This brief from the Youth Transition Funders Group highlights challenges in current policy related to youth education and employment and offers recommendations for change. The brief is targeted at policymakers and philanthropic organizations interested in funding youth employment and education initiatives. It emphasizes philanthropic collaboration as a means to shape the scope of future initiatives.

The Social Science Research Network released a paper discussing financial literacy, education, and downstream financial behaviors. A meta-analysis of the relationship of financial literacy and of financial education to financial behaviors was conducted in order to understand the increasing complexity of the financial decisions of individuals over the last generation. The paper discusses the importance of financial education and literacy, as well as suggestions to implement financial education programs. Financial literacy and education are extremely critical to improving the economic self-sufficiency of workers, and therefore, should be reinforced throughout an individual's life.

This report from Mathematica and the Social Security Administration provides the findings of a longitudinal study of when and if Supplemental Security Income (SSI) disability recipients return to work and utilize the SSI work incentives such as Ticket to Work. Though the data varied widely across States, it was found that younger SSI recipients are more likely to return to work and forfeit benefits than older recipients. A brief history of the Ticket to Work program is provided.

The Department of Economics from Williams College released a paper in their working papers series discussing the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program, a federally-funded income support program for disabled individuals. The paper uses State panel data to examine the relationships between welfare reform and SSI disabled caseloads for both adults and children. The paper also examines whether the relationship between SSI participation and other factors has been altered after welfare reform. Results are provided that suggest that welfare reform significantly increases SSI participation.

The National Poverty Center released a working paper discussing low-income families and their interactions with the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program and the Food Stamp program. This working paper combines State-level policy data with rich data on a national sample of low-income families to investigate family and State-level predictors of TANF and Food Stamp receipt. Two key findings are discussed: 1) families experiencing more economic hardship are more likely to receive benefits, and 2) States' coverage is associated with families' receipt of TANF, but not Food Stamps. The paper closes with a discussion on the implications for policy and research.

The Department of Workforce Services for Utah released their second annual report discussing intergenerational poverty, welfare dependency, and the use of public assistance. This report offers data and analysis to address themes presented by policymakers represented by the Intergenerational Welfare Report Commission and the Intergenerational Poverty Advisory Committee. This report also offers detailed analysis on labor force attachment, public assistance programs from the Division of Child and Family Services (DCFS), and a lifetime use of public assistance.

The Urban Institute released a paper discussing the negative effects of instability on child development. This paper reviewed and synthesized research on five areas of instability: family income, parental employment, family structure, housing, and the out-of-home contexts of school and child care. It also discusses some of the key pathways through which instability may affect development and provides recommendations for policy and practice to alleviate instability's impact. In addition to the report, the Urban Institute released a fact sheet that highlights the key findings from the report.

The Federal Reserve Board released a paper investigating how high-speed home Internet has impacted married women's labor force participation. Results indicate that married women who use the Internet are more likely to participate in the labor force. The study found that increases in participation are concentrated on women with higher levels of education and children. The results suggest home Internet facilitates work-family balance for highly educated women.

A substantial skills gap exists between the education and training of the labor force and the needs of employers in many high growth industries, including healthcare and manufacturing. This gap results in unemployment while good paying jobs go unfilled. At the same time, many low-skilled adults persist in low wage work with little opportunity for advancement.

Career pathways programs, like the Pima Community College (PCC) Pathways to Healthcare HPOG programs, are an approach to fill a vital need for skilled workers in the economy and offer low-wage workers the opportunity to obtain occupational and other skills and advance into the middle class.

This brief was produced by Abt Associates as part of the Innovative Strategies to Increase Self-Sufficiency (ISIS) project, a random assignment evaluation of nine promising career pathways programs that aim to improve employment and self-sufficiency outcomes for low-income, low-skilled individuals. (author abstract) 

The Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) was authorized by Congress to reduce teen pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections, and associated risk behaviors. Grantees across the country had flexibility in how they would implement their programs. This report is the first report from the PREP evaluation sponsored by the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation and conducted by Mathematica Policy Research. Authors interviewed State grantee officials to document the program decisions made across 44 States and Washington DC in designing the program. Among the key findings, researchers found that many of the programs are evidence-based and targeting high-risk youth. Additionally, States have developed their programs in different ways to educate on abstinence and contraception. The evaluation will include an additional round of interviews in 2014, performance management data analysis, and an analysis of program impacts using random assignment across four to five sites.