This Urban Institute report presents a preliminary set of findings on the effects of colocation of human services organizations in Washington, DC. The report illustrates initial lessons for service usage and the benefits received by participants of human services programs from multiple organizations housed at the Town Hall Education Arts Recreation Campus (THEARC). (Thirty million dollars in programs and services in human services programs at THEARC are coordinated by Building Bridges Across the River and served more than 100,000 people in 2017.) Initial report findings noted that the organizations at THEARC, which provide education, recreational, health care, workforce development, and other services, share similar goals. The intentional colocation produced notable positive effects on the health and well-being of the adults and children who utilized these organizations’ offerings.

This brief from the University of California at Davis, Center for Poverty Research highlights how childhood economic hardship has negative long-term impacts on mental and physical well-being and how resilience factors can mitigate these negative consequences. The brief notes recent research that identifies protective factors, such as supportive relationships and successful role models, that provide continuous benefits for child development. The brief also offers suggestions for both policy and practice to support youth experiencing economic hardship at an early age.

This Aspen Institute toolkit provides practical guidance for employers on how to approach and engage opportunity youth (young people who are neither in school nor working) and design initiatives so they are positioned for current and future economic challenges and jobs. The toolkit also offers resources on how to use labor market research as the basis of conversation between employers and youth. The approach is drawn from insights from Denver, New York, and Seattle pilots.

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) is soliciting invitations from ACF program offices, state- or county-administered human services programs, and local ACF grantees for participation in a pilot study under the Human Centered Design for Human Services (HCD4HS) project. Human-centered design (HCD) is a means to generate innovative solutions to complex problems through new, creative ways of thinking about a problem, and through intentional engagement with the beneficiaries of the solution. Learn more on how to nominate a state or county-administered, Administration for Children and Families (ACF) program office, or local ACF grantee to participate in a pilot study under ACF’s Human Centered Design for Human Services project. Self-nominations are allowed but all nominations are due by December 5, 2019. Submit your nomination here!

This National Skills Coalition report identifies the role of non-degree credentials as a means to expand economic and educational opportunities for underserved workers. The report offers a proposed set of quality assurance systems for these non-degree credentials, developed in consultation with 12 states, so that policy makers can support these training programs with public resources. Students can enroll in high-quality programs, and employers can validate the connection between the credential and industry needs.

This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation brief and the accompanying presentation introduce rapid learning methods designed to advance rapid program improvement and support program effectiveness. The brief also seeks to address the considerations and criteria used to design an optimal rapid learning approach and offers recommendations on how federal agencies can promote the use of rapid learning methods.

This updated and expanded report from the Congressional Research Service provides a summary of TANF block grant information and addresses frequently asked questions. The report covers TANF funding and expenditures, TANF caseload data, level of TANF cash benefits, and TANF work participation standards.

The National Association of Counties will host the second of a two-part webinar on December 5, 2019 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. ET to review the collection, management, and sharing of data among health and human services and justice systems to address incarcerated persons with mental illness. Subject matter experts from county health and human services and justice systems at the local level will discuss how they implemented data policies and systems and the ways this data has been used to connect people to related supportive services and treatment programs.