This video recording from a virtual webinar explores the implementation of summer youth employment programs in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and what lessons can be drawn to support year-round, work-based learning and career opportunities for youth and young adults. Speakers include program staff, youth, and young adults associated with Philadelphia Youth Network, WorkReady Philadelphia, Connect Detroit, Grow Detroit Young Talent, the Boston Private Industry Council, the Mayor’s Summer Jobs Program in Boston, and the Los Angeles Opportunity Youth Collaborative, Alliance for Children’s Rights.

The U.S. Department of Labor hosted a webinar on September 24, 2020 which discussed how to use the online resource CareerOneStop for career exploration and job services. Materials now available include a PowerPoint presentation and user guides for CareerOneStop to support virtual delivery of employment services. Representatives from the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration and the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development delivered presentations.

This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation tip sheet provides guidance on how healthy marriage and relationship education (HMRE) programs can request participation in the Strengthening the Implementation of Marriage and Relationship Programs (SIMR) project. The SIMR project will work with select HMRE programs to strengthen their recruitment, retention, and client engagement activities. The tip sheet illustrates the benefits for HMRE programs to participate in SIMR, the timeline for site selections among HMRE programs, and how HMRE programs may become involved. The deadline for programs to contact SIMR is October 23, 2020.

The National Indigenous Women's Resource Center will host this webinar on October 21, 2020 from 3:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. ET. The webinar will feature a discussion of the causes of domestic violence in Indigenous communities. The goal of the webinar is to explain the dynamics of intimate partner violence (IPV) from a survivor's perspective and to highlight the importance of cultural practices in building capacity to provide respectful and effective advocacy with those surviving IPV and other types of domestic violence.

To address the shortage of healthcare workers in rural communities, the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration has issued a grant opportunity to create employment and training programs in healthcare occupations serving rural and tribal communities. Eligible applicants are partnerships of public and private sector organizations, including employers representing the healthcare industry, nonprofit healthcare organizations, federally recognized Indian/Native American Tribal Government organizations, and organizations designated as primary care associations by the Health Resources and Services Administration, and Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act State and Local Workforce Development Boards. The closing date for receipt of applications is November 13, 2020.

The economic shocks associated with the COVID-19 pandemic along with social distancing and stay-at-home orders have dramatically reshaped the approach social service programs are taking to support employment for low-income populations. The Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE) will sponsor a webinar on October 28, 2020 from 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. ET featuring leaders from three employment and training programs (Climb Wyoming, Rhode Island Works, and Community Action Organization of Scioto County). The speakers will describe their approaches to continuing training programs and other employment services during the pandemic. These programs participated in OPRE’s State TANF Case Studies project to explore different approaches to providing employment-related and supportive services to TANF recipients and other low-income populations. The panelists will discuss the operational implications of the pandemic for their programs; how participants of their services are balancing participation in employment services with competing life demands and suspension of supportive services, such as child care; and the implications of shifting labor market conditions.

The Administration for Children and Families’ (ACF) National Research Conference on Early Childhood 2020 (NRCEC 2020) will be held virtually from November 30 to December 3, 2020. This biennial event will cover research on child welfare, Early Head Start, Head Start, child care, home visiting, special education, pre-kindergarten, and early elementary and other early childhood programs. Updates on the conference agenda and registration will be posted as this information becomes available.

In Spring 2020, the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Center for Urban Families (CFUF) hosted a two-part roundtable with practitioners from 10 youth-serving organizations that provide outreach and services to young fathers. This CFUF brief highlights strategies the practitioners developed to improve services for fathers of color, ages 18-24. The practitioners also shared their engagement approaches and their perspectives on program research and evaluation.

This research-to-practice brief provides findings from seven evaluations of sector-based approaches for job training. Sector-based approaches are employer-driven models of workforce development that provide training for jobs in specific industries and occupational clusters which also offer opportunities for longer-term career advancement. The brief examines the outcomes on educational attainment and employment gains after long-term implementation of these seven models.

This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation report presents findings on the impact of the San Diego Workforce Partnership’s Bridge to Employment program. The Bridge to Employment program, part of the ACF-funded Pathways for Advancing Careers and Education (PACE) project, helps low-income individuals and TANF recipients enroll in and complete occupational healthcare training and find employment in this industry sector. The report examines the program’s effect on educational attainment, entry into employment, earnings, and individual and family well-being. The report also reviews the benefits of the program against its costs, as perceived by program participants and other stakeholders.