This U.S. Department of Labor brief explores how states use financial incentives to expand Registered Apprenticeship (RA) Programs and achieve targeted goals. Incentives are additional financial supports used to increase the number of RA programs and offset the cost for employers in the form of state tax credits or subsidies to apprenticeship sponsors, related technical instruction providers, and other entities responsible for developing RA programs. The brief highlights findings from focus groups conducted with the following eight states: Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, and Mississippi.

Economic stability and employment during young adulthood are critical to long-term economic security, and today, many young adults face longer periods of financial insecurity than in the past. Young people affected by the justice system face additional barriers to achieving economic stability and employment with research showing that formerly incarcerated people are almost five times more likely than the public to be unemployed. This report details the findings of a joint project between The National Youth Employment Coalition and Urban Institute to conduct case studies of five sites that launched or implemented a broad-based, cross-system collaborative to promote workforce development and better provide labor market opportunities for justice-involved youth. The case studies include a detailed analysis of each site’s collaborative efforts, key stakeholders, best practices for systems collaboration, an exploration of funding sources, and sustainability efforts.

This Chapin Hall research brief series evaluates the 100% New Mexico Initiative, a community-led, data-driven approach to ensure all New Mexicans have access to vital services, including job training, transportation, and parent supports. Local communities are guided by a seven-step process to survey community members, assess results, and target evidence-informed solutions to resolve barriers to all community members accessing vital services. The model was designed to alleviate adverse childhood experiences by targeting root causes by ensuring that all people have equitable access to services. 100% New Mexico is designed to develop leaders who have the skills and resources necessary to advocate with decision makers about the fundamental rights of children and families. These briefs describe the collective impact approach, a method to evaluate progress, and results from the first set of counties who surveyed local community members about barriers to accessing vital services.

Research clearly demonstrates that youth and young parents experience poverty at a disproportionate rate with severe consequences to not only their current and future well-being (mental, physical, and financial), but also for the overall health of the family unit. Organizations specifically designed to serve youth often are not equipped to utilize a consistent, evidence-informed approach. They may lack the tools needed to effectively support economic mobility. This EMPath paper provides an overview of the evidence surrounding the impacts of poverty on youth and young families, and the benefits of promoting family economic stability and mobility for these populations. It highlights the experiences and learnings from the cohort of youth-serving organizations to effectively engage and support their program participants with economic mobility coaching.

Watch a Video Held in Conjunction with this Paper Release

The Office of Family Assistance and Children’s Bureau have announced the 10 sites selected to participate in the FAST-LC. The FAST-LC is a 12-month initiative operating from September 2023 through September 2024. The Learning Community will focus on promoting innovative prevention strategies to mitigate and reduce families’ involvement with the child welfare system through partnerships between TANF and Child Welfare programs. Site teams will benefit from a robust suite of individualized training, technical assistance, and coaching support, as well as regular opportunities for collaborative learning and sharing across site teams.

The states and tribes participating in the FAST-LC are:
• Arizona Department of Child Safety and Department of Economic Security;
• Arkansas Department of Human Services;
• California Department of Social Services;
• Chippewa Cree Tribe of the Rocky Boys Reservation (Montana),
• Iowa Department of Health and Human Services;
• Kentucky Department for Community Based Services;
• Michigan Department of Health and Human Services;
• Oregon Department of Human Services;
• Pascua Yaqui Tribe (Arizona); and
• West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources.

Interest in the career and technical education (CTE) field has experienced a resurgence over the last decade, as the global economy has grown increasingly competitive while students have continued to leave school unprepared for well-paying twenty-first century jobs. Working both together and separately, the education and workforce sectors have sought to address these challenges and better prepare students for viable economic futures. The results have been new, innovative programs at both the secondary and postsecondary education levels that aim to give students technical training, general training, and work-based learning opportunities where they can develop connections to the workforce. This MDRC paper captures the evidence that has emerged and identifies areas where there is more evidence as well as areas where gaps in evidence still exist.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Administration for Children and Families (ACF) proposes to improve the effectiveness and integrity of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) regulations. This Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) would help families experiencing the greatest economic hardships benefit from the services that Congress intended for the TANF program to provide.

Specifically, the proposed rule puts forward for public comment seven changes to the current regulations that would increase program integrity, clarify allowable uses of TANF, and reduce obstacles for individuals trying to access support. These are:

• Establish a ceiling on the term "needy";
• Clarify when an expenditure is "reasonably calculated to accomplish a TANF purpose";
• Exclude as an allowable TANF maintenance-of-effort (MOE) expenditures cash donations from non-governmental third parties and the value of third-party in-kind contributions;
• Ensure that excused holidays match the number of federal holidays, following the recognition of Juneteenth as a federal holiday;
• Develop new criteria to allow states to use alternative Income and Eligibility Verification Systems (IEVS) measures;
• Clarify the "significant progress" criteria following a work participation rate corrective compliance plan; and
• Clarify the existing regulatory text about the allowability of costs associated with the disseminating program information.

Comments on these proposed rules from all TANF partners and affected parties are due to HHS by December 1, 2023 and can be submitted via this form. 

For individuals on probation and those reentering their communities after incarceration, finding employment is often one of multiple challenges. Employment is an important factor in reentry, but getting to a place where the focus can be on a job, education, or a career requires support in other parts of life as well. The Los Angeles County Innovative Employment Solutions Program (INVEST) is designed to address the complex range of employment and supportive service needs and support individuals in pursuing their employment and career goals. This MDRC brief focuses on one of the unique features of the program: the array of supportive services that staff members can provide and tailor to individual client needs under a flexible spending model, which is enabled by the significant program funds reserved for supportive services and financial incentives and stipends in ways not often seen in traditional workforce programs.

The Division of Economic Independence (DEI), operated within the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE), has primary responsibility for welfare and family self-sufficiency research. DEI’s publications are aimed to expand knowledge about how Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and other programs can best support the self-sufficiency and economic well-being of children and families with low incomes. This OPRE portfolio describes all the active or newly funded projects by DEI in Fiscal Year 2022. The document provides detailed summaries of each family self-sufficiency research project and highlights select findings.