVID; and the creation of new job search skills to enhance the job seeker’s motivation, persistence, and self-efficacy.

This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation report reviews the creation of integrated employment services and treatment programs for persons with opioid and substance use disorders (SUDs) and covers the emerging evidence on this approach’s effectiveness in improving participant employment outcomes. Employment service delivery as part of SUD treatment intends to support individuals in their attainment of sustained recovery and improved economic well-being. The report was prepared as part of the Building Evidence on Employment Strategies for Low-Income Families (BEES) project which evaluates programs that combine employment services with SUD treatment and recovery services. Through these evaluations, BEES strives to increase awareness of effective interventions that support low-income individuals in finding jobs and advancing in the labor market.

The COVID-19 pandemic has placed an economic and emotional toll on many individuals, including parents working in the service sector. Convened by the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, this webinar will take place on April 15, 2021 from 12:15 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. CT. Anna Gassman Pines of Duke University will present her analysis and research on the effects of the pandemic on this segment of the population.

The Pathways to Work Evidence Clearinghouse will host a webinar on April 29, 2021 from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET to discuss how TANF administrators and other service providers can find and use information on the Pathways Clearinghouse website about evidence-based interventions and their implementation. Presentations will cover the Pathways Clearinghouse’s relevance and a demonstration of the website’s new features, as well as the website’s information on how over 50 evidence-based interventions were implemented. Speakers include representatives of the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, the Archuleta County Department of Human Services, the Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance, and Mathematica.

This blogpost illustrates how Jewish Family Services (JFS) of Columbus (Franklin County, Ohio) transitioned operations and adapted its practices as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The blogpost focuses on the JFS Journey program; Journey assists low-income individuals engaged with the Franklin County child support agency in obtaining new or better jobs, which helps them meet their support obligations. The discussion covers how JFS worked with local employers in the distribution industry to create placement opportunities for its clients, how JFS transitioned its group employment services digitally, and how new forms of staff and client engagement and procedures may be retained in a post-pandemic environment.

This report provides findings from a biennial survey of child welfare agencies on their expenditures for state fiscal year (SFY) 2018. The survey intends to support greater understanding among stakeholders about the challenges and opportunities that agencies encounter in delivering services. According to the survey, state and local child welfare agencies rely on multiple funding sources to administer their programs, including Medicaid, Title IV-E, Title IV-B, TANF, the Social Services Block Grant program, and other federal, state, and local sources. In this report, tabular and graphic data illustrate trends in total expenditures for child welfare agencies from SFY 2016 to SFY 2018 and the different uses of funds to cover out-of-home placements, adoption and guardianship programs, child protective services, preventive services, and assistance for older youth. The report covers recent legislation and federal policy changes and how they affect child welfare expenditures. The report also identifies points of consideration for states as they assess how to determine the type of available services they might offer, in light of how states rely on different funding structures for their respective child welfare agencies.