This Urban Institute report evaluates the expansion of New York City’s Jobs-Plus program. Jobs-Plus replicates an earlier federal program model intended to increase public housing residents’ employment and earnings by combining community supports, employment services, and financial incentives to promote work. The report includes interviews with program staff and participants and data analysis on public housing residency and quarterly earnings before and after participating in the Jobs-Plus program.

ASCEND at the Aspen Institute will host a webinar on August 28, 2019 from 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET to discuss the implementation of the Restoring Education and Learning (REAL) Act. The REAL Act restores Pell Grant eligibility for incarcerated individuals, so that they can pursue postsecondary education. ASCEND representatives will moderate this webinar, which will feature presentations by representatives from the College and Community Fellowship, Vera Institute of Justice, and New York City Housing Authority.

More than half the caseload of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program consists of child-only cases, in which a child receives TANF cash assistance but the parent or caregiver does not. The most common type of child-only case is a nonparent caregiver case, consisting of children being cared for by someone other than their parents, often a grandparent. Research suggests that nonparent caregiver cases are often vulnerable with many unmet needs and that the children in these cases share characteristics with children living in foster care: mental health conditions, school-related problems, and experience with trauma. Kinship navigator programs can be an important tool for supporting these families. Most states are developing or expanding these programs, and the federal government has provided funding in fiscal years 2018 and 2019 to state and eligible tribal child welfare agencies to develop, enhance, or evaluate kinship navigator programs. The Family First Prevention Services Act amended the Social Security Act to allow title IV-E agencies to receive funding for kinship navigator programs that meet certain evidence-based criteria; see ACYF-CB-PI-18-11 for program requirements.

On July 16, 2019, the Office of Family Assistance, in collaboration with the Children’s Bureau, sponsored a webinar that featured kinship navigator programs operating in three states and the services they offer to nonparent caregivers. Arizona Kinship Support Services connects kinship families to government benefits, links them to legal services, and helps them navigate existing community support systems. California’s UWCA-211-iFoster Kinship Navigator Collaborative provides an online, self-service resource portal for kinship families that coordinates public and private resources based on the families’ individual needs and preferences. The New York State Kinship Navigator provides an information and referral network for kinship caregivers statewide. In addition to these three states, the webinar featured a representative from the Children’s Bureau who discussed the federal funding available for kinship navigator programs and a representative from the Assisting Special Populations to Improve Readiness and Engagement (ASPIRE) study team who shared information on TANF child-only cases.

The Urban Institute will host a webinar on July 25, 2019 from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET to discuss Benefit Chicago and the Western New York Impact Investment Fund, which are models of place-based impact investing. Drawing from recently released practitioner briefs, the webinar will also cover participants’ experiences with building the collaboration among partners and their deployment of impact capital in the field.

This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation report reviews the effectiveness of using coaches to help low-income individuals move toward self-sufficiency. The evaluation profiles four coaching models: Iowa’s Family Development and Self-Sufficiency (FaDSS); coaching at home visits implemented in Jefferson County, Colorado; LIFT, a national nonprofit organization that delivers career and financial coaching in Washington (D.C.), New York (New York), Chicago (Illinois), and Los Angeles (California); and MyGoals for Employment Success, a model designed by MDRC and piloted in Baltimore (Maryland) and Houston (Texas).

This Urban Institute report examines findings from its replication validation of the National Institute of Correction’s Employment Retention Inventory (ERI). This study was conducted to determine the ERI’s capability of identifying workforce detachment risks and reductions in labor force participation for justice-involved populations in Indiana, New York, and Massachusetts. Conducted from June 2017 to July 2018, the study reviewed the employment and recidivism rates of 185 employed and 148 unemployed persons and compared this group with the overall justice-involved population. Employment outcomes and prediction of unemployment were made 3 to 6 months following release into community correctional settings.

This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation report highlights a study comparing the Back to Work (B2W) and Independent Job Search (IJS) programs administered by the New York City Department of Social Services/Human Resources Administration. B2W required daily attendance at the program office and offered a range of group and one-on-one job search services, while IJS program participants were required to attend weekly in-person meetings at the program office. The study examined the level and duration of job search assistance, services received, and job search tools that each program offered and explored the difference in outcomes regarding program participants’ employment, earnings, time to employment, and public assistance.

In this report, the Urban Institute assesses New York City’s Arches Transformative Mentoring program, a group mentoring program that serves young adult probation clients by engaging mentor “credible messengers” or direct service providers with backgrounds similar to those they serve. The evaluation found that Arches participants experienced reduced felony reconviction rates by approximately two-thirds after one year of participation and by approximately one-half after two years of participation.

On December 6, the Annie E. Casey Foundation will conclude its Leading with Evidence: Informing Practice with Research webinar series on child welfare. This presentation will explore how researchers and child welfare practitioners can form partnerships to learn from each other to execute the best possible evidence-based initiatives. Because federal program funding is increasingly tied to research quality, this topic is especially important. Researchers and practitioners alike will share their experiences working together to implement youth-oriented programs and services and discuss available resources for research-practice partnerships.