Strengthening Families is a research-based framework developed by the Center for the Study of Social Policy over the last decade to increase family strengths, enhance child development, and reduce child abuse and neglect. This approach helps child welfare systems, early education, prevention organizations, and other programs work with parents to build five protective factors that, when present, increase the overall well-being of children and families. They are:

• Enhancing parental resilience
• Providing an array of social connections
• Providing parents concrete support in times of need
• Facilitating knowledge of parenting and child development
• Supporting healthy social and emotional development in young children

This set of resources includes a state profile of Strengthening Families efforts in Missouri.

The U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration will host a webinar on March 16, 2021 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET to cover best practices in work-based learning at the state level. Work-based learning offers participants the ability to combine employment with training. Presentations will be made by representatives of the Missouri Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development, WorkSource Oregon, the New Hampshire Department of Employment Security, the Maricopa County (Arizona) Human Services Department, the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, and Adaptive Construction Solutions, Inc.

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.

The Missouri Job Centers in Kansas City and Vicinity and the Greater St. Louis Metropolitan Region provide a variety of services for TANF customers through Missouri Works Assistance (MWA). This case statement describes collaborative practices among TANF and WIOA agencies contracted to deliver MWA services, such as sharing resources, case management, specialized staffing, and communication channels across programs. State-level support and a history of cross-agency collaboration also encourage partnership-building in this region.

Sections of the brief discuss joint service delivery, resource sharing, shared learning, and managing collaborative activities. Readers may also access links to the state TANF plan and funding information for more context and resources. This brief is part of the TANF Works! TANF/WIOA Collaboration Series, through which the Office of Family Assistance’s Integrating Innovative Employment and Economic Stability Strategies (IIEESS) initiative seeks to highlight innovative coordination strategies of TANF and WIOA programs to serve low-income or vulnerable populations.

This Mathematica study, conducted on behalf of the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, examines the impact of four federally-funded Responsible Fatherhood programs: Connections to Success in Kansas and Missouri; Fathers’ Support Center in Missouri; FATHER Project at Goodwill–Easter Seals Minnesota; and Urban Ventures in Minnesota.

Noncustodial parents (NCPs) want to be positively involved in their children’s lives but often face obstacles, including legal issues and inability to attain economic security and to pay child support consistently. In a recent Information Memorandum, the Administration for Children and Families reminded jurisdictions of their ability to use TANF funds to provide employment services to noncustodial parents to help needy families provide for their children and rise out of poverty.

An Office of Family Assistance (OFA)-sponsored webinar on June 26, 2019 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. ET will feature a panel of programs using TANF funds to serve NCPs: the Ohio Fatherhood Commission, South Carolina Department of Fathers and Families, which fund community programs for fathers and families and advocate for “father-friendly” policies and practices in state agencies, and Fathers Support Center of St. Louis, which will share its experiences of directly engaging fathers to improve family and economic security. A presenter from the Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement will also talk about programs for fathers and NCPs who have alternate funding sources. These programs and agencies participated in a scan to identify promising approaches to using TANF funds to serve noncustodial parents. The scan is being conducted by ASPIRE (Assisting Special Populations to Improve Readiness and Engagement), an OFA-sponsored project; an ASPIRE representative will share project highlights and moderate the panel.