The ACF blog - The Family Room - talks about new initiatives at the agency, success stories and policy announcements. The blog also provides links that help direct viewers to other parts of ACF's website.

This brief summarizes a recent report about the PREP program, entitled “The Personal Responsibility Education Program: Launching a Nationwide Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Effort.” The report documented key decisions made by state grantees about the design of their PREP programs. Data was collected through telephone interviews with state grantee officials in 44 states and the District of Columbia.

This paper provides peer technical assistance to HPOG and similar programs considering utilizing an apprenticeship program. Authors provide detailed successes, challenges, and lessons learned from numerous HPOG grantees. The paper also features conversations held between HPOG grantees and several apprenticeship experts.

This article summarizes a Michigan study that surveyed battered women’s experiences with their TANF caseworkers around intimate partner violence (IPV) discussion and safety planning. Battered women were asked a series of questions surveying the experience level of the worker. Results from the report concluded that trained workers were more likely than untrained workers to discuss the women’s fear and physical harm and to help them develop a safety plan. In addition, trained workers were generally perceived as more helpful.

This paper provides peer technical assistance to HPOG programs on incorporating promising strategies to build relationships with TANF agencies and guide TANF participants through career pathways. In addition, the paper provides tips about collaborating with state and regional TANF offices, improving TANF participant services, and much more. This paper can also be used by organizations that work with TANF populations.

This National Dialogue on Career Pathways event was a one-day convening of practitioners, advocates, and policymakers to discuss how all sectors can take action to advance the skills and credentials of American workers. Now, you can hear the presentations from leaders in the field such as Judy Mortrude, Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development and FastTRAC; Dr. Ricardo Estrada, Instituto del Progreso Latino in Chicago, Illinois; Shauna King-Simms, Kentucky Community and Technical College System; and Elizabeth Creamer, Advisor for Workforce Development, Office of Virginia Governor Terence R. McAuliffe.

The Economic Policy Institute published this report, which discusses the recent increase in employment throughout the United States. The report features an interactive tool for viewers to compare any state’s unemployment rate against the rate of the Great Recession period.

This paper provides technical assistance to Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) programs. The technical assistance discussed in the paper focuses on using data to understand and respond to employer demands, develop career pathways, and more. The paper provides a detailed approach to aid programs in identifying and using labor market information.

The Children’s Bureau and Office of Community Services developed a toolkit entitled “A Financial Empowerment Toolkit for Youth and Young Adults in Foster Care.” This toolkit aims to provide caseworkers, care providers, foster parents, and other adults with strategies and resources to help youth improve their approaches to gaining financial competence.

Published by the Economic Policy Institute, this fact sheet provides readers with estimate unemployment rates in some of the United States’ most populated cities. The report sorts the data by race and ethnicity of individuals living in each of the 12 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) with a Federal Reserve Bank. In addition, it includes illustrative charts and figures for readers to better understand the findings.