This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation issue brief examines how two agencies, Alameda County, California and the Colorado Department of Human Services use continuous quality improvement (CQI) in implementing their programs that address youth at risk of homelessness. CQI is a process-oriented evaluation that supports the enhancement of programs and practices through ongoing collection analysis of real-time data to identify and test changes in program implementation. Key components of this brief look at the CQI process design features at these two agencies, how the CQI process affected the operation of the agency’s interventions to prevent homelessness among youth and young adults who have been involved in the child welfare system, and what advice the two agencies have for other entities that may use CQI in their program reviews.

This video by the U.S. Department of Education’s Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) offers a historical perspective of RSA’s Vocational Rehabilitation program, which provides services and support to persons with disabilities to maximize their employment. The video is part of the program’s 100th year celebration.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has issued this guide to assist health care providers, health care systems, and community leaders who seek knowledge about strategies and approaches to prevent substance misuse among young adults, ages 18 to 25. The guide includes research findings, identifies emerging and best practices, and points out knowledge gaps and challenges to implementing these practices within communities. The guide also lists resources on how to monitor outcomes and conduct evaluations, and guidance on how to improve quality of existing practices.

This Urban Institute needs assessment is an initial review of Oklahoma’s early childhood care and education (ECCE) delivery system. The review focuses on programs that directly support ECCE to include universal pre-K, Head Start and Early Head Start, American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) Head Start and Early Head Start, Early Head Start-Child Care Partnerships, and state-funded child care and tribal child care programs. The assessment identifies future goals and action areas to include alignment of systems of care for seamless service delivery, affordability of ECCE options, increases in the number of choices for families for culturally responsive care and services while assisting parents’ ability to work, and resources to meet the urgent health and mental health needs of rural young children.

This Annie E. Casey Foundation blogpost discusses a new Foundation report entitled The Center for Working Families (CWF) Framework. This CWF framework or approach strives to assist low-income families in achieving greater financial security by integrating workforce development and employment services, income, work supports, financial literacy education, and coaching. The report highlights CWF in various programmatic and institutional settings across the U.S., as well as how the Foundation has helped develop the framework and how organizations have applied this integrated service delivery approach.

This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation-funded report evaluates the effectiveness of the Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Justice Involved Individuals Seeking Employment (CBI-Emp) curriculum to address economic stability under the Building Bridges and Bonds (B3) study. Economic stability is one of the three approaches within the Responsible Fatherhood (RF) grant program. A process study assessed how three RF program grantees implemented CBI-Emp, which assists individuals with recent justice involvement in identifying and changing thinking patterns and actions that prevent positive outcomes. Under the study, participating fathers were randomly selected and offered either their respective organization’s services or CBI-Emp with the range of services offered by their organization; these interventions’ costs and impacts were evaluated.

The Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin at Madison will host a webinar on February 19, 2020 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. CT to discuss ways that a father’s health and behaviors impact their children’s well-being. Researchers will present findings about fathers’ experiences in prenatal and pediatric care settings and strategies for promoting fathers’ physical and mental health; also presented will be findings on how to support fathers in modeling positive health behaviors for their children.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has announced a competitive grant opportunity under the Opioid-Impacted Family Support Program. Up to 19 grant awards will be funded to support training programs that expand paraprofessionals’ knowledge, skills, and expertise, and to increase the number of peer support specialists and other behavioral health-related paraprofessionals who serve children whose parents are impacted by opioid use disorders and other substance use disorders, as well as family members in guardianship roles. Applications are due by April 13.

2020 marks the 100th anniversary of the federally-funded Vocational Rehabilitation Program. To celebrate this milestone, the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS), Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) has created a webpage for anniversary content. Key features of this webpage include a podcast with keynote remarks from the RSA Commissioner and graphics to promote the 100 years of Vocational Rehabilitation. Additional information and materials will be added throughout the calendar year.

This Urban Institute blogpost profiles Kentucky’s Justice to Journeyman program, a prison apprenticeship program. The blogpost notes a key feature of the model: starting classroom occupational instruction (for jobs not available at correctional facilities) at the beginning of the apprenticeship and on-the-job training (OJT) upon the apprentice’s release. This classroom instruction and OJT leads to placement for jobs as welders, electricians, and telecommunications workers. Research cited in the blogpost notes that conventional prison-based apprenticeship programs offer occupational training in jobs typically found in correctional facilities, such as groundskeeping, cleaning, and cooking, which effectively limits economic prospects for returning citizens.