Research indicates that mentoring increases employee job satisfaction and strengthens community engagement. As workplaces continue to shift, accessible and replicable strategies are essential.

The National Youth Employment Coalition will host a webinar on December 11, 2025 at 3:30 p.m. ET, where MENTOR National will present best practices for implementing relationship-centered approaches in the workplace and share the labor market insights that guided the creation of their free mentoring toolkits for career readiness, hospitality, and e-commerce. Participants will engage in a practical activity they can apply in their own programs and communities.

The Economic Mobility Lab at MDRC provides workforce training providers with a collaborative and supportive environment to examine their training services, make improvements, test new approaches, and scale operations to serve more individuals. In this video, participating program providers share their experiences and how they have applied what they learned to improve their services.

The next quarterly Work Outcomes Report is due on November 15, 2025. The following links may be helpful as you complete your report. 

• TANF Work Outcomes Reporting Requirement – What You Need to Know
• TANF Work Outcomes Measures Technical Resource
• TOTAL Office Hours: April 2025
• TOTAL Office Hours: May 2025
• TOTAL Office Hours: May 2025 (Post-Submission for Work Outcomes of TANF Exiters Report)

This op-ed written by Acting Assistant Secretary Andrew Gradison outlines that current welfare policies focused on unconditional cash transfers are failing to lift low-income families out of poverty. Instead, he advocates for a welfare model that emphasizes work incentives, family stability, personal responsibility, and reduced dependency on government aid.

The pilot is authorized under the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 and reflects the Administration’s commitment to reshaping welfare programs to encourage employment, personal responsibility, and strong, stable two-parent families. States were encouraged to propose alternative performance measures to the work participation rate that prioritize rapid employment outcomes, earnings progression, and reduced dependency on Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, and other welfare. 

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services selected Arizona, Iowa, Nebraska, Ohio, and Virginia to participate in the redesigned TANF pilot. These states were chosen from a strong applicant pool to develop models and metrics other states can replicate to help families achieve self-sufficiency. In addition to concretely tracking employment and earnings, pilot states will pursue the following strategies to reduce dependency:

• Arizona will engage directly with employers that have vacancies for in-demand, well-paying positions to directly connect TANF participants with quality, sustainable employment.
• Iowa will improve referral coordination across services, enhance the quality of information available to TANF participants through financial literacy and decision-making tools, and build partnerships with employers to create employment and matched savings opportunities.
• Nebraska, in partnership with community organizations, colleges, and businesses, will develop personalized pathways for TANF participants to strengthen connections to local jobs. Pathways will include referrals to Nebraska’s TANF-funded Fatherhood and Healthy Marriage Initiative.
• Ohio will implement a personalized “well-being assessment” for TANF participants, which will include intensive case management services, financial literacy training, and support for counties to build community capacity.
• Virginia will establish Personalized Results Plans for TANF participants to build upon the success of the Career Pathway Pilot, which blends sector-based training, intensive case management, and employment engagement to support participants as they gain credentials in fields like health care and skilled trades.

The TANF pilot program officially launches on October 1, 2025.

As part of the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) of 2023, all states are required to submit the Secondary School Diploma or its Recognized Equivalent Attainment Rate report annually, with the first report due on November 14, 2027. This outcome measure is intended to assist federal and state policymakers to better understand the effectiveness of TANF programs in promoting successful education credential attainment. The outcome is defined as the percentage of applicable TANF recipients and exiters who, during the reporting period, attained a secondary school diploma or a recognized equivalent credential.

TANF agencies may opt to collect the data necessary for this report from their state education agency or longitudinal data system. This document contains a series of questions to begin a conversation with these data providers about the possible use of their data.

As part of the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) of 2023, all states are required to submit the Secondary School Diploma or its Recognized Equivalent Attainment Rate report annually, with the first report due on November 14, 2027. This outcome measure is intended to assist federal and state policymakers to better understand the effectiveness of TANF programs in promoting successful education credential attainment. States have some flexibility in determining the data sources used to create this report. However, when collecting or sharing school records, education organizations must adhere to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) requirements and any additional state privacy laws.

This fact sheet provides an overview of FERPA, describes different options for collecting school records, and includes additional resources.

This webpage highlights the announcement of the new vision, mission, values, priorities, and guiding principles for the Administration of Children and Families. The webpage outlines the values and offers resources that highlight exemplary practices for each.

The American Public Human Services Association has released a three-part series on the use of Artificial Intelligence in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) case processing. This brief examines customer experience, potential risk, and the importance of human oversight through the lens of perspectives shared by SNAP customers.

The American Public Human Services Association will release a three-part series on the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) case processing. This brief details the rapidly changing policy landscape surrounding the use of AI in SNAP and explores potential enabling policy actions to support this use.