The Knowledge Works initiative from the Office of Child Support Services helps child support agencies implement or enhance a noncustodial parent employment program by highlighting the work of successful programs in other jurisdictions. This compendium of resources can help assess programs, plan, implement, and determine funding sources to develop child support-led noncustodial parent employment programs.

This compendium includes overviews of existing model programs; planning tools, policy resources, and funding guidance; resources that show “What Works”; sample documents, forms, and templates; and assistance with establishing a noncustodial parent employment program.

WorkForce GPS is hosting a virtual event on June 18, 2024, from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET. Presenters from South Carolina and Massachusetts will discuss their implementation strategies of bringing services to rural workers and employers, which has long been a challenge in the workforce development system.

Registered apprenticeship programs are industry-vetted and approved by either the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Apprenticeship (OA) or a federally recognized State Apprenticeship Agency (SAA) to ensure they meet criteria to maintain quality. This Urban Institute brief explores differences in the states’ apprenticeship approval timelines, number of programs registered, and how the occupations of registered programs vary by registration agency. Additionally, it explores differences between OA states and two types of SAA states: those in which the state agency has sole approval authority and those in which apprenticeship councils can approve programs.

On May 31, 2024, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) announced a proposed rule to give state child support programs the flexibility to use federal funding to provide employment and training services for eligible noncustodial parents. Providing employment and training services to unemployed and underemployed parents who have child support obligations has proven to benefit children and their parents. These types of programs result in increased employment rates and earnings as well as the amount, number, and regularity of child support payments. This ACF press announcement explains how the proposed rule would allow state child support programs to use federal funding for services such as skills assessments, occupational training, and job placement. The deadline to submit comments via Regulations.gov is July 30, 2024.

Description: The National Association of Workforce Development Professionals will be hosting a four-part Summer Learning on Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to Enhance Workforce Organizations, Productivity and Programs. Each session will feature practical knowledge, step-by-step implementation strategies, case studies, guest speakers and breakout room sessions.

1. Introduction to Artificial Intelligence and Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality in Workforce Development will take place on June 27, 2024 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. CT;
2. Enhancing Workforce Productivity with Artificial Intelligence and Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality will take place on July 25, 2024 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. CT;
3. Using Artificial Intelligence and Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality for Immersive Customer and Employee Experiences will take place on August 29, 2024 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. CT; and
4. Strategies for Integrating Artificial Intelligence and Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality Into Career Development will take place on September 26, 2024 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. CT.

There is a fee for participation for each session.

MDRC partnered with JPMorgan Chase to promote continual improvement among their Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) grantee organizations through research. SYEPs are a workforce development model predicated on promoting socioeconomic advancement for young people ages 14 to 24 who are disconnected from school or the labor market. MDRC collected data in the form of interviews and metrics aggregated and interviewed six SYEP providers to share specific insights about a particular program component—soft-skills training. “Soft skills” refer to the general habits and competencies that make for an effective employee, such as arriving at work on time, cooperating with coworkers, taking and giving direction, communicating clearly, dressing appropriately for the workplace, and so forth. This MDRC brief presents findings that showcase ways that soft-skills training, as a workforce development intervention, can put young people on the path to high-paying jobs and socioeconomic advancement.

This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation report presents the plan for evaluating the impacts of the Pathways for Advancing Careers and Education project and the first round of Health Profession Opportunity Grants on key outcomes nine years after random assignment into the program.

The purpose of this resource is to document the study approach and publicly commit to specified outcomes in hypothesis testing and an estimation approach prior to inspecting treatment-control differences on newly collected data. It describes the operationalization of outcome measures, including their source data. It refers to prior documents for data, measures, and methods previously established for the evaluation.

Nearly 83% of individuals in the United States have experienced some form of trauma in their lifetime. Employees’ response to trauma may manifest in the workplace in various ways. When left unaddressed, it can lead to poor performance, absenteeism and burnout. This Office on Trafficking in Persons factsheet provides tips, strategies, and resources to support staff at all organizational levels in creating and sustaining a trauma-informed workplace.

As part of the Building Evidence on Employment Strategies project, researchers conducted virtual interviews from November 2021 to April 2022 with staff members at ten workforce programs to learn how they were using technology to adapt their services during the pandemic. Most of the organizations used a hybrid model to blend in-person and virtual service delivery. This MDRC publication examines five key adaptations of the programs made to accommodate the new hiring context.