Work experience and work-based learning are two related strategies for helping people with low incomes improve employment and earnings outcomes. Work experience and work-based learning could include paid or unpaid work or learning experiences in a work setting. This Evidence Snapshot brief summarizes what rigorous research tells us about seven interventions that used work experience and work-based learning and their impacts on earnings, employment, the receipt of public benefits, and education and training. The brief helps TANF administrators, policymakers, researchers, and the general public apply this evidence of program effectiveness to their context and questions that matter to them.

Learn and Earn to Achieve Potential (LEAP)™ is an Annie E. Casey Foundation initiative which creates supportive career and education pathways for youth, ages 14–25, who have experienced foster care, criminal justice system involvement, or homelessness. This webpage discusses how participants in the 2023 National LEAP Convening reflected on their collective work in three areas: LEAP’s support of education and career trajectories for young people who have experienced public systems; how strategic partnerships with public systems can promote and expand the reach of equitable career and education pathways; and the role of young adults in cultivating equitable pathways to school and work. Key takeaways from the convening reflect the following lessons: youth engagement is essential, scale strategies for today and tomorrow, and embrace innovative partnerships.

This is an updated brief from the Office of Family Assistance (OFA) 2018 TANF Works! TANF/WIOA Collaboration Series that described collaboration strategies between Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) programs to serve populations with low incomes. These updated briefs were developed through follow-up outreach and interviews to explore how TANF/WIOA collaborations have been sustained over time and have evolved as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Each brief features a success story and includes snapshot infographics depicting TANF and WIOA data.

The Missouri Workforce Centers (WFC) in Kansas City and vicinity and the Greater St. Louis Metropolitan regions provide TANF/WIOA customers with an array of services through Missouri Work Assistance (MWA). The customer flow from TANF to WIOA differs between Kansas City and the Greater St. Louis Metropolitan regions. However, both sites have a similar process where each MWA contractor and its partners assist TANF/WIOA customers at the WFC to support job entry, skills gain, and work experience. The brief highlights key elements that made the collaboration successful, including strengthening community connections, rapidly responding to changes in the labor market, sharing resources, prioritizing team sharing, and implementing a two-generation approach.

Registered apprenticeship programs (RAPs) are nationally recognized as an effective workforce development tool that is responsive to local economic needs. In honor of Earth Day, ICF and Vanguard, in partnership with netAmerica’s Workforce Innovation Network, are hosting an Apprenticeship Lunch & Learn Lunch and Learn event on April 20, 2023, from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. ET. During this event, presentations will cover the role of Registered Apprenticeship Programs in meeting national and statewide efficient and renewable energy goals. Speakers will discuss how youth apprenticeships can effectively address their workforce needs, facilitate a conversation about true workplace needs and training provider solutions, and promote the return on investment of registered apprenticeships in renewable energy.

The U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Administration will host the first of a series of webinars related to trauma and healing on May 2, 2023 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. ET. The webinar will discuss the neuroscience behind toxic stress, trauma, and healing, and offer practical strategies and tools for workforce professionals to cultivate healthy and more effective services and workplaces for staff, organizations, and participants in workforce programs. Presenters include guest speakers from the Trauma and Resilience at Work team at Corporation for a Skilled Workforce, the Detroit Employment Solutions Corporation, and the City of Detroit.

The U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration is soliciting applications for the agency’s Workforce Pathways for Youth grant program. This grant program, operated by national out-of-school time (OST) organizations, will expand workforce development activities in OST organizations across the country that serve youth living in rural areas during non-school hours. The goals of the grant program are to:

1) expand age-appropriate workforce readiness programming through national OST organizations and their state or locally-operated affiliate organizations and ultimately scale up these efforts;
2) promote increased alignment between OST organizations, workforce development programs, and school systems; and
3) coordinate across workforce development, schools, and OST in order to provide work-based learning experiences, occupational skills training, and unsubsidized employment placements to increase opportunities for youth, particularly those at risk of not completing their high school education, to gain the skills needed to be successful in post-secondary education and employment.

Closing date for application submissions is May 19, 2023.

Goal4 It!™ is a participant-centered framework for working with TANF participants to set goals, break their goals down into manageable steps, develop specific plans to achieve the steps, and regularly review their goal progress. This report summarizes the design and implementation of Goal4 It!™ at the Jefferson County, Colorado, Department of Human Services. The agency implemented Goal4 It!™ as an alternative to the traditional case management provided by Colorado Works, its TANF program. 

The White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy and the Domestic Policy Council spearheaded the Recovery-Ready Workplace (RRW) Resource Hub, an online resource hosted by the Employment and Training Administration (ETA), in collaboration with various government agencies including the U.S. Department of Labor. The RRW Resource Hub provides guidance, tools, best practices, and other resources to help public and private sector employers address substance use disorder in the workforce, hire people in or seeking recovery, and support recovery in the workplace. The ETA will host a webinar on March 30, 2023 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. ET on the Hub and Administration policy priorities on substance use disorders and recovery in the workplace.

Experiments conducted in the mid-1990s show that a combination of work requirements and work supports substantially increased the employment of cash assistance recipients in Aid to Families with Dependent Children, while having little effect on recipients’ average income. There is little evidence on the effects of TANF’s work requirements, though, and recent research on other means-tested programs demonstrates that their work requirements have had little effect on employment and have substantially reduced the number of people receiving the benefits they provide. Using administrative data, this Congressional Budget Office working paper examines how Alabama’s recent expansion of its TANF work requirement to the parents of children between the ages of 6 months and 11 months affects their employment and income.

The Wellness Comprehensive Assessment Rehabilitation and Employment (WeCARE) program provides clinical assessment, employment, Social Security application, wellness, and rehabilitation services to New York City residents who receive public assistance and have physical and/or mental health challenges to employment. Populations served by the WeCARE program include single adults who have limited resources and TANF recipients who struggle to meet work requirements. This report documents how WeCARE served clients before the COVID-19 pandemic, how the program changed in response to the employment and service needs of its clients during the pandemic and economic recession, and the implications of those changes to the WeCARE model. It also notes lessons WeCARE learned which could guide other agencies coping with significant shifts in service delivery, including serving people with physical and mental health challenges virtually.