The Office of Family Assistance has awarded and overseen federal funding for four cohorts of healthy marriage (HM) and responsible fatherhood (RF) grant programs (2006-2011, 2011-2015, 2015-2020, and 2020-2025). The HM grantees promote healthy marriage and relationships through eight legislatively authorized activities, such as marriage and relationship education and development of skills for job and career advancement. RF grantees’ legislatively authorized activities promote responsible parenting, healthy marriage, and economic stability. This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation brief shares what was learned after visits with grantees about factors that have helped or hindered successful implementation of the 2015-2020 cohort of grantees, focusing on approaches to staffing programs and working with partners.

This toolkit is designed to help states create career pathways systems that integrate and expand partnerships between state human service agencies and community and technical college systems and institutions so that more people have the opportunity to train for a quality career. The toolkit includes recommendations for how SNAP E&T and TANF can support high-quality career pathways system development and partnerships with community colleges. It also illustrates model career pathways frameworks from Arkansas and Oregon.

This Digital Skills Discussion Guide helps workforce providers learn how employers are integrating technology and upskilling workers. The Guide facilitates supporting workers to adapt to new ways of interacting with their work environments during this digital transformation. It is based on conversations held with large, national employers from a range of industry sectors during 2020 and 2021.

Do you lead, work in, or know of an employment and training program that integrates financial capability interventions into its services? Financial capability interventions include:

• Financial education
• Financial coaching
• Financial counseling
• Credit counseling
• Or access to emergency savings programs, safe and affordable financial products, asset-building programs, or tax preparation assistance

MEF Associates and its subcontractor, the Urban Institute, in partnership with the OPRE, invite nominations of employment and training programs to participate in a survey to better understand how financial capability interventions are delivered in the context of employment and training (E&T) programs serving adults with low incomes. This survey is being conducted as part of the Integrating Financial Capability and Employment Services project.

Self-nominations or nominations of others are both welcome. Nominations can be sent to IntegratedFinCap@mefassociates.com. Please include the name of the program and contact information, if known.

The U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration will host a webinar on February 15, 2022 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. ET to discuss CareerOneStop, a comprehensive career, education, and job search website. CareerOneStop offers career assessment tools that focus on interests, skills, work values, or previous job experience. This webinar will go in-depth on each tool and explore how to use them on a path to career exploration.

This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation brief describes the effectiveness of programs identified by the Pathways Clearinghouse that use employment coaching. The brief summarizes these programs and their impacts on employment, earnings, and related outcomes for people with low incomes. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) administrators, policymakers, researchers, and stakeholders can apply the evidence to questions and contexts that matter to them.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020, researchers were already conducting a text message survey of service workers who had children. With the start of lockdowns and business closures, the researchers pivoted to start asking these workers about job and income loss, challenges that stemmed from school and childcare shifts, their mental health, and whether they were able to access government benefits. This podcast presents an overview of survey findings and discusses how what researchers learned fits within the larger context of low-wage work in the United States. The podcast is hosted by Anna Gassman Pines, Duke University, and reflects research that she and Elizabeth Ananat, Barnard College, conducted.

The Hartford, Connecticut Generation Work local partnership aims to elevate the importance of positive youth development as a strategy for employment and training organizations across sectors to better support young people’s employment readiness and success. This brief examines how the Hartford Generation Work partnership adapted its efforts to engage young adults more authentically by establishing a youth advisory council called the Young Legends to help shape its work. The brief also focuses on the benefits and challenges of the partnership’s efforts, offers examples of ways in which Young Legends has elevated young people’s voices, and describes how the Young Legends’ input has influenced action and change.

The Aspen Institute will host a webinar fireside chat on January 10, 2022 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. ET on the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s (EDA’s) newly launched American Rescue Plan Program and how it, alongside other Federal investment opportunities, represents a once in a lifetime opportunity to directly benefit previously underserved communities affected by COVID-19. Participants will learn how cities are working together to take advantage of these investment opportunities; understand steps communities can take now to learn, prepare, and apply; and learn about ways the EDA is looking to invest in underserved communities. The conversation features Alejandra Y. Castillo, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development. Bruce Katz, Co-Founder and Inaugural Executive Director for Nowak Metro Finance Lab, Drexel University, will moderate.

The MyGoals for Employment Success program provides a unique coaching model that concentrates on developing executive skills—like emotional control, stress tolerance, time management, and organization. These skills help participants successfully navigate the labor market, acquire occupational credentials, perform well at a job, and advance at work. This podcast includes interviews with two MyGoals coaches, Shirley McGee from the Houston Housing Authority and Ashley Coston from the Housing Authority of Baltimore, who speak about challenges that participants and coaches face and benefits the program offers to participants.