The National Governors Association (NGA) produced a white paper to outline the challenges persons with disabilities face entering and maintaining employment. Drawn from NGA’s participation in the State Exchange on Employment and Disability (SEED) initiative supported by the U.S. Department of Labor, the white paper also includes strategies as a result of a learning lab in May 2018. Strategies reflect four priority areas: preparing people with disabilities for careers; supporting and retaining employees with disabilities; engaging employers in education and training; and coordinating services and supports across state agencies.

The Office of Family Assistance has published a series of success stories from the HPOG program. Each of the dozen stories reflects the first-person narrative of an HPOG participant, drawn from Tribal and non-Tribal HPOG grantees, who has successfully completed the program and has entered into employment in allied health professions.

OFA PeerTA coordinated a multi-part training series for Tribal TANF programs seeking to improve case management outcomes. The facilitated online training series was delivered to assist frontline staff, client support specialists, lower-level managers, and others who may provide direct services or have direct engagement with participants. The bootcamp also created a small community of learning for participants.

 Webinar Series Details

Overarching Goals for Tribal TANF Programs:

• Enhance the case management skills of Tribal TANF staff to improve employment outcomes;
• Reduce the number of sanctions while improving work participation;
• Develop applicable products and tools to improve case management performance and employment outcomes; and
• Generate continuous dialogue across Tribal TANF programs resulting in long-term peer support and the sharing of best practices that improve employment outcomes

Webinar Topics/Dates: (Note - all times listed are Eastern Time)

• Improving Participant Engagement, Motivation and Participation – February 8, 1:00 – 2:30 p.m.
• Using Motivational Interviewing Techniques in Assessment – March 8, 1:00 – 2:30 p.m.
• Writing Effective, Efficient Case Notes that Support the Plan – May 3, 1:00 – 2:30 p.m.
• Improving Employment Outcomes – June 7, 1:00 – 2:30 p.m.

The Office of Family Assistance held a webinar on “Creating Tribal TANF and WIOA Partnerships to Connect Tribal Families to Employment” on July 20, 2016, from 2:00-3:15 p.m. ET. This webinar provided an opportunity to hear about partnerships between Tribal TANF agencies and local Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) providers. Tribal employment and training agencies often face job placement challenges common to many remote and rural areas – namely, a small pool of employers, few job openings, and limited education and training opportunities in high demand labor areas. For these reasons, it is critical that Tribal TANF participants have the skills necessary to compete for jobs that already exist or are growing within the region. Local WIOA providers can help build the skills of Tribal TANF participants by providing job training and adult education services targeted to in-demand jobs in the region. Speakers from four organizations—Department of Labor, California Indian Manpower Consortium, Southern California Tribal Chairman’s Association, and Cankdeska Cikana Community College—discussed the innovative partnerships they have formed between Tribal TANF and WIOA to help move families toward self-sufficiency.

Speakers included:

• Athena Brown, Division Chief, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, Division of Indian and Native American Programs
• Yvette Yazzie, Pala Site Manager, Southern California Tribal Chairmen’s Association
• Christina Arzate, CIMC Workforce Development Coordinator III, California Indian Manpower Consortium
• Larry D. Anderson, Job Development Specialist, Cankdeska Cikana Community College

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance (OFA) Regions I through IV hosted the OFA Regions I-IV East Coast TANF Directors’ Meeting, Leveraging Partnerships to Help Families Achieve Economic Stability, on July 24-26, 2018 at the Westin Boston Waterfront in Boston, Massachusetts. The meeting convened representatives from TANF programs from Regions I-IV and provided TANF representatives with an opportunity to learn about promising practices, discuss shared challenges faced by TANF programs, and share ideas with peers from other states about how to respond to the needs of low-income families. The meeting also included practitioners and researchers who shared information about their own work, and who looked to TANF representatives and federal partners for future research opportunities. Representatives attended presentations from experts and program administrators, and worked with other states to think of innovative practices during Team Work sessions.

Because American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) families face consistent barriers to employment and repeatedly have the highest unemployment rates in the United States, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation studied subsidized employment programs conducted by Tribal TANF programs. This resulting report found that, overall, subsidized employment programs help participants gain work experience, skills, and training necessary to lower barriers to employment. They also emphasize the variety in regional contexts that can make the transition to unsubsidized employment difficult, particularly in small economies. The eight spotlighted Tribal TANF programs provide examples for practitioners in diverse areas and show how subsidized employment can at the least be a means of temporary income, and can often be a stepping stone toward job experience and economic stability.

The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection is continuing its Youth Employment Success (YES) initiative with a new 2019 cohort. This program aims to improve financial literacy for youth in job readiness programs and is looking for five new programs across the country that are interested in creating and testing tools to help youth better understand their finances. Ultimately, the program goal is to improve socioeconomic self-sufficiency and employment outcomes in youth job programs, as well as develop sustainable tools to serve youth across the country. If selected, the programs will receive access to new tools developed by the Bureau and will also be able to evaluate and make suggestions on the tools. Selection criteria include mission alignment, organizational capacity, target population, willingness to share feedback, and relationships with similar programs. If you think your program and participants would benefit from a tool and training to improve young adult finances, email empowerment@cfpb.gov with a Letter of Interest by November 26, 2018. Other resources for Youth Employment Programs can be found at https://www.consumerfinance.gov/practitioner-resources/resources-youth-employment-programs/.

This infographic from the Aspen Institute outlines seven steps that employers can take to increase their employees’ soft skills, which are necessary for organizational sustainability. These crucial soft skills that lead to organizational success include teamwork, communication, and problem solving. Some of the tips include guidance on how to identify target audiences for soft skill training, how to determine which soft skills are critical for different roles, and how to establish baselines for soft skill competencies.

The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) prepared a toolkit with findings from a multi-year research project covering 28 main ways that the Federal Government supports tribal innovation within workforce development. Also included are four case studies of approaches that some tribes use to address workforce development.

Apprenticeships play an important role in preparing workers for successful and sustainable careers. This set of three tools, created by the U.S. Department of Labor, provides guidance on developing and expanding apprenticeship programs that can engage potential new workers. Within the toolkit are Strategies in Action, which provides examples of how apprenticeship programs can be promoted and address organizational challenges in their design; Talking to Businesses, which gives guidance on how to speak the employers’ language when engaging with potential and participating employers; and a Business Engagement Quick Guide, which outlines three phases of working successfully with employers towards the goal of apprenticeship.