Millions of Americans cannot afford internet access that would enable them to interview for employment, work remotely, fill out online-only benefits applications, or do telehealth appointments. Equitable broadband adoption depends on people having the financial means to get and maintain internet service, which the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) facilitates. This blogpost by New America focuses on the City of Detroit’s success in implementing the ACP, demonstrating how effective the program can be in helping to bridge the digital divide and providing some lessons for how other cities can increase adoption.

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.

The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Data Collaborative Pilot Initiative is a component of the TANF Data Innovation project. The 30-month pilot offered technical assistance and training to support cross-disciplinary teams of staff at eight state and county TANF programs in the routine use of TANF and other administrative data to inform policy and practice. This collection of eight profiles summarizes the data analytics projects undertaken by teams from California, Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Utah, and Virginia. Each profile provides project-specific details for each pilot, including the research questions, data landscape, approach and research methods, and initial findings and next steps as well as an overview of the state TANF program.

There is a growing recognition of the importance of healthy social-emotional development and the behavioral and mental health of young children, as well as the critical nature of early relationships with parents and other caregivers. Addressing the social and emotional development of infants and toddlers with and at-risk for developmental delays and disabilities is a requirement of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). This briefing paper examines an array of infant and early childhood mental health (IECMH) policies and practices that state early intervention (IDEA, Part C) programs may consider implementing to effectively support the social-emotional development and mental health needs of eligible children as the policies and programs reflect the importance of nurturing early relationships for a child's social emotional wellbeing. An appendix includes state spotlights in Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Michigan, Rhode Island and Wisconsin.

The demand for licensed early care and education (ECE) providers exceeds the number of available licensed ECE slots in Detroit’s lower-income communities. As a result, some families opt for informal child care, which is unlicensed care provided by family, friends, or neighbors. This brief features findings and lessons learned from an evaluation of an initiative designed to enhance informal child care and to improve outcomes for children with access to high quality ECE in home-based settings. The evaluation examines the strengths, limitations, and needs of informal child care providers in southwest Detroit and suggests ways to strengthen resources as well as supports available to informal child care providers.

The FAST-LC Capstone Convening was hosted on August 20-21, 2024 in Bethesda, Maryland. This convening brought teams from all the participating sites together to discuss their experiences and learn from one another. The session, Sustaining Your Work to Make a Difference, was presented by keynote speaker Linda Spears. Spears delivered motivating remarks about the sustainability of the FAST-LC work and offered principles and practical considerations for ensuring that site initiatives do not lose momentum and continue beyond the life of federal TA support. Following the presentation, OFA facilitated an audience Q&A.

The FAST-LC Capstone Convening was hosted on August 20-21, 2024 in Bethesda, Maryland. This convening brought teams from all the participating sites together to discuss their experiences and learn from one another. Day one ended with time for attendees to share their insights, closing thoughts, and reflections on their Gallery Walk experience, wherein the FAST-LC participating sites were able to review posters from all the sites describing their initiative, their next steps, and the lessons they learned from participating in the FAST-LC. This session was led by OFA Deputy Director La Sherra Ayala. After this interactive debrief, closing remarks were provided by Deputy Commissioner Cheri Hoffman of the Administration on Children, Youth and Families.

The Office for Family Assistance partnered with Children’s Bureau to develop the Families Are Stronger Together Learning Community (FAST-LC), which focused on preventing family involvement in the child welfare system through developing, implementing, and enhancing Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)-Child Welfare partnerships and innovations. FAST-LC was a one-year initiative that involved eight state and two tribal TANF-Child Welfare partnerships. The FAST-LC launched in September 2023 and concluded in September 2024. OFA published the webpage that highlights various resources, including a journey recap for each participating site and research briefs.

This 2024 National Fatherhood Summit workshop shared the story of the Michigan Action Plan for Father Involvement (MAP-FI) and the collaboration between fatherhood practitioners and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. MAP-FI is a model for other locations interested in expanding support for father involvement and establishing permanent structures that support policies and programs benefiting fathers and their families. This session offered ideas and guidance about how to create similar coalitions in other localities, what initiatives these coalitions can take on, and the impact and importance of bringing these groups together.

The Office of Family Assistance and Children’s Bureau’s initiative, “Families Are Stronger Together Learning Community” (FAST-LC), supported ten TANF and child welfare programs across the country as they worked to promote innovative prevention strategies to mitigate and reduce families’ involvement with the child welfare system through partnerships between TANF and Child Welfare programs. The FAST-LC Site Journeys capture and convey the participating states’ and tribes’ motivation for change, the partnership and prevention innovations they developed and implemented, and the lessons they learned from their journey experiences. This site journey features Michigan’s FAST-LC story.