This brief examines the Accelerating Opportunity initiative that began in 2011, which helps adults with low basic skills obtain well-paying jobs through increasing their credentials. It reviews the implementation, impact, and cost benefits evaluations of the program in Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, and Louisiana. It showed promising gains for low-skilled adults in the area of education, but earnings impacts were mixed.

This report examines evidence on the Valley Initiative for Development and Advancement, which is a program that connects low-income students and local employers. The initiative helps participants earn a living wage, and employers find skilled workers. The program was effective at increasing full time college enrollment and future reports will identify gains for participants in employment and earnings.

Wonderopolis is an educational website developed by the National Center for Families Learning. Each day, a “wonder of the day” is posted, and visitors learn about the topic. The site encourages natural curiosity, imagination, and discovery in a variety of educational topics and subjects. The content on the site is purposefully aligned with Common Core State Standards as well as other national education metrics. In addition, the site offers extensions that are in the form of a game, to engage children even more.

Toyota Family Trails is a web site that was developed by a partnership between Toyota and the National Center for Families Learning. It encourages families to learn together and parents to be their child’s first teacher. Families share their outdoor adventures and life lessons through pictures and blog style stories. The site also provides resources and activities designed to encourage parents and children to go outside to learn and explore together.

This report from MDRC, funded through OPRE, is a case study of low-income job seekers in San Francisco. The report shares findings and results from an evaluation of the STEP Forward program, which offers interviews with private sector employers at job fairs. It also offers subsidies for employers who use the program. Among other findings, the results indicated that program participants were more likely to be employed in higher quality and higher paying jobs than the control group.

ETA is excited to announce the launch of a national cohort of states focusing on partnership of WIOA Titles 1 & 3, TANF Employment & Training and SNAP Employment & Training agencies and programs. This is a prestigious opportunity to work with your peers from across the country in an organized setting to tackle the challenges faced by states in leveraging funding and resources and integrating services—and explore models to develop an action plan to help advance your goals. Both states that consider themselves “leaders” and “learners” are encouraged to apply! This will be a highly engaging, peer learning cohort.

For more information, to request and submit applications, please contact cohorts@mahernet.com. Applications due by January 22, 2018.

Social capital refers to the resources and support that people can access by virtue of their networks – from family, friends, and neighbors, to teachers, colleagues, and social services staff. Greater social capital is associated with greater mobility and wellbeing, through access to information, support, and reinforcement of positive norms. It has also been associated with greater resilience, the capacity to adapt positively to risk or adversity. Research indicates that organizations can be a source for helping individuals build social capital through opportunities for peer networking and assuming leadership roles, which may heighten motivation to persist in achieving education and employment goals (Sabol & Chase-Lansdale, 2014). OFA sponsored a webinar that explored how TANF and other social service programs can be a source to help participants build social capital that will support their journey to self-sufficiency.

This new report, developed out of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, is part of a larger website called the “Good Jobs Project.” The overall project looks at good jobs by industry and occupation, while this report focuses on the trends of available employment across the country, state by state, for those without a bachelor’s degree. It also highlights the shift from blue collar to skilled service industry for this population.