State and local workforce agencies worked to ensure that effective employer engagement, customer outreach, and service delivery occurred during the coronavirus pandemic. The U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration brought together experts from the U.S. Department of Labor, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, the Utah Workforce Development Program, the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity, and the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment to cover challenges states addressed to help job seekers, and the strategies they executed to assist both businesses and job seekers in a changing workforce.

The Urban Institute will host a webinar on November 13, 2020 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. ET to discuss apprenticeship policies and practices and ways to utilize apprenticeship programs in the future. Speakers include representatives from the Urban Institute, the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Oberg Industries, CareerWise Colorado, the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, the House Committee on Education and Labor, New America, and Jobs for the Future.

In honor of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, the Office of Family Assistance hosted a webinar on October 28, 2020. A subject matter expert and a TANF program practitioner shared insights and recommendations for leveraging TANF to provide support to intimate partner violence (IPV) survivors during COVID-19 and beyond. In this webinar, speakers highlighted a variety of IPV topics, including the four types of behavior associated with IPV. Speakers answered audience questions to assist other state and tribal programs in developing and improving their own TANF responses to COVID-19 and IPV.

(See also Resources on "domestic violence" in the Resource Library)

This toolkit by National Conference of State Legislatures focuses on new approaches and strategies to help families disrupt the cycle of poverty. The toolkit outlines and describes the fundamentals of two-generation approaches to address poverty, with focus on state legislators’ critical role in legislating, convening, partnering, championing, and coordinating funding for two-generation initiatives. It highlights the vital role legislators play in bringing stakeholders together and increasing collaboration and data sharing among agencies to address the needs of similar populations. It also illustrates initiatives taken by legislators in several states such as Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, Washington, and others to create and sustain those efforts.

This Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS) webpage provides information on CDHS two-generation efforts to serve children and their caregivers together, focusing on providing assistance and opportunities to all family members to create permanent economic security and educational success. The page also contains materials on several areas where two-gen is having an impact, such as the Colorado Guide to 2Gen, the 2Generation Opportunities pilot program, and the Working Together Project.

The two-generation (2Gen) approach to building stronger families is gaining momentum in several states, including Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Minnesota, Tennessee, and Washington. In these states, a 2Gen coordinator has been identified to work with frontline staff, families, community partners, and across statewide departments to advance 2Gen strategies. On July 28, 2020 at 3:00 p.m. ET, Ascend, an Aspen Institute initiative, will host a webinar which will cover how these states are working toward systems change to help families experience more equitable and positive outcomes.

The National Association for Welfare Research and Statistics (NAWRS) held the first session of the NAWRS 2020 Virtual Workshop Series on April 29, 2020. This session brought together four state TANF representatives from Alabama, Colorado, Vermont, and Washington State to discuss TANF programs and the persons they serve. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the panelists discussed changes in caseloads and policy changes, the transition to a virtual environment for operations and service delivery, and the key challenges that TANF clients now face. A YouTube recording of the webinar is available for viewing.

As a part of continued support to Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs and their endeavors to serve individuals and families virtually during the current COVID-19 pandemic, the Office of Family Assistance recorded a PeerTA webinar on June 24, 2020. TANF staff and those they serve had to retool quickly to adapt to the COVID-19 public health emergency. Staff who conduct in-person case management and coaching are looking for ways to continue these needed services virtually in order to protect the health and safety of individuals and families, ensure the health and safety of their own families, and maintain confidentiality by using virtual services that are secure. Luckily, remote case management services are not new concepts, as they are increasingly being used across TANF and other client/student serving organizations to provide efficient and effective support to those they would normally see face-to-face.

This panel webinar discussed virtual TANF case management and coaching strategies considering the risks associated with COVID-19. Information was delivered in a panel format with question and answer dialogue with panelists. Through the panel webinar registration process, registrants had the opportunity to pose questions for the panelists and the field to consider as they make critical decisions about their ongoing operations, including use of virtual tools and processes to conduct coaching/case management sessions.

Speakers included:

• Annette Waters, Ph.D., Social Science Analyst, Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE)
• DaiJuan Wade, Supervisor -- Special Projects, Operations and Training, District of Columbia Department of Human Services
• Suzie Miller, Workforce Programs Manager, Arapahoe/Douglas Workforce Center 
• Mary Roberto, PeerTA Project Director, Manhattan Strategy Group (Panel Moderator)

This research-to-practice brief identifies programmatic solutions to support reentry for young adults who have been involved in the juvenile justice or criminal justice system as they navigate employment and education pathways. The brief summarizes best practices from nine communities under the three-year U.S. Department of Labor-funded Compass Rose Collaborative (CRC). CRC communities are: Southeast Arkansas; Los Angeles, California; Denver, Colorado; Hartford, Connecticut; Louisville, Kentucky; Baltimore, Maryland; Boston, Massachusetts; St. Louis, Missouri; and Albany, New York.

This National Governors Association policy brief examines the lessons learned from the Parents and Children Thriving Together: Two-Generation State Policy Network (PACTT Network). Initially convened in 2016, the PACTT Network is a policy academy that created and implemented two-generation strategies to address intergenerational poverty. The policy academy included state representatives from Colorado, Georgia, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Oregon.