Approximately 6.7 million young adults in America are out of school and out of work. In order to answer questions about assistance to help young adults access employment and opportunities that service providers can leverage, this report from the Aspen Institute documents the results of a survey in which hundreds of service providers described their experiences serving this population. The service providers gave insight into strategies and challenges for connecting young adults aged 18-29 to employment and explained what they consider to be good employment outcomes.

The Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency (BIAS) project, sponsored by the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE) of the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and led by MDRC, is the first major opportunity to use a behavioral economics lens to examine programs that serve poor and vulnerable families in the United States. This report presents findings from four tests of behavioral interventions intended to increase the percentage of parents who made child support payments and the dollar amount of collections per parent in Cuyahoga County, Ohio.

Parents who owe child support and do not have their payments automatically deducted from their paychecks through income withholding typically need to actively initiate a new payment each month. The BIAS team examined the payment process in Cuyahoga County and diagnosed a number of behavioral factors potentially impeding collections. The team collaborated with the Cuyahoga Office of Child Support Services (OCSS) to design a number of behavioral interventions intended to increase collections and evaluate them using randomized controlled trials. (author introduction)

The implementation of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), signed into law in 2014, presents an extraordinary opportunity for the publicly-funded workforce development system. The system can now demonstrate its ability to improve job and career options for our workers, job-seekers, and youth, including those with disabilities and other barriers to employment, through an integrated, job-driven network that links diverse talent to businesses and supports the development of strong regional economies. In January 2016, collaborative teams from across the United States and its territories met in Washington, D.C., for a national convening entitled, “One Team, One Vision, One Conversation.”

A college education can provide a path out of poverty, but low-income students face many obstacles along the way. Many face difficulty selecting the best college for them, and some have trouble navigating financial aid options. While overall college graduation rates are rising, the gap between the top and bottom income groups has widened considerably over the past four decades. This article reviews research on policies that could help increase college completion for low-income students, such as interventions to increase college preparedness and providing on-campus support to help students stay on track and eventually graduate.

With many soldiers returning from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in the late 2000s, the risk of homelessness significantly increased for veterans. The Departments of Housing and Urban Development, Veterans Affairs, and Labor collaborated to implement the Veterans Homelessness Prevention Demonstration (VHPD). This interactive feature from the Urban Institute highlights the findings from the evaluation report.

This webinar, hosted by the National Disability Institute, provides background information and resources on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) time limits and their effects on low-income adults with disabilities.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack wrote a blog for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) highlighting the importance of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for rural families. Not only is the EITC important for individuals and families, but it can be a boost to rural economies because it essentially raises wages for a significant number of workers in the community.

The Office of Family Assistance (OFA) has released the TANF work participation rates for Fiscal Year (FY) 2013. Nationwide, more states met the work requirement in FY 2013 than in FY 2012, but the work participation rates declined slightly compared to those from FY 2012. Thirty-two states and territories met their work requirement in FY 2013, compared to 29 states and territories in FY 2012.

This brief explores kinship families and the importance of TANF to those families, the two types of TANF grants a relative caregiver may receive (child-only and family), and a Kinship TANF Model that draws from different state and county efforts to stabilize and support kinship families. Additionally, the brief recommends separate kinship policies, programs, and practices that are designed to help kinship families specifically.

In 2014, only about half of youth and young adults ages 16-24 held jobs, and about one in five were neither working nor in school. This problem most severely affects disadvantaged groups, including individuals with less education, lower incomes, and minority young people, specifically young men of color. In June 2014, MDRC and the Rockefeller Foundation convened a group of academics and experts to discuss potential demand-side approaches to youth employment. Some themes that emerged were: employers are a heterogeneous group with diverse needs and preferences; incentives are unlikely to be the only force motivating employer decisions; employers are more likely to engage in youth employment efforts if it is easy for them to do so and if they believe it will positively influence their businesses; and disadvantaged young workers need assistance communicating their skills and experience and support in entry-level jobs.