This CareerOneStop webpage provides information and guidance for individuals with criminal records seeking to expunge or seal their records to improve their chances of finding employment. The webpage explains the difference between expungement and sealing, provides information on eligibility requirements, and offers step-by-step instructions on how to begin the expungement process. Additionally, the page includes links to resources for finding legal assistance and other helpful tools for ex-offenders.

The American Public Human Services Association’s Advancing Family Economic Mobility initiative is exploring innovative ways for agencies to dismantle systemic barriers and enable families and the communities they live in to thrive. While families receiving TANF work towards economic mobility, they can encounter employment barriers. One barrier—lack of reliable, affordable transportation—can impede access to services, education, training, and quality jobs, especially for those living in remote or rural areas with limited or no public transit. This webpage provides an overview of the transportation services landscape and highlights practical and promising applications that can alleviate the transportation burdens families face on their path to economic mobility.

Registered apprenticeship programs (RAPs) are nationally recognized as an effective workforce development tool that is responsive to local economic needs. In honor of Earth Day, ICF and Vanguard, in partnership with netAmerica’s Workforce Innovation Network, are hosting an Apprenticeship Lunch & Learn Lunch and Learn event on April 20, 2023, from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. ET. During this event, presentations will cover the role of Registered Apprenticeship Programs in meeting national and statewide efficient and renewable energy goals. Speakers will discuss how youth apprenticeships can effectively address their workforce needs, facilitate a conversation about true workplace needs and training provider solutions, and promote the return on investment of registered apprenticeships in renewable energy.

Healthy marriage and relationship education (HMRE) programs can struggle to recruit and enroll participants. This is often the first challenge new programs encounter as they move from planning to implementing their services. Because of this challenge, an important component of many successful recruitment strategies is to develop partnerships with other organizations in the community that can refer potential participants. This brief identifies partnership tips from Anthem Strong Families (Dallas), Family Service Agency-Santa Barbara, and Gateway Community Action (West Liberty, Kentucky); each of these organizations are HMRE grant recipients who participated in rapid cycle learning to strengthen their recruitment partnerships.

Youth can face many challenges as they transition to living independently as adults. For youth in foster care, overcoming obstacles may require additional support and skills to be self-reliant. Caseworkers and child welfare professionals assist youth with securing employment, secondary education, housing, financial literacy, and other needs. However, additional support is needed to provide encouragement and stability as youth transition to adulthood. Support systems consisting of helpful, stable adults reinforce the goal of self-sufficiency and give youth a sense of community. This podcast explores how Alternative Family successfully creates effective support systems for youth in foster care which focuses on a highly individualized social support model with a goal of safety, stability, and well-being.

States have broad flexibility over the use of state and federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds. Many have used that flexibility to divert funds away from income support for families and toward other state budget areas often unrelated to TANF’s goals. In 2021, states spent only about a fifth of the funds on basic assistance to meet essential needs of families with children. As there is great variation in spending patterns, these downloadable fact sheets detail how each state spends its state and federal TANF funds.

The U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Administration will host the first of a series of webinars related to trauma and healing on May 2, 2023 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. ET. The webinar will discuss the neuroscience behind toxic stress, trauma, and healing, and offer practical strategies and tools for workforce professionals to cultivate healthy and more effective services and workplaces for staff, organizations, and participants in workforce programs. Presenters include guest speakers from the Trauma and Resilience at Work team at Corporation for a Skilled Workforce, the Detroit Employment Solutions Corporation, and the City of Detroit.

Notable knowledge gaps continue to persist regarding how human services programs can best serve the needs and interests of rural communities. This study aims to address these knowledge gaps in the delivery of human services programs in rural communities. Goals of this study include providing a rich description of human services programs in rural contexts and determining the remaining need for human services in rural communities. The study also intends to identify opportunities for strengthening the capacity of human services programs to promote the economic and social well-being of individuals, families, and communities in rural contexts.

There are estimates that between 20 and 50 percent of people eligible for social safety net programs do not access them. While there may be many factors contributing to that gap, recent research has focused on the role that stigma plays. Stigma can be direct or anticipated from the wider society, including from agency workers with whom people would need to interact to access services. This Institute for Research on Poverty podcast episode examines how reducing stigma can increase participation in safety net programs.

Healthy marriage and relationship education (HMRE) grantees often face implementation challenges, such as difficulty in recruiting and encouraging participants to participate in services. To help address these common challenges, HMRE practitioners should engage in continuous quality improvement (CQI) to identify the most pressing challenges and test potential strategies designed to address them. However, accessing the information and resources needed to inform the CQI process may not always be feasible for all HMRE grantees. This guide is designed to bridge this gap by providing a set of promising approaches and accompanying strategies to address common challenges within the context of HMRE service delivery. The guide highlights strategies that practitioners can adopt, refine, and test through their own CQI process and ultimately use to improve their HMRE services. It was produced as part of the Strengthening Implementation of Marriage and Relationship Programs (SIMR) project.