Assets for Independence (AFI) helps provide families with individual development accounts (IDAs) that allow them to save by matching their personal savings for specific investments, such as buying a home or enrolling in higher education and training programs. The Urban Institute evaluated two Assets for Independence (AFI) program sites, Albuquerque and Los Angeles. This report presents findings that show that AFI produced a seven percentage point increase in the share of participants with liquid assets, and a $799 mean increase in liquid assets.

This issue brief from the Center for Law and Social Policy examines how young men of color have been disproportionately affected by the decline in employment over the past several years. It is often the case that this population has very few opportunities for exposure to career paths, obtaining work experience, and building employment history. This brief also provides recommendations for promising strategies to improve outcomes for young men of color.

The National Skills Coalition’s Stackable Credential Policy Scan shows that nineteen states support industry-recognized post-secondary stackable credentials that can accumulate toward a higher level certificate or associate degree. These states can utilize this toolkit to expand upon their current policy, and states without a similar policy in place can use this toolkit to establish their own.

Some aspects of child development are often misconstrued. This brief from the Harvard Center on the Developing Child examines these aspects and clarifies their meaning and importance. For example, even infants are adversely affected when significant stresses occur in their family environment.

This brief from the Education Commission of the States examines how to increase coordination between community colleges and local workforce boards under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). It specifically discusses how states can utilize federal investments to improve these partnerships.

This website, created by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) program, consists of open source educational resources to train adults for occupations in 16 high-demand fields such as manufacturing, energy, healthcare, and information technology.

The Administration for Children and Families published three new infographics illustrating participation and outcomes in HPOG. The infographics include details on programs and participants, training and services, and completions and employment outcomes.

The Office of Family Assistance released the TANF work participation rates for Fiscal Year (FY) 2015. Nationally, the overall work participation rate was 48.4 percent, while the two-parent rate was 60.6 percent.

This blog post from the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) examines promising new findings from ACF’s Assets for Independence (AFI) program. AFI was shown to increase liquid assets among participants and reduce participant use of alternative financial services. Additionally, the program participants experienced fewer material hardships and showed greater confidence in their financial security.

In the United States, child welfare systems encounter many vulnerable children and their families each year. This report from the Center on the Developing Child examines how new science on child development can be applied to policies and practices to enhance child welfare systems, thereby improving outcomes for children and their families.