A prevailing belief suggests that having a job brings financial security, though many workers hold jobs that do not support financial stability. WorkRise and the Aspen Institute’s Financial Security Program (FSP) will host a webinar on April 28, 2021 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. ET on research covering workers’ financial health and on building pathways to support financial security and economic mobility. The webinar will also present a new report explaining how work arrangements relate to worker benefit provisions and how work and benefits can determine whether workers can attain financial security. The report examines the disparity in financial security outcomes among low- and moderate-income workers, particularly for persons of color, women, and younger workers. Speakers include representatives of the Aspen Institute’s Financial Security Program, Institute for the Future, the Plousha Moore Group, WorkRise, and the Urban Institute.

The 20th Research and Evaluation Conference on Self-Sufficiency (RECS) was held virtually on October 13–15 and October 19–22, 2020. The conference sessions were organized in six thematic tracks: TANF Programs, Policies, and Populations; Employment and Mobility in the Labor Market; Youth Well-Being and the Transition to Adulthood; Strengthening Families, Fatherhood, Marriages, and Relationships; Evaluating Social Programs, Building Evidence, and Using Data; and Approaches to Alleviate Poverty and Expand Opportunity. A complete set of videos covering plenary and breakout sessions and a career panel is now available online.

This fact sheet defines two-generation and whole-family approaches that simultaneously provide services and opportunities to both children and the adults in their lives. The fact sheet also includes summaries and links to resources on 5 key components of the two-generation approach: Postsecondary Education and Employment Pathways; Early Childhood Education and Development; Economic Assets; Health and Well-Being; and Social Capital.

The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) youth program includes financial literacy education as one of 14 program elements. This set of resources provides tools and guides for financial literacy education as well as pertinent research reports and curriculum. The resources cover creating budgets; setting up checking and saving accounts; managing spending, credit, and debt; understanding credit reports and credit scores; and protecting against identify theft.

The 20th Research and Evaluation Conference on Self-Sufficiency (RECS 2020), sponsored by the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, will now be held virtually on October 13-15 and October 19-22, 2020. Panels will cover TANF Programs, Policies, and Populations; Employment and Mobility in the Labor Market; Youth Well-Being and the Transition to Adulthood; Strengthening Families, Fatherhood, Marriages, and Relationships; Evaluating Social Programs, Building Evidence, and Using Data; and Approaches to Alleviate Poverty and Expand Opportunity. Future information with registration details will be posted.

This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation report presents findings of the Strengthening Relationship Education and Marriage Services (STREAMS) evaluation, which is a random assignment impact analysis and process assessment of five Healthy Marriage and Relationship Education (HMRE) grantees. The process study report identifies findings on The Parenting Center’s experiences in the design and implementation of Empowering Families, which was designed to offer integrated HMRE and economic stability services to couples raising children together. The STREAMS impact evaluation reviewed the effectiveness of the integrated HMRE Empowering Families program and whether intensive economic stability services effect participants’ employment and earnings and relationship quality and co-parenting.

The Aspen Institute has developed a series of digital events entitled Conversations in Financial Security in Response to COVID-19: How to Triage, Recover, and Stabilize. Tenth in the series, this webinar on July 1, 2020 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. ET will highlight the importance of addressing employees’ financial challenges to ensure an equitable economic recovery.

This blogpost suggests potential ways to expand the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) to support low-wage workers with increased income to enable them to have additional resources to weather the COVID-19 pandemic. The blogpost further notes ways that an expanded EITC might also encourage low-wage workers to file federal income tax returns and, in turn, be able to receive economic stimulus payments under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.

This issue brief identifies COVID-19’s impact on household income and the income insecurity resulting from the macroeconomic slowdown. The brief presents data on emergency savings; the number of low-wage workers; the percentage of earners in low-wage occupations by race, ethnicity, immigration status, and gender; and low-wage workers’ lack of access to economic supports and wage protections.

This report identifies a nexus between the physical, social, and economic conditions of low-income neighborhoods and the health and financial well-being of the people who live in these communities. Included are the importance of aligning these sectors to improve these community residents’ prospects as well as examples of where these alignments exist. The report also highlights opportunities for collaboration and integration across community, public health, and financial sectors and discusses challenges of fostering this alignment.