This toolkit from Workforce GPS provides ideas, strategies, and resources for integrating service delivery in the public workforce system under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). This toolkit provides workforce partners across state, regional, and local levels with information to help them work together to share a common vision, integrate service strategies, and streamline service delivery to benefit job seeker and employer customers.

This National Consortium of Breast Centers resource provides a list of websites and organizations that provide breast cancer information and resources. The list includes the name, contact information, and a short summary of each organization. This resource also provides information on how to access free breast cancer screenings for those with financial constraints.

This trial analyzed the Teen Options to Prevent Pregnancy (TOPP) program developed by OhioHealth to reduce rapid repeat pregnancy and promote healthy birth spacing for adolescent mothers. The random controlled trials examined the initial training of nurse educators and the discussion of both contraceptive and non-contraceptive topics with new mothers. The study found that the TOPP program reduced the rate at which mothers experience rapid repeat pregnancies and births at a statistically significant level.

Work-based learning combines paid training at a work site with classroom education that leads to an industry-recognized credential. This National Skills Coalition toolkit provides resources to state policymakers and advocates who want to implement paid work-based learning programs for out-of-school youth and disadvantaged adults. The toolkit explains key policies that support work-based learning, provides examples of current state and local work-based learning practices, and provides a legislative template for state work-based learning policies. States can also use the toolkit to help align work-based learning policies with other workforce development strategies.

This interactive map from the Centers for Disease Control, National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program allows users to find resources for getting free or low-cost breast and cervical cancer screenings. Users can search by state or American Indian/Alaska Native Organization to find local hotlines for affordable screenings, information about state screening programs, and state-specific cancer statistics.

Low-income families and people of color often struggle to find safe neighborhoods to live in due to high housing costs and discrimination. These challenges lead to economically segregated neighborhoods that suffer from neglect, inadequate services, and high levels of crime, which prevents residents from moving out of poverty. This report from the US Partnership on Mobility from Poverty summarizes the research on the four ways that neighborhoods can negatively impact the lives of their residents: the availability and quality of services, crime and violence, the role of social networks, and access to employment.

On Tuesday, October 10, the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) hosted an event on the state of safety-net programs under the Trump administration to include the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, Medicaid, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The discussion was moderated by AEI’s Robert Doar with a panel of Wade Horn, the former assistant secretary for the Administration for Children and Families; Robert Rector from the Heritage Foundation; and Ron Haskins from the Brookings Institution.

In high-demand sectors, employers often have difficulty finding applicants with the right skills, and job seekers need training to qualify for those positions. WorkAdvance is a workforce development model that treats both employers and jobseekers as customers in these high demand sectors. This MDRC brief draws on an evaluation of four WorkAdvance programs to analyze whether they impact the long-term upward economic mobility of participants. The programs were Per Scholas and St. Nicks Alliance in New York, Madison Strategies Group in Oklahoma, and Towards Employment in Ohio. The researchers analyzed economic impacts through three years of follow-up, and they found that some sector programs had positive effects that lasted beyond two years. In some cases the economic impacts strengthened after two years, especially for long-term unemployed participants who were reentering the labor market.

This Abt Associates report details evaluation results from Family Self-Sufficiency programs in Lynn and Cambridge, Massachusetts. In these programs, Compass Working Capital partnered with local public housing agencies to provide case management and an escrow savings account to help participants achieve their financial goals. The researchers compared the change in earnings, welfare income, credit scores, and debt over time between program participants and a matched comparison group. Participants experienced an average gain of $6,305 in household income between 2010 and 2016 and a decline of $496 in annual welfare income. Credit scores also increased an average of 23 points for participants, and their total debt decreased by an average of $764.

While youth involved in Child Welfare or Runaway and Homeless Youth systems are at high risk of being trafficked, there has been no consensus screening tool available for providers to use to identify victims of human trafficking. This Urban Institute report describes the pretesting of a Human Trafficking Screening Tool (HTST) for 617 youth involved in the child welfare or runaway and homeless youth systems in New York, Texas, and Wisconsin. The HTST took about two minutes to administer, and the researchers found that it covered key dimensions of youth’s trafficking experiences, could be used in both child welfare and runaway and homeless youth settings, and correctly predicted trafficking victimization. The researchers conclude that the HTST is an effective, accessible tool for youth ages 12-24, but they recommend additional testing for youth under age 18 in child welfare settings.