This video recording from a virtual webinar explores the implementation of summer youth employment programs in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and what lessons can be drawn to support year-round, work-based learning and career opportunities for youth and young adults. Speakers include program staff, youth, and young adults associated with Philadelphia Youth Network, WorkReady Philadelphia, Connect Detroit, Grow Detroit Young Talent, the Boston Private Industry Council, the Mayor’s Summer Jobs Program in Boston, and the Los Angeles Opportunity Youth Collaborative, Alliance for Children’s Rights.

Third Sector and the American Public Human Services Association will host this webinar on October 15, 2020 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. ET. Representatives from the Kentucky Department of Family Support and the Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance (MA DTA) will discuss how they are working to better meet the needs of young parent families through TANF-funded programs. Kentucky Works Program representatives will share how they are working to establish participant and frontline staff “feedback loops” to better understand the needs of young parents and to identify more enhanced, targeted TANF-funded services that promote economic stability. In addition, MA DTA will share its new approach to using TANF funding in flexible and effective ways to support young parents through the Young Parents Program. Examples will include place-based adjustments, cross-agency coordination, and gathering ongoing feedback from participants to inform program improvements.

This report by the Annie E. Casey Foundation emphasizes benefits and challenges of building an integrated data system to support two-generation programming and also highlights strategies adopted by several agencies to efficiently track and share information on families they serve. The report highlights field-tested lessons from different organizations in Maryland, New York, Texas, Atlanta, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Massachusetts; these sites develop, adopt, and refine integrated data systems to enhance their two-generation work. Despite the implementation barriers, their goal is to improve programs and program outcomes for parents and their children.

This blogpost illustrates the implementation of the A Better Life (ABL) program in Massachusetts–an economic mobility model for public housing residents that incorporates comprehensive case management, community partnerships with local service providers, an escrow savings account, and work requirements. The blogpost identifies how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the nature of the coaching provided by the ABL program to help address ABL participants’ basic and mental health needs and how the pandemic has created opportunity for stronger relationships and trust between participants and coaches as these needs are met. Also discussed are shifts in the goal setting process among participants toward meeting immediate needs and how COVID-19 responses have pushed ABL to a “whole family” approach over centering on individual participants.

Children living in poverty are less likely to participate in structured learning activities during the summer months; Boston After School & Beyond, a citywide program based in Boston, Massachusetts, seeks to address the achievement gap between low-income students and their peers by offering a menu of online learning services and resources to support student enrichment and learning at home during the COVID-19 pandemic. A network of partners provides these enrichment supports, including learning and skills-building, meals delivery, and meeting emergency needs. The partners include: CitySprouts, Breakthrough Greater Boston, Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston, 3Point Foundation, African Community Economic Development of New England, Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center, and others.

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.

“Coaching within a Two-Generation Context” is a discussion of two-generation approaches to service delivery to achieve positive outcomes for both parents and their children. Representatives from Economic Mobility Pathways (EMPath), and the DC Department of Human Services share their experiences with programs in Boston, MA, Jackson, MS, and Washington, DC. This webinar was presented on August 16, 2018, as part of the IIEESS Coaching for Success series.