The National League of Cities released this report that examines technological changes that are impacting the American workforce. The report outlines solutions to help cities plan for the future, while forecasting the viability of the retail and office administration sectors, in which 25 percent of Americans are presently employed.

A new study, launched by the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation and conducted by Mathematica Policy Research and Abt Associates, will document the design and implementation of coaching interventions and examine their effectiveness of helping low-income individuals work toward economic stability.

This brief from the National Alliance to End Homelessness explores the innovative ways that communities are using TANF to combat family homelessness. These include short-term rental assistance, employment services, and promoting stability for people with disabilities and other severe barriers.

This Office of Family Assistance Information Memorandum discusses the importance of addressing family homelessness with allowable uses of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds for families experiencing and at risk of experiencing homelessness.

This Q&A document discusses common questions concerning acceptable and unacceptable uses of TANF to provide short-term, emergency assistance, eligibility redetermination, cost sharing, and other policy issues.

Managed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the LIHEAP program assists eligible low-income households with their heating and cooling energy costs, bill payment assistance, energy crisis assistance, weatherization and energy-related home repairs. Certain states elect to use Community Service Block Grant (CSBG) and TANF funds to provide emergency energy assistance to TANF participants on LIHEAP.

This study, conducted by Social Policy Research Associates for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service, reviews research on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Employment and Training (SNAP E&T) programs and practices. The study also includes data on the effectiveness of different aspects of E&T that are offered by other federal agencies, state agencies, and private organizations.

This report is the fourth and final in a series on Self-Regulation and Toxic Stress; it is targeted specifically towards program administrators and practitioners. This report reviews the key concepts for understanding self-regulation, including the relationship between stress and self-regulation. Additionally, it summarizes principal findings from a comprehensive review of self-regulation interventions. Finally and most importantly, it addresses how current theory and knowledge of self-regulation may apply to programs and practitioners serving children and youth in different developmental groups from birth through young adulthood.

Key conclusions from the report indicate that:

• A variety of self-regulation interventions result in meaningful positive effects on cognitive, emotional, and behavioral self-regulation, as well as broader outcomes across development in functional domains like mental health and academic achievement.
• Many promising intervention approaches exist for supporting self-regulation development that could be incorporated into existing ACF programs.
• Care is needed in selecting interventions that may be a good “fit” for relevant populations and settings.
• Given the profound impacts that self-regulation can have across areas of functioning into adulthood, a self-regulation framework to support the well-being of children and families living in adversity may have great value. (Author abstract)

This report presents interim impact and implementation findings of seven transitional jobs programs from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Enhanced Transitional Jobs Demonstration. Two of the sites in that study — in Atlanta and San Francisco — are also a part of ACF’s Subsidized and Transitional Employment Demonstration. The two studies closely coordinated beyond the shared sites, including shared reports, common data collection instruments, and other ongoing collaboration.

The report shares early results in the areas of implementation, employment outcomes, recidivism, and child support payment.

Early results include:

• The Enhanced Transitional Jobs Demonstration programs were relatively well implemented.
• All but one of the programs generated large increases in employment in the early months of follow-up; however, these increases were mostly or entirely the result of the transitional jobs and faded as participants left those jobs.
• Two of the three programs targeting people recently released from prison appear to have reduced recidivism.
• Most programs increased payment of child support. (Author abstract)

Many employment and training programs for low-income individuals include a variety of services that aim to improve employment and earnings. Some also include strategies to address other needs, such as housing. ESER identified a primary strategy for each multi-strategy intervention that the review examined. Those identified include: education; training; work-readiness activities; subsidized employment/transitional jobs; employment retention services; case management; financial incentives or sanctions; supportive services; and health services. This guide from the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation describes the process for identifying a primary strategy.