This newsletter is from the What Works Clearinghouse and provides an overview of the New Chance program. The program supports TANF recipients who have dropped out of school through GED preparation, life skill training, parenting programs, childcare assistance, and case management. New Chance was found to be successful in helping participants complete education.

This toolkit was authored by the Council for Labor and Economic Growth, Low Wage Worker Advancement Committee and provides information on how employers can support employees. Employers can often provide work supports to help retain workers by helping workers to build assets, which in turn, reduces employer turnover. Specifically, the Council provides strategies to help employers inform workers of asset building programs in the community.

Sector strategies can help support low-income workers by increasing job readiness and encouraging work attachment. The Aspen Institute authored this report, which provides an overview of innovative sectoral employment strategies that are utilized in workforce development. Sector-based programs can often partner with local employers to further support workers in the workplace.

This report is from the Hard-to-Employ Demonstration and Evaluation Project, which is funded by the Administration for Children and Families and the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Specifically, this report provides information on the program, the research design, and an overview of the four participating programs.

This article is from the Hamilton Project and provides information on how low-wage workers can advance in the labor market. Wage inequality is constantly growing in the U.S. and low-wage workers need additional supports to help close the gap in earnings. Many State and local initiatives can offer training, financial supports, and job placement assistance to low-income workers; however, these programs are often too small to have a substantial effect on low-wage workers as a whole.

Mentoring programs can often provide positive youth development similar to the support a youth receives from caregivers. This issue brief, from the National Human Service Assembly, offers information on how greater family engagement in youth mentoring programs can lead to better outcomes for mentored youth and how mentoring principles be applied to help connect isolated families to resources and supports to achieve self-sufficiency.

The National Governors Association sponsored a meeting in November 2007 on promising practices and evidence-based approaches to help families attain employment, advance to better jobs, and sustain self-sufficiency. This webpage provides an overview of presentations and event sessions from this meeting.

At the request of the Mississippi Department of Human Services, Peer TA sponsored this event to assist participants in improving job retention among TANF participants who have relocated to new areas. The Roundtable’s intent was to address systems and resources for providing services to TANF participants residing in rural areas. This Roundtable included participants from the Mississippi Department of Human Services Regional Offices, and representatives from partner programs in Mississippi, Nevada, North Dakota, and Ohio. Features of the Roundtable included interactive dialogue among participants to facilitate action planning for Mississippi to strategize about next steps for necessary programmatic and policy changes, and opportunities for participants to learn from one another and share ideas.

Through the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Partners for Fragile Families (PFF) demonstration program intended to affect systems change to ultimately improve outcomes for both parents and children in low-income families. Specifically, this report provides data on economic and child support outcomes for the project’s participants.

From the National Center for Children in Poverty, this fact sheet shows the latest data on low-income parents and their employment status. Despite declining average household income, 56 percent of low-income children had at least one parent working full-time and year-round. The data show that this population is more likely to be employed in the service industry and is less likely to receive benefits such as health insurance or paid vacation.