The National Governors Association (NGA) produced a white paper to outline the challenges persons with disabilities face entering and maintaining employment. Drawn from NGA’s participation in the State Exchange on Employment and Disability (SEED) initiative supported by the U.S. Department of Labor, the white paper also includes strategies as a result of a learning lab in May 2018. Strategies reflect four priority areas: preparing people with disabilities for careers; supporting and retaining employees with disabilities; engaging employers in education and training; and coordinating services and supports across state agencies.

To learn how parents prefer to receive information on early childhood development and parenting, Child Trends conducted diverse focus groups of first-time parents and then created a research-to-practice brief. The brief highlights five points the parents raised about their information-seeking preferences and behavior and the link between what parents know about parenting and child development and their behavior with their children. The study found that parents desired high-quality knowledge on early childhood development and parenting skills, and it noted their clear preferences on how they wanted to receive this information.

Mathematica researchers studied the intensity of direction that caseworkers gave to voucher recipients selecting a job-training program. In particular, study findings indicated that those recipients who received the most directive approach from caseworkers had higher survey-reported earnings than those recipients who did not. Findings will be published in the Journal of Human Resources.

Because American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) families face consistent barriers to employment and repeatedly have the highest unemployment rates in the United States, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation studied subsidized employment programs conducted by Tribal TANF programs. This resulting report found that, overall, subsidized employment programs help participants gain work experience, skills, and training necessary to lower barriers to employment. They also emphasize the variety in regional contexts that can make the transition to unsubsidized employment difficult, particularly in small economies. The eight spotlighted Tribal TANF programs provide examples for practitioners in diverse areas and show how subsidized employment can at the least be a means of temporary income, and can often be a stepping stone toward job experience and economic stability.

The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection is continuing its Youth Employment Success (YES) initiative with a new 2019 cohort. This program aims to improve financial literacy for youth in job readiness programs and is looking for five new programs across the country that are interested in creating and testing tools to help youth better understand their finances. Ultimately, the program goal is to improve socioeconomic self-sufficiency and employment outcomes in youth job programs, as well as develop sustainable tools to serve youth across the country. If selected, the programs will receive access to new tools developed by the Bureau and will also be able to evaluate and make suggestions on the tools. Selection criteria include mission alignment, organizational capacity, target population, willingness to share feedback, and relationships with similar programs. If you think your program and participants would benefit from a tool and training to improve young adult finances, email empowerment@cfpb.gov with a Letter of Interest by November 26, 2018. Other resources for Youth Employment Programs can be found at https://www.consumerfinance.gov/practitioner-resources/resources-youth-employment-programs/.

This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation research-to-practice brief intended for Healthy Marriage and Relationship Education (HMRE) practitioners offers five tips to guide the design and implementation of HMRE programs at secondary schools. The tips can also be used to enhance existing programs and are based on a survey that was part of the Strengthening Relationship Education and Marriage Services evaluation of five Healthy Marriage and Relationship Education programs.

The 2016 National Survey of Children’s Health found that 19 percent of children under the age of 17 are “children and youth with special health needs.” These children and their families require a broad set of supports to meet their respective health, social, educational, and other needs. This Child Trends report identifies a framework to support these families’ navigation across different support systems to coordinate and be eligible for resources provided under the Maternal and Child Health Services Block Grant (Title V), the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Medicaid, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, and the Supplemental Security Income programs.

This report from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce outlines challenges faced by low-income students who work longer hours than their higher-income peers while at the same time aiming to complete their postgraduate education. The report distinguishes between these two groups of students, both on the extent of their financial safety nets and the applicability of their choice of study. It concludes with recommendations to provide support for low-income students in completing their higher education to close the opportunity and education gaps they face.

This infographic from the Aspen Institute outlines seven steps that employers can take to increase their employees’ soft skills, which are necessary for organizational sustainability. These crucial soft skills that lead to organizational success include teamwork, communication, and problem solving. Some of the tips include guidance on how to identify target audiences for soft skill training, how to determine which soft skills are critical for different roles, and how to establish baselines for soft skill competencies.

The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) prepared a toolkit with findings from a multi-year research project covering 28 main ways that the Federal Government supports tribal innovation within workforce development. Also included are four case studies of approaches that some tribes use to address workforce development.