The 2019-2020 Policy Academy for Innovative Employment Strategies (PAIES) was an intensive technical assistance experience. Sponsored by the Office of Family Assistance (OFA), the Academy helped participating sites improve coaching and career pathways approaches. This PAIES brief entitled "Building Systems Change Through Staff Engagement" informs TANF leadership about strategies to effectively engage staff to inform systems change. It shares key takeaways from the PAIES experience of the Division of Welfare and Supportive Services, Nevada’s TANF agency. A companion PAIES brief that highlights coaching case management strategies can be found here: https://peerta.acf.hhs.gov/content/ofa-paies-brief-series-tanf-coaching….

The 2021 National Association of State Workforce Agencies report provides profiles of workforce agencies in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands and their efforts to assist workers amidst the economic downturn caused by COVID-19. The profiles address the pandemic’s impact on unemployment insurance and the implementation of new unemployment insurance programs, such as the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC), Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC), and the Lost Wage Assistance (LWA) programs. An aggregate summary of state pandemic response strategies to support training, unemployment services, and remotely delivered business services is also provided.

The U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration will host a webinar on March 16, 2021 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET to cover best practices in work-based learning at the state level. Work-based learning offers participants the ability to combine employment with training. Presentations will be made by representatives of the Missouri Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development, WorkSource Oregon, the New Hampshire Department of Employment Security, the Maricopa County (Arizona) Human Services Department, the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, and Adaptive Construction Solutions, Inc.

The U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration has developed A Skills Roadmap for Case Managers, a set of tools and guidance to support job seekers, unemployed persons, case managers, and other stakeholders in using CareerOneStop.org. The Roadmap provides tips on how to utilize online career planning tools, templates to help case managers with determining electronic tools to meet their customers’ needs, roadmaps for career exploration, and additional e-learning resources. This compendium also provides links to online tools that can help job seekers explore careers, learn about salary information, find education and training resources, prepare for job searches, explore job sites, write resumes and cover letters, and get ready for interviews. There are also links for career change resources, interest and skills assessments, and locating local American Job Centers.

This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation brief summarizes findings from three different demonstration projects that are designed to support noncustodial parents: the Enhanced Transitional Jobs Demonstration (ETJD), Parents and Children Together (PACT), and the Child Support Noncustodial Parent Employment Demonstration (CSPED). The evaluations assessed whether employment and other supportive services to disadvantaged noncustodial parents affect participants’ earnings, parental engagement, and ability to make child support payments. Findings from these projects showed significant impacts on improving noncustodial parents’ employment and earnings compared to prior evaluations of similar programs. ETJD and CSPED examined child support payments, and neither study found an impact on the amount of child support paid. However, unlike previous evaluation studies, PACT and CSPED, which had parenting workshops as a core service, generated positive impacts on father-child contact.

This brief analyzes the relationship between educational stability (measured by school enrollment and dropout rate) and justice involvement among youth of color. Using data from 2001 to 2016, the brief focuses on 10 California counties with the strongest relationships between educational stability and justice involvement. The brief also discusses possible uses of the data, which may include guiding funding sources’ investment in education and juvenile justice systems and other supports as protective factors from youth justice involvement.

This research-to-practice brief identifies strategies that can support caregivers and teachers as they engage with families virtually as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. This family engagement is conducted to support families and children in building positive and goal-oriented relationships. Strategies in this brief include using engaging online lessons to support parent learning, implementing virtual communication to help parents integrate learning in real-life contexts, using technology to offer information and resources to parents more readily, and creating online forums and virtual group meetings. The brief also includes factors that communities may consider in delivering virtual family engagement services.

The U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (ETA) will host a webinar on March 4, 2021 from 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. ET to discuss the uses of CareerOneStop for individuals currently inside correctional facilities who will be returning to the community. The webinar will also cover pathways, tools, and resources to assist individuals with prior criminal records in engaging in employment and training activities. Presenters include representatives from ETA and the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.

This report highlights findings from a process evaluation of the Urban Alliance’s High School Internship Program in Washington, DC, Baltimore, Northern Virginia, and Chicago. The Urban Alliance program model aims to empower economically disadvantaged high school seniors to aspire, work, and succeed. The program provides youth participants with workplace skills training, opportunities for internships to gain work experience, mentorship at the internship site, and coaching support from case managers during youths’ participation in the program as well as for program alumni. The findings of this first of three reports are drawn from interviews, focus groups, and surveys of participating students, case managers, and employers as well as a review of program and secondary data.

The National Association of Workforce Development Professionals will host a webinar on February 23, 2021 at 2:00 p.m. ET to address the changed employer engagement landscape in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The webinar is targeted to workforce development professionals who engage in business services. The webinar’s three key learning objectives include understanding two new ways to engage employers, examining one tool to reach businesses with new messaging, and learning the language that can “hook” a business into partnering. There is a webinar registration fee.