This publication was developed by Child Trends in partnership with the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy for the Office of Adolescent Health. It highlights co-occurring risk factors that increase the risk of injury, illness, and death among adolescents that can also impact sexual risk taking and result in pregnancy. These risk factors include: substance abuse (i.e., tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana or other drug use), dating violence, physical or sexual abuse, and mental health. Also included are risk factors associated with multiple negative outcomes for adolescents. The publication concludes with a list of questions the reader can use in discussing with team members and/or partners how to coordinate efforts to address co-occurring risk factors strategically.

This resource from the Administration for Children and Families provides information about recognizing the signs of teen dating violence in teenagers for professionals, parents, and other caring adults to prepare them for discussing dating violence with teens in their life. It highlights the signs of dating abuse, how to talk to a teen dealing with an abusive relationship, and how to connect them to services. The site also links to many resources, including the Hanging Out or Hooking Up: Teen Safety Card so teens can evaluate their own relationships for signs of abuse.

This Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website helps readers get familiar with the issue of Teen Dating Violence. It provides background information, tips for addressing the issue by focusing on healthy relationships, and links to useful tools and important prevention initiatives such as Dating Matters^®: Strategies to Promote Healthy Teen Relationships. This violence prevention training, created and distributed by the CDC, focuses on 11- to 14-year-olds in high-risk communities. The initiative is evidence-based and includes examples of programs across the U.S.

The IPS Employment focuses the center’s activities on employment for people with serious mental illnesses. It operates in 23 states, 3 European countries, and offers trainings across the world. The center hosts a multidisciplinary team of researchers and trainers who conduct research studies, disseminate findings, prepare training and educational materials, and provide training and consultation services.

The Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program and PHI published this report which explores the role of leaders beyond just the workforce development field, but also across professional, business, government, and other sectors to promote better quality jobs in a coordinated and efficient way. Initiatives engaged across a variety of fields would expand economic opportunity while encouraging public and private partnerships and change across policies and practices. This report shares efforts that have already been successful, while also making recommendations for future opportunities.

This report from the National Skills Coalition looks at American workers in the service industry who have low skill (including low literacy, numeracy, and technical skills) and their participation in the service industry; the report is useful to the gig/sharing economy. It offers analysis of national and international data related to practices and interventions of employers when attempting to upskill low-skilled employees in service section industries. These workers have an incentive to stay in the field when rewarded with opportunities for advancement, benefiting both the employer and employee.

This brief examines the Accelerating Opportunity initiative that began in 2011, which helps adults with low basic skills obtain well-paying jobs through increasing their credentials. It reviews the implementation, impact, and cost benefits evaluations of the program in Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, and Louisiana. It showed promising gains for low-skilled adults in the area of education, but earnings impacts were mixed.

Please join the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) for a webinar reaffirming and renewing its partnership with the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) and between the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), Head Start (HS), and Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) programs. The webinar will go over a recently signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that describes how WIC, CACFP, HS, and CCDF can work together to promote and support regional, State, and local efforts to improve program coordination and service delivery for low-income children and their families. When: Wednesday, January 31, 2018; 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. (EST) Presented by: FNS & ACF Headquarters Staff. Short remarks to be provided by FNS and ACF Senior Leadership. Log-on information will be provided at a later date. This webinar will be recorded, and the presentation will be made available following the webinar date.

This Aspen Institute report looks at five workforce organizations that were funded through Capital One Foundation’s Human Capital Innovation Fund (HCIF) to test new strategies and approaches to enhance the placement of low-income individuals for employment. Each program serves a different population and targets different industries. The objective of the report is to encourage, promote, and share lessons learned on the ways that grantees can leverage HCIF funds to build effective workforce approaches. The report also highlights areas which U.S. workforce development organizations typically find the most challenging, including developing and maintaining strategic partnerships with other organizations, engaging with employers, and delivering support service strategies tailored to the needs of training participants.

Supported employment services in Washington State for individuals with mental illness were discontinued in 2012, resulting in uneven service offerings across the state. This report prepared by the Division of Behavioral Health and Recovery outlines the primary goals of the Becoming Employed Starts Today (BEST) program and provides baseline profiles and initial service information for participants. BEST is a five-year federally funded pilot program to provide evidence-based supported employment services to individuals with serious mental illness at two sites in Washington State. Program goals for participants include higher employment rates, reduced hospitalization and criminal justice system rates, and improved well-being.