According to the American Farm Bureau Federation, 45% of rural adults say they have been impacted by the opioid epidemic, and 74% of farmers and farmworkers have been directly affected. Rural communities encounter unique challenges when combating substance misuse in the community and the workplace. Rural areas typically have a high poverty rate, are sparsely located, and lack access to healthcare, mental health, and recovery services. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Workforce Investment (OWI), in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Appalachian Regional Commission, and the First Tennessee Development District and its partners, will host a webinar on May 31, 2023 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET that will highlight how opioid addiction has impacted the rural workforce and the resources, promising practices, and grant opportunities available to support recovery through the workforce system.

The Works Wonders^® curriculum aims to connect young people in foster care with careers that interest them. Under the Works Wonders model, staff members customize learning plans and recruit local companies to employ older youth with foster care experience. Typical programming includes coursework, mentoring, job shadowing, paid internships, and career guidance. This blogpost examines the adaptation and expansion of the Work Wonders model at Monroe Harding (a Nashville-based nonprofit) in Tennessee and Foster Success (a start­up business training program) in Indiana to better serve their local youth.

The National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, in partnership with the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy and the National Academy for State Health Policy, conducted an intensive, multi-state technical assistance project on statewide approaches to address adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) across the lifespan. This paper highlights lessons learned from states that served as models for statewide approaches that prevent and address ACEs and the development of trauma-informed policies (Alaska, California, New Jersey, and Tennessee). The paper also addresses the goals, policy, and programs developed and launched by states that were selected for the project (Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wyoming).

The Tennessee Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Opportunity Act funds seven grantees to provide services to families with low income, each aimed at improving education, health, and economic outcomes for adults and children. This Urban Institute resource is a baseline scan which describes the demographic and economic context within which the seven pilot programs are operating as of the start of the programs’ implementation. The context described includes demographic information, income measures and poverty rates, employment and education data, safety net program caseloads, and health information. This baseline scan provides information on the circumstances of Tennessee families to support the evaluation of the TANF Opportunity Act pilot programs. The data presented in this baseline report will also serve as a starting point for a data dashboard tracking changes during the pilots.

A benefits cliff may occur when an increase in income pushes a worker above the income eligibility limit for public assistance programs, and the loss of assistance is greater than the value of the increase. This Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta webinar explored the economic challenge of benefit cliffs from the perspective of employers and community leaders who help families navigate public assistance programs and plan for career advancement opportunities. The webinar presented tools that can identify and inform mitigation strategies as well as a discussion of innovation pilots in Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Washington D.C. to develop benefits cliff solutions.

The field of workforce development helps job seekers enter and advance in the workforce, and it helps employers improve their hiring, training, and advancement practices. To optimize local workforce systems, practitioners must dismantle silos and create coherent systems and services that balance the needs of both workers and businesses. The Aspen Institute’s Economic Opportunities Program is hosting “Workforce Leadership Café,” a series of conversations with leaders who are contributing their talents and insights to this field of practice. Guests will include sponsors of local Workforce Leadership Academies and others who are exploring talent development and job quality in workforce development.

Remaining dates include:
• December 21, 2023: Workforce Solutions Alamo
• January 18, 2024: United Way of Central Maryland + Scranton Area Community Foundation
• February 1, 2024: The Greater Memphis Chamber
• February 15, 2024: Ohio Workforce Coalition and New York Association for Training and Development Professionals

A benefits cliff may occur when an increase in income (e.g., from working more hours, getting a raise, or taking a new position) pushes a worker above the income eligibility limit for one or more public assistance programs, and the loss of assistance is greater than the value of the increase. This forces people to choose between their family’s immediate financial best interest and their own longer-term wage growth and career advancement. The Federal Reserve is hosting a Connecting Communities webinar on October 12, 2023 from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET to explore this economic challenge. Participants will learn about tools developed by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta to identify and inform mitigation strategies, as well as innovation pilots including Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Washington D.C. that can inform state and community leaders working to develop solutions to the benefits cliff.

This blogpost highlights the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation (NRAEF) apprenticeship program for restaurant managers and line cooks. The program, developed prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, features partnerships with restaurants and hospitality employers to provide training and employment opportunities for underserved populations, including Hispanic and Black American youth and adults. The program also builds alliances with YouthBuild and Job Corps as well as post-high school educational institutions in Maryland, Louisiana, Florida, Tennessee, Texas, and California. To date, the program has expanded to 70 restaurant and hospitality employer partners and 2,000 apprentices who also earn up to 18 credits toward a culinary arts or hospitality degree.

This research to practice brief from the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation describes examination of findings from nine rural programs that serve child welfare-involved parents with substance use disorders. The examination was unable to provide information on program effectiveness but does focus on the range of services offered, the targeted population, how funding is blended, and collaborative approaches of these programs. Programs covered in this brief are: Children and Recovering Mothers (CHARM) Care Collaborative (Burlington, Vermont); Iowa Department of Human Services Parent Partner Mentoring Program; Kentucky Sobriety Treatment and Recovery Teams (START); Vermont Hub and Spoke Model; Women in Recovery (Tulsa, Oklahoma); The Arizona Families in Recovery Succeeding Together (FIRST) Program; Helen Ross McNabb Center (HRMC) Great Starts Program and Motivating our Mothers to Succeed Silver Linings and Rise to Recovery Models (Knoxville, Tennessee); and Parent-Child Assistance Program (Washington State).

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.