The Institute for Research on Poverty released a fact sheet that outlines the challenges faced by young dads in the United States. The fact sheet explores educational background, marriage rates, and overall rates related to access to resources.

The Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics released a special issue report that focuses on youth in transition to adulthood in the United States. The report states that youth in transition often face challenges while trying to achieve financial and social independence, and aims to capture the needs of youth in transition to inform future policy approaches that serve this population.

The Brookings Institution released a policy brief that states that well-targeted interventions at various child life stages could decrease the gap between more- and less-advantaged youths by over 70 percent.

The U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) created a database that pulls information related to efforts to end homelessness from federal, state, and local partners around the country. The database includes resources on exemplar programs and promising practices.

The Employment and Training Administration, Department of Labor released a mentoring guidebook to be used within local workforce programs and agencies. The authors indicate that youth are more likely to achieve positive outcomes in academics, social settings, career development, health, and safety if they have supportive relationships with older adults. The guidebook is intended to assist in development and implementation of mentorship programs to improve employment, education, and training outcomes among youth.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, in partnership with ICF International, released a toolkit that intends to equip frontline program staff with fundamental financial empowerment principles, an understanding of consumer financial protection, tools and information to help clients take steps to build and apply money management skills, and a referral guide to link clients to local financial empowerment services. Financial empowerment trainers can use the toolkit to train case managers and other frontline staff that are working with clients in a variety of contexts: asset building programs, TANF and workforce programs, Head Start, refugee resettlement services, programs for at-risk youth, programs serving people with disabilities, and more.

The Institute for Research on Poverty released a discussion paper that explored whether exposure to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) increased during the Great Recession. The study also examined how participation in the program was divided across various racial/ethnic and socioeconomic groups. Findings from the study demonstrated that age was a prominent indicator of participation in WIC, and that socioeconomic differences decreased due to an increase of WIC participation by children from wealthier families.

This report compiles and analyzes information from seven father self-sufficiency/employment programs that were rigorously evaluated. Common implementation themes emerged, including: partnering with job placement and other agencies to serve low-income fathers; enabling vocational specialists to assist fathers on a one-to-one basis; offering a comprehensive range of services to help fathers overcome self-sufficiency barriers; and using incentives to recruit fathers.

This study reviews results of a pilot employment program in New York, a part of the Strengthening Families Through Stronger Fathers Initiative. The program provided employment-oriented services, fatherhood/parenting workshops, case management, and other support services to nearly 4,000 parents behind in their child support in four New York communities. The evaluation shows that these programs successfully helped participants find work and increase their earnings.

This paper documents an approach, used in Connecticut, for outreaching, connecting, and serving low-income, ethnically diverse, non-custodial fathers. The approach focuses on engaging men "where they are" by building their strengths and addressing their needs and helping fathers become positive and healthy role models by increasing their attachment to their children and families. The approach focuses on skill development in several areas, including education, economic stability, family/child support, and mental and physical health.