This report is from Public/Private Ventures, and provides an overview of job training approaches to help the low-income population build skills for specific industries. Sectoral employment programs use a wide range of strategies to support low-wage workers by working with employers to gain a better understanding of their workforce needs. Authors provide an overview of the evaluation on sector-focused skills training, and find that this type of program has positive outcomes for families.

Designed to serve as a guide for policymakers and practitioners, from Public/Private Ventures (P/PV), this piece outlines key strategies for replicating social programs. P/PV has had 30 years of experience designing, testing and replicating social programs, and this report outlines key structures that should be in place before replication is considered.

The Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation conducted this study to better understand the characteristics and participation of American Indians and Alaska Natives in State and Tribal TANF programs over time. Researchers conducted comparisons between Tribal and non-Tribal caseloads across State TANF programs.

The Work Advancement and Support Center (WASC) is testing a strategy to support low-wage workers in increasing earnings. The WASC offers services to help workers improve skills, access support services, and ultimately, increase earnings by working additional hours or finding higher-paying jobs. From MDRC, this report outlines the early impacts of the WASC Demonstration in Bridgeport, Connecticut; Dayton, Ohio; and San Diego, California from a random assignment research design.

This is the 13th annual report from the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, and provides a comprehensive view of the status of the well-being of children and families in the United States across a range of domains. This report addresses 40 indicators in seven categories, including health, economic circumstances, and behavior, and researchers also include information on children with special health care needs.

This resource is from the Rural Poverty Research Institute, and highlights the effect of the economic climate on rural areas. The rural economy is losing jobs at a faster rate than the rest of the nation, and employment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that nonmetropolitan counties lost 3.4 percent of their jobs for the 12 months that ended in January 2009. Researchers highlight current statistics and data on rural unemployment during this recession.

High school dropouts face many challenges in today's labor market. From MDRC, this report offers early findings from an evaluation of the National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Program, which is an intensive residential program to reengage high school dropouts. It was found that the group that completed the program was much more likely than the control group to obtain a high school diploma or a General Educational Development (GED) certificate.

Authored by Anne Sparks at Ohio University, this National Poverty Center Working Paper outlines the implementation of the ‘Within My Reach’ Curriculum in Oklahoma. The program is included in a week of orientation activities for new TANF participants at the Oklahoma Department of Human Services. This paper provides results from interviews with TANF participants who participated in the program and findings suggest that this program has been successful in promoting relationship skills among this population.

The Brookings Institution authored this report on how postsecondary education can often be a path to economic mobility. Adults who have degrees from two-year or four-year colleges have far higher family incomes than do adults who have only a high school degree or are high school dropouts. Children from low-income families are less likely to enroll in either two- or four-year colleges, and less likely to complete a degree once they have enrolled. Researchers explain how increasing postsecondary education among this population can alleviate poverty and promote economic self-sufficiency.

From the National Poverty Center at the University of Michigan, this publication examines the financial constraints and choices of low-income families and describes the ways in which they utilize financial services. Authors also offer policy recommendations to distribute financial services to this population. Low-income populations are more likely to be unbanked due to financial institutions requiring credit checks to open an account, and having high minimum account balances and high overdraft fees. Savings and asset accumulation can often be key to promoting economic self-sufficiency for this population, and it is important to extend financial services and education to low-income families.