This Urban Institute study documents the spatial mismatch between where hourly workers live and where the jobs are. In addition to maps that illustrate the issue in Columbus, Ohio and San Francisco, California, this study also presents data to identify the prevalence of the geographical divide throughout the country. Economists suggest that spatial mismatches can lead to higher unemployment rates and prolonged joblessness for those with limited access to transportation across geographical regions. The analysis concludes with successful strategies that some cities and regions have implemented to address spatial mismatch.

This Mathematica report follows a 36-month evaluation of the Linking to Employment Activities Pre-Release (LEAP) grants, which the U.S. Department of Labor awarded to 20 local workforce development boards. The grants were made to test methods of establishing jail-based American Job Centers (AJCs) to support incarcerated persons with employment services for successful reintegration. The report provides a descriptive implementation analysis of the strategies that the grantees identified as well as design challenges in this environment.

This Annie E. Casey Foundation blogpost features lessons from Maryland MENTOR to illustrate how to improve the quality and quantity of mentoring programs. Also mentioned are projects that Maryland MENTOR has initiated to increase the number of mentors, including convening town halls, building professional development skills for mentors, and creating a database to connect volunteers with young people looking for mentors. While this organization’s scope is limited to Maryland, some findings noted in the blogpost can be used to help grow and support mentoring programs nationally.

The Office of Family Assistance (OFA) presents a set of 14 videos which profile participants who completed training programs and have moved into economic independence from public assistance to employment. These success stories demonstrate that OFA programs are making a meaningful difference in people’s lives across the country.

This U.S. Department of Labor-sponsored webinar will be convened on March 7, 2019, 12 noon to 1:30 p.m. ET and will present the requirements and process for state agencies to request a waiver from Title I Wagner-Peyser regulations. The webinar will provide guidance on how states can prepare and develop quality waiver requests for review and approval. Speakers will include representatives from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration and the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry.

This Office of Family Assistance-sponsored webinar on February 26, 2019 discussed the complexities of engaging two-parent families in TANF, and featured strategies to improve employment outcomes through relationship education. Representatives from the Oklahoma Department of Human Services, Insight Policy Research, Public Strategies and the Urban Institute participated.

This National Skills Coalition issue brief outlines effective industry partnerships for work-based learning that are designed to meet both business and worker needs. Four case studies are presented in addition to lessons about work-based learning and the need for partnership with employers to align workforce, education, and human service systems; these case studies cover models in Georgia (health care apprenticeships), Oregon (work-based learning), Texas (women in construction trades), and Indiana (advanced manufacturing).

This issue brief from the Council of State Governments’ National Reentry Resource Center is a self-assessment tool with which programs can assess their delivery of integrated reentry and employment interventions for citizens returning from incarceration. This tool focuses on helping reentry practitioners improve the capacity of their programming and services to reduce the likelihood of their clients’ return to incarceration and to increase long-term job retention.

This Jobs for the Future report profiles the Opportunity Works program, a national effort to create postsecondary education and career pathways for over 2,000 out-of-school and out-of-work youth. The research in this report identifies four strategies for program success: place community-based organizations at the center, locate the “sweet spot” of a guiding model, provide excellent programming, and plan for program sustainability from the beginning.

This recent Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation report reviews the implementation of the Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) 2.0 program. The report examines how the 32 grantees in this funding round developed their five-year annual performance projections; performance metrics data are used and interpreted to develop and revise performance outcomes for successive years of program implementation.