This toolkit was authored by the Bridging Refugee Youth and Children’s Services (BRYCS), and provides culturally responsive parenting information to help agencies working with refugees. The toolkit includes information on how organizations can educate refugee parents in maintaining a positive relationship with their children. Authors provide an overview of research on parent education programs for this population and how to help parents access such support services, as well as helping organizations build programs for educating refugee parents.

Mending the Sacred Hoop is an organization charged with ending violence against Native women and children. Violence against all women is a social problem that has wide-ranging consequences for society. As such, it requires social change to help alleviate the problem. Native women are the highest victimized population by perpetrators of all racial groups in the United States. The Sacred Hoop Tribal Domestic Violence Coalition works to build the capacity of survivors, advocates, Native women’s organizations, and victim service providers to end violence against Native women in Minnesota. Mending the Sacred Hoop also has a Technical Assistance Project, which provides technical assistance to the Office on Violence Against Women Tribal grantees.

Although much is known about how to help welfare recipients find jobs, little is known about how to help them and other low-wage workers keep jobs or advance in the labor market. This report presents information on the effectiveness of a program in Chicago that aimed to help employed welfare recipients increase their earnings. The program was tested as part of the Employment Retention and Advancement Project (ERA), which is studying 15 programs across the country. The ERA project was conceived by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; it is being conducted by MDRC under contract to ACF, with additional funding from the U.S. Department of Labor. The Chicago ERA program, which operated from February 2002 to June 2004, targeted recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) cash assistance benefits who appeared to be stuck in low-paying jobs: individuals who worked at least 30 hours per week for at least six consecutive months but earned so little that they remained eligible for TANF benefits. The program, which was funded by the Illinois Department of Human Services (DHS) and operated under contract to DHS by Employment and Employer Services, sought to help participants advance in their current jobs or move to higher-paying jobs. The Chicago ERA program is being evaluated using a random assignment research design, whereby eligible individuals were assigned, through a lottery-like process, to one of two groups. Those assigned to the ERA group were recruited for the program and, if they remained on TANF, were required to participate. Those assigned to the control group were neither required nor permitted to participate in ERA, but they could obtain other services from DHS or other organizations. (author abstract)

From the Lumina Foundation, this video clip provides information on a public-private partnership in Louisville, Kentucky. The partnership has set a goal of adding 55,000 bachelors and associate degrees by the year 2020. The partnership is a collaborative effort of Louisville employers, educators, and civic leaders, who are focused on building a well-educated, innovative, and productive workforce. This video is the first in a series that will be released by the Lumina Foundation.

The Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, in partnership with the Urban Institute, released this research brief, which examines policies that are client-friendly and the implications that this has for the Child Care Development Fund (CCDF). Authors provide research on the CCDF, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and Medicaid/State Child Health Insurance Programs (SCHIP). The recommendations for CCDF include simplifying the application and renewal processes and recognizing that administrative changes may affect subgroups in different ways.

The U.S. Department of Labor launched the “Equal Pay App Challenge,” a national competition to develop software applications, or “apps,” that leverage public data to promote equal pay for men and women. In the U.S., women make up half of the workforce and two-thirds of our families rely on a mother’s wages for a significant portion of their income. Yet, women, on average, make less on the dollar than men, and the gap is even greater for women of color and women with disabilities. The Challenge calls for developers to incorporate publicly available data and resources to create innovative, easy-to-use apps that educate users about the pay gap and provide tools to combat it.

The Martin Prosperity Institute authored this report on a “skills revolution” in economic research based on an increasing focus on employment skills since the 1990s. Authors summarize key findings from this literature, which include growing geographic differences in skills across cities and these differences’ effects on the region’s economic development. Given the geographic differences, authors highlight the finding that location is an important consideration for organizing and building skills, such as the location of universities.

In this blog, the U.S. Department of Labor's offices provide news and commentary from departmental leadership to help connect readers to the Department. The Department is charged with creating pathways to profitable employment and ensuring safe and healthy workplaces. 

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is releasing more than $863 million to grantees to help low-income households with their heating and other home energy costs under the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). LIHEAP helps low-income households supplement their home energy needs, such as heating costs in winter months and installation of insulation to make their homes more energy efficient.