Reentry is multisystemic, multifaceted, and highly complex, and making sense of how best to improve outcomes for people leaving prison and jail can be daunting. This U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance-sponsored toolkit is designed specifically for reentry coalition leaders and local city, county, and community leaders who want to play an active role in improving reentry policy, practice, and outcomes. Part I of this toolkit, “Fundamentals of Reentry,” covers the essential elements of system change that are necessary to carry out an effective reentry strategy at the local level. Part II presents “Tools for Change” to help advance local reentry priorities through three fronts: linking and leveraging resources, changing policy and practice, and building broad community support.

This tool is designed to help jurisdictions select evidence-based programs or practices (EBPs) for their Family First prevention plan. Family First prevention plans are developed at the state and local level to guide the design and financing of home visiting and other programs and services which promote the health and well-being of young children and their families. This resource provides overviews of each EBP along with a survey tool. The survey tool can be used to match program fit and usability based on target population, program goals, evidence rating, program intensity and duration, program cost, staffing and training requirements, and other factors. Also included are worksheets for each EBP to help determine program cost based on the projected number of families and children to be served and the number of provider agencies, teams, and individual staff involved.

Responsible Fatherhood programs work with fathers to promote healthy relationships, improve parenting skills, and help fathers attain economic stability. For programs to improve fathers’ outcomes, they need to be able to recruit fathers, engage them in services, and keep them actively participating in program activities. This brief describes promising approaches that programs can implement to address common barriers to participation in fatherhood programs.

In 2020, for every 100 families in poverty, just 21 families received TANF cash assistance — down from 68 families when TANF was first enacted in 1996. The “TANF-to-poverty ratio” (TPR) is at the lowest point in TANF’s history. This interactive map allows users to click on a state for a fact sheet detailing trends in its TANF caseload and the program’s ability to reach families in poverty.

The National Governors Association launched the Strengthening Substance Use Disorder (SUD) Systems of Care (SUD Learning Collaborative) in June 2020. The purpose of the SUD Learning Collaborative was to improve coordination across the continuum of prevention, treatment, and recovery services for individuals affected by SUD and opioid use disorder. From June 2020 through March 2021, Governor-appointed teams from six states — Kentucky, New York, Oregon, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming — engaged in strategic planning analysis, with the goal of addressing their state’s respective linkage to SUD care and treatment priorities. This report helps states address challenges related to these focus areas.

Breaking Barriers was a San Diego-based program that provided employment services to individuals with low incomes and disabilities who were looking for work. The program used the Individual Placement and Support model. This report summarizes findings from an earlier program evaluation report and presents new impact findings based on administrative records from the National Directory of New Hires. These records include information on study participants’ quarterly employment and earnings over an extended, two-year follow-up period.

Today’s infants and toddlers have lived virtually their entire lives during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has shaped every aspect of their growth and wellbeing. The pandemic has directly impacted them, through experiences such as delayed screenings for developmental issues, and indirectly impacted them through the circumstances of other members of their households, including increased parental stress, illness, and job loss. This brief examines how decision makers implementing the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) have used COVID relief funding and policy opportunities to lay the groundwork for longer-term, transformative change by equitably supporting infants, toddlers, and their families. The brief also offers guidance for how decision makers can leverage ARPA across myriad programs to support these children and families now and into the future.