Self-regulation skills are the skills needed to finish tasks, stay organized, and control emotions, and they are critical in finding and maintaining employment. Poverty and other chronic stressors can hinder the development and use of these skills, but coaching can promote self-regulation skills and help adults with low incomes become economically secure. This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation report presents findings from a study of four employment coaching programs conducted as part of the Evaluation of Employment Coaching for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Related Populations. The report presents estimates of impacts of coaching on participants’ self-regulation skills, employment, earnings, self-sufficiency, and other measures of personal and family well-being throughout the 21 months after enrollment.

The Rehabilitation Services Administration funds the Disability Innovation Fund-Subminimum Wage to Competitive Integrated Employment (SWTCIE) projects designed to decrease subminimum wage employment and increase competitive integrated employment for people with disabilities currently employed in or contemplating subminimum wage employment. This Mathematica practice brief explores how SWTCIE staff promote their projects to potential participants and employers. It summarizes interviews with four SWTCIE projects from agencies in Connecticut, Minnesota, North Carolina, and Texas. The brief shares promising practices including (1) meeting people where they are and proactively addressing their concerns, (2) engaging a wide network in their communities, (3) consulting external resources such as communications firms to shape their branding, and (4) promoting success stories and using family and peer mentors. The lessons learned could help vocational rehabilitation agencies and other organizations interested in implementing aspects of their programs.

As part of the Building Evidence on Employment Strategies project, researchers conducted virtual interviews from November 2021 to April 2022 with staff members at ten workforce programs to learn how they were using technology to adapt their services during the pandemic. Most of the organizations used a hybrid model to blend in-person and virtual service delivery. This MDRC publication examines five key adaptations of the programs made to accommodate the new hiring context.

The Child Welfare Community Collaborations (CWCC) initiative is designed to mobilize communities to develop and evaluate multi-system collaboratives that address local barriers and provide a continuum of services to prevent child abuse and neglect. In 2018 and 2019, the Children’s Bureau awarded 5-year cooperative agreements to a total of 13 states, non-profit organizations, and Native American tribal organizations. This Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation brief provides a high-level description of each of the 13 CWCC projects and is one of a series of products the evaluation team will produce as part of the cross-site process evaluation. This brief contains a one-page description of each project, including its geographic catchment area, population of focus, key partners, prior experience with community-level collaboration, timeline, and local evaluation.

More than half of community college students nationwide intend to pursue a four-year degree; however, in Texas only one in four community college students transfer to four-year institutions successfully. To improve transfer rates and, ultimately, bachelor’s degree attainment, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) launched the Texas Transfer Grant Pilot Program with money provided by the U.S. Department of Education’s Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund. MDRC evaluated the pilot program to build evidence about its efficacy and help inform future THECB decisions about the program. This brief provides findings about the pilot program’s impact on students’ enrollment and academic outcomes at Texas four-year institutions during the fall 2022 and spring 2023 semesters—two semesters after students initially received the fall 2022 transfer grant.

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

Employment coaching involves trained staff working collaboratively with participants to help them set individualized goals related to employment and providing motivation, support, and feedback as participants work toward those goals. Recently, there has been growing interest among policymakers, practitioners, and researchers in using employment coaching to assist Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients and other adults with low incomes become economically mobile. This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation report highlights the evaluation that was designed to assess the implementation and effectiveness of the four programs participating in the Employment Coaching for TANF and Related Populations study. The report answers the following research questions: In what contexts were programs implemented? How did the designs of the programs vary and differ? How was coaching implemented across programs? The programs highlighted in this evaluation are: • Family Development and Self-Sufficiency, which serves TANF recipients and their family members in Iowa. • Goal4 It!TM, which provides employment coaching to TANF recipients in Jefferson County, Colorado in lieu of traditional case management. • LIFT, which is a voluntary coaching program operated in four U.S. cities. • MyGoals for Employment Success, which serves recipients of housing assistance in Baltimore, Maryland, and Houston, Texas.

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This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation brief describes the experiences of three organizations that adapted existing interventions to provide remote work readiness activities or education and training services during the COVID-19 pandemic. It summarizes common challenges that made it difficult for participants to engage in remote services, adaptations made by the organizations, and considerations for remote service delivery after the pandemic. The brief draws upon information gathered from an Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training (I-BEST) site in Des Moines, Washington, Project Quality Employment Through Skills Training (QUEST) in San Antonio, Texas, and a Wisconsin Regional Training Partnerships (WRTP) site in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

In observance of National Adult Education and Family Literacy Week, September 19-25, this compendium highlights nine practices that represent holistic approaches to delivering adult education programs. These programs represent approaches for modeling effective integrated education and training (IET) programs—transitioning adult learners from adult basic education to postsecondary education or training, and increasing access to adult education services. The practices are drawn from programs in Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Ohio, and Texas.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Family-Centered Community Change (FCCC) is a two-generation effort in Buffalo, New York; Columbus, Ohio; and San Antonio, Texas. This report estimates the staff labor costs for two-generation coordination and integration in these three communities, which may assist other localities and nonprofit service providers in budget planning, specifically for partnership development and coordinated service delivery.