Human service agency administrators, researchers, and policymakers increasingly turn to applied data analytics to evaluate programs or inform policy. Applications of the data may vary but the goal is the same: to improve the lives of the families served. This webinar highlights a toolkit developed through the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation-funded TANF Data Collaborative to help agencies build the culture and infrastructure needed to apply data analysis routinely, effectively, and accurately. The webinar discusses some of the key strategies and tools included in the Toolkit that can serve as a helpful resource for building sustainable data use in human service agencies.

This Heritage Foundation report analyzes data on important trends related to marriage, childbearing, divorce, cohabitation, and abortion, and offers insights on these trends. The report includes five key findings about family life in America today:

1. Americans are getting married less and later;
2. Fewer children are being born, but more are born outside marriage;
3. More couples are cohabiting;
4. Marriage and family are no longer priorities; and
5. American singles are faced with a “connection conundrum.”

This Institute for Family Studies report shows how closely the fortunes of Ohio families are tied to the educational success, poverty, and emotional well-being of children across the state, how strong families are tied to safer streets, how closely connected economic mobility for poor children is to the state of the unions in their communities across the state, and how falling fertility imperils the demographic future of the state. Given the importance of the family for children, adults, and the state, this report also identifies a series of public policies and civic measures the legislature, businesses, churches, and families can advance to renew the foundations of marriage and family across Ohio.

Given young adults’ high desire for marriage, understanding the truth of how loving and lasting marriages are formed can help the rising generation have confidence in their own ability to pursue this path in their own lives. Helping young people achieve their life goals of marriage is deeply important because a happy marriage is one of the best predictors of life satisfaction for men and women. This Institute for Family Studies report explores top attitudes and behaviors that were predictive of a high-quality and stable marriage from a recent survey of married men and women.

This Family and Youth Services tool helps Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention programs reflect on strategies for identifying and engaging community partners and supporting and sustaining these partnerships over time. Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention grantees can use this tool to discover effective methods for identifying suitable community partners; explore strategies for engaging and maintaining strong, productive relationships with these partners; explore best practices for providing ongoing support to community partners and recognize their contributions; learn how to address challenges in partnerships and sustain long-term collaboration; and use feedback from community partners to continuously improve program implementation.

To prevent pregnancy among adolescents, the Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB) supports state, Tribal and community efforts to teach abstinence and contraceptive education. This FYSB webpage highlights their Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention program and its grant recipients, including Personal Responsibility Education Programs which educate young people on abstinence and support pregnant youth or mothers under the age of 21.

Adolescence is an ideal time to help youth develop healthy relationship skills that support their lifelong health and well-being. Healthy relationship skills, such as the ability to communicate and collaborate with others and manage conflict, have shown to promote social and emotional health, including perceptions of self-worth, goal achievement, and success in the workplace. This Child Trends brief describes the potential benefits of integrating Positive Youth Development, a developmental framework that focuses on youth’s assets and strengths, into healthy marriage and relationship education (HMRE) programming to inform the work of HMRE program directors and administrators, as well as the efforts of educators, employers, and a range of youth-serving staff.

This Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services webpage highlights faith and community partnerships, including services ranging from faith-focused counseling, family programming, faith-based programming, and more.

Ron Desantis’ Faith and Community Initiative was launched in August 2019 to support those on the front lines of serving Floridians. The resources highlighted on their webpage aid faith institutions and community organizations with tools to support and enhance their work to serve their community.

This American Enterprise Institute report emphasizes how Governors are leveraging the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act and other policies to design, fund, and implement workforce development strategies in an evolving economic landscape.