Motivational Interviewing (MI) is a collaborative, goal-oriented style of communication characterized by compassion and designed to strengthen personal commitment to making change by exploring the person’s own reasons for change. This MI guide provides a roadmap through the planning and implementation process, including sections on Planning and Readiness, Implementation and Change Management, and Continuous Quality Improvement.

This brief presents findings from an exploratory impact evaluation of the New York City Performance Partnership Pilot (P3) program, which enhanced youth workforce services for young parents. Initial findings note that NYC P3 enrollees had better outcomes than the comparison group in their occupational training participation rate. Enrollees were more likely to participate in other education and job-oriented services, achieve high school equivalency credential attainment, and enroll in education/training enrollment and credential attainment after they leave the program. The brief concludes with recommendations for policy and practice.

The Assessing Models of Coordinated Services (AMCS) project aimed to improve understanding of approaches to coordinating early care and education services at the state or local level. This brief focuses on findings from telephone interviews with leaders of 18 coordinated services approaches. The interviews provided insights about how coordinated services approaches serve children and their families. Topics discussed in the interviews included information about the development of the coordinated services approach, the partners and funding involved in coordination, the services included in the coordinated services approach, and the coordinated services approach’s use of data, while also offering foundational information for future research or programming efforts.

The Supporting Family Economic Well-Being Through Home Visiting (HomeEc) project seeks nominations of practices to support family economic well-being. Practices can be stand-alone or a component of or add-on to a larger intervention, such as an early childhood home visiting model. HomeEc seeks nominations of practices that:

• Support family economic well-being
• Serve families with young children and/or pregnant women
• Have written protocols, manuals, or other documentation available that describe how to implement or administer the practice
• Are delivered individually or in a group

Submissions are to be sent to HomeEc@mathematica-mpr.com by April 15, 2022.

The Administration for Children and Families will host a webinar on April 11, 2022 from 2:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET which will cover approaches to integrating Native language and culture into tribal early childhood programs. Part of the Tribal Early Childhood Development Webinar Series, the webinar includes a panel that highlights innovations and promising practices implemented in tribal communities. Participants can discuss highlighted strategies with peers and hear about resources they can use in their own communities and programs.

This American Public Human Services Association and National Association of Counties hub hosts information and resources on tax filing for health and human services agencies that serve families eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Child Tax Credit (CTC). The EITC is a tax credit available to workers and families with low- to moderate-incomes. The CTC provides financial support to families with children.

The National Center on Domestic Violence, Trauma, and Mental Health held a webinar on February 9, 2022 based on its Core Curriculum on Creating Accessible, Culturally Responsive, and Trauma-Informed Services. This session examined the impact of domestic violence on families and how best to support parenting survivors and their children together. A recording of the webinar and handouts are available for download.

This report includes a review of effective employment and training (E&T) program components and practices published between 2016 and 2020 to provide information that can be used to align SNAP E&T policy and programs to achieve the best training, employment, and wage gains for SNAP participants and integrate the E&T program within the broader public workforce system. The report also provides specific recommendations for building effective SNAP E&T programs, including recommendations related to developing successful workforce system partnerships and identifying the right mix of services to meet participants’ needs.

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated inequities and fragilities inherent in existing child care markets and decimated the supply of child care in many communities. Despite being deemed essential to the nation’s economy, the early care and education workforce experiences high turnover, low pay and benefits, and limited opportunities for professional development and advancement—all of which undermines the quality and continuity of care for young children. This blogpost identifies three lessons drawn from research which can help increase opportunities for advancement and upward mobility for the child care workforce.

Direct cash transfer programs are increasingly popular as an efficient, equitable way to quickly get cash into the hands of people who need it while giving recipients agency over how they spend their money. Though consensus is growing on the impacts of cash transfer, there are still no agreed-upon mechanisms for how to fund them. This issue is complicated by the fact that where program funds come from can affect a recipient's eligibility for other benefits and can trigger a “benefit cliff.” This blogpost examines funding mechanisms used in cash transfer programs in Washington D.C., Philadelphia, and Los Angeles to understand how their respective funding models affect recipients’ benefits and outcomes.