This research brief from the Center for Financial Security at the University of Wisconsin-Madison provides a thorough overview of the impact of domestic violence on the economic well-being of women. Domestic violence negatively impacts women in a variety of ways, many of which have financial and employment-related implications. For TANF stakeholders wishing to understand how domestic violence directly impacts the employment and financial security of a victim, this brief provides a condensed review of published research on the topic.

This article provides a thorough overview of the existing research related to how poor economic situations contribute to intimate partner violence. The authors explain how low socio-economic status, unemployment, career stress, and poverty are associated with rates and severity of violence. Research is also provided that shows what mitigates these factors. This document would be helpful to TANF stakeholders interested in learning how participation in TANF can help survivors of violence and why poverty can exacerbate violence.

In response to the technical assistance and program needs of States throughout the Southeast, the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance, Region IV, and the United States Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, Region IIII, hosted a technical assistance meeting from July 24-26, 2012 in Atlanta, Georgia. This meeting allowed member States to work alongside their peers to outline specific challenges faced by TANF and WIA agencies and the families they serve and posit plausible peer-based solutions for moving low-income and working families toward economic self-sufficiency. State TANF and WIA directors and program staff also discussed ways to promote interagency collaboration. Topics included: engaging veterans and military families in the TANF and WIA systems; leveraging partnerships to strengthen subsidized employment and transitional job initiatives; developing demand-driven career pathways for low-income individuals and TANF participants; maximizing WIA youth and TANF funds to support summer youth employment initiatives; and improving skill-building for low-income individuals and TANF participants with barriers to employment.

The Economic Mobility Corporation released a new report titled, "Stimulating Opportunity: An Evaluation of ARRA-Funded Subsidized Employment Programs." Major findings from this report include: subsidized employment programs can have a significant impact on low-income job seekers' employment and earnings, employers created jobs that would not have existed otherwise, the long-term unemployed experienced large employment and earnings gained, and the subsidized programs also benefited participants with significant barriers to employment. The report continues to demonstrate the value-add and need for solutions such as subsidized employment and transitional jobs in communities.

The U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics released an economic news release on the summer youth labor force for the summer of 2013. From April to July 2013, the number of employed youth 16 to 24 years old increased by 2.1 million to 19.7 million. This year, the share of young people employed in July was 50.7 percent. Unemployment among youth rose by 692,000 from April to July 2013, compared with an increase of 836,000 for the same period in 2012.

The Foundation for Reentry and Employment Project released the Integrated Reentry and Employment Strategies white paper, which provides guidance to policymakers, agency and program administrators, and practitioners working in the reentry and workforce development fields on how to develop collaborative projects and maximize their investments aimed at shared public safety and workforce development goals.

This U.S. Employment and Training Administration (ETA) Webinar showed individuals how to use workforce data to identify growing and in-demand jobs, to determine which of them are good jobs, and to ascertain what preparatory education and training are needed to qualify for them. The webinar identifies some of the best multi-purpose e-tools that incorporate workforce data, job ads, and other job-related information in one place -- including a new resource that explains what kind of information is available from different e-tools.

The Employment Training Administration's Disability Employment Initiative developed hypothetical case scenarios and video vignettes that help Disability Resource Coordinators and other project staff connect strategies for serving persons with disabilities to overarching customer service strategies. The vignettes touch upon real-life situations that staff faces with their customers such as: How can enrollment in Workforce Investment Act services assist in providing the full range of services to their customers?

In June 2012, the PeerTA Network collaborated with Tanana Chiefs Conference (TCC) to learn about their subsidized employment program and their efforts around data collection. The Tanana Chiefs Conference Tribal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program is called the Athabascan Self-Sufficiency Assistance Partnership (ASAP), which provides services to the Tribal members of 37 federally recognized Tribes in Alaska. These Tribal members face several challenges living primarily in very isolated rural communities with limited roads, infrastructure, and jobs.
 

Operating a Tribal TANF Subsidized Employment Program: This podcast features Tanana Chiefs' subsidized employment program, which was initially started with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding and brought more than 160 people on the welfare rolls and gave them the opportunity to attain employment. TCC's success convinced the State of Alaska to expand its use of State funds and invest them to continue the program.

On behalf of The U.S. Department of Labor, the Social Policy Research Associates and AHA Consulting released a toolkit that describes Oklahoma's Workforce System Certification process – a Governor-backed initiative to encourage voluntary collaboration across partners to create a shared vision for local economic needs and strategies to meet them. This toolkit presents six useful steps: system building, standards and measures, the review process, a self-assessment tool, certification application, and lessons learned from three pilot areas.