In 2012, the Utah Legislature passed the Intergenerational Poverty Mitigation Act, recognizing that children in the cycle of poverty and welfare dependency experience barriers to stability and opportunity. This bill requires the Utah Department of Workforce Services to establish and maintain a system to track intergenerational poverty related data to identify at-risk children and other groups, to identify trends, and to assist case workers, social scientists, and government officials in the study and development of plans and programs to help individuals and families break the cycle of poverty.

This two-minute video details the impact of toxic stress on brain development. It is part of a three-part series produced in 2011 by the Harvard Center on the Developing Child and the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child.

This career exploration tool from the O*NET Resource Center helps caseworkers understand their clients’ strengths and areas in which they would like to explore further education or training. It helps identify occupations that fit individuals’ capacities and can help clients determine what kind of jobs they can do well.

This report presents findings from an intervention designed to increase the number of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families recipients who “reengaged” in Los Angeles County’s welfare-to-work program.

Two behaviorally informed notices went out to different groups of participants:

• A notice highlighting the losses they might face by not attending the reengagement appointment; and
• A notice highlighting the benefits they might receive by attending.

A third control group did not receive either behaviorally informed notice.

Participants received the notice one week before their appointment. The test found that receiving a behaviorally informed notice increased the percentage of group members who engaged in the program within 30 days of their scheduled reengagement appointment, with the increase driven by the loss notice (author abstract).

This report describes the major research investments of our Division of Family Strengthening through Fiscal Year 2015. This division has primary responsibility for research and evaluation projects related to strengthening relationships within families, supporting fatherhood, nurturing children through their families, reducing teen pregnancy, supporting youth in their transition to adulthood, and preventing family violence.

This report presents the research organized into six different sections, showing the breadth of our family strengthening research. These sections include:

• Supporting Fatherhood
• Strengthening Relationships
• Nurturing Children Through Families
• Supporting Positive Youth Development And Reducing Teen Pregnancy
• Preventing Family Violence
• Other and Cross-Cutting Research (author abstract)

On December 1, 2015, the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (ETA), Region 2 hosted the How Can ETA Assist Our Grantees in Serving Disconnected Youth under WIOA? Discovery Session. The session involved state workforce leaders, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) representatives, and leaders from youth-serving workforce programs and nonprofit organizations within ETA Region 2. ETA designed the session to assist in identifying technical assistance needs of workforce programs in ETA Region 2. Specific session topics included: Studying Summer Jobs for Disadvantaged Youth; The Employment Situation of Youth, Veterans, and Persons with Disabilities; and Youth Perspectives on various youth serving programs, presented through a facilitated panel discussion. The session also focused on information sharing and gathering through group reflections designed to offer suggestions for future technical assistance delivery.