The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness developed this categorized list of resources, which includes criteria and benchmarks for communities to use in implementing strategies to address homelessness. The resources are organized according to overarching goals, specific objectives, and sub-objectives. The four overarching goals include: Ensure Homelessness is a Rare Experience, Ensure Homelessness is a Brief Experience, Ensure Homelessness is a One-Time Experience, and Sustain an End to Homelessness.

This ASCEND podcast reviews the impact of the Magnolia Mother’s Trust, a Springboard to Opportunities program, which is a guaranteed income initiative for extremely low-income female-headed households. The program provides $1,000 in cash monthly for 1 year on a no-strings basis for participating families which, in effect, doubles annual income. The podcast also discusses how the program’s evaluation data can be used in future program and policy design. (Springboard to Opportunities is a Family Prosperity Partner within the Aspen Family Prosperity Innovation Community.)

This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation report presents findings from the Building Bridges and Bonds (B3) study. The B3 study covered approaches addressing parenting and economic stability within Responsible Fatherhood (RF) grant programs, and examined the impact of one particular intervention – Just Beginning (JB). It also detailed how three RF grantees implemented JB within their existing set of supportive services.

This report examines county-wide approaches for addressing substance use among high school age youth. Approximately 30 percent of high school students report using alcohol, 20 percent of youth report binge drinking, 20 percent report marijuana use, and nearly 12 percent of high school students report using illicit or injectable drugs. The report notes that while overall alcohol, tobacco, and drug use have decreased among youth, the complexity of substance abuse requires increased emphasis on prevention, intervention, and treatment strategies at the county level.

This report highlights how public sector human services decision-makers identify and use needed evidence. Recommendations are made on how these leaders can contribute to a broader use of various types of evidence. The report concludes with a literature review of 27 sources related to policymakers’ evidence needs and delves into the types of information policymakers want and need to make decisions on social policy pertaining to areas such as child welfare and youth employment.

This blogpost profiles Youth Support Partners, a program from the Allegheny County (Pennsylvania) Department of Human Services, which intends to give a voice to youth who engaged in the child welfare system in their relationship with assigned caseworkers. This voluntary program allows participating youth to set the frequency of appointments and is a less structured approach for youth to set self-care and personal development goals. Youth Support Partners also promotes a collaborative communication process between caseworkers and youth in assessment.

This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation report examines San Francisco’s STEP Forward program, which targeted diverse low-income job seekers including CalWORKs (California’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program) or CalFresh (California’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) recipients, or individuals who have exhausted unemployment insurance benefits. This paper describes a random assignment evaluation of 837 adults – those with access to STEP Forward services and a control group without access to STEP Forward services but to other services. First-year costs of the program for job readiness services and subsidies were evaluated.