In 2022, the Center for Advancing Policy on Employment for Youth (CAPE-Youth), in collaboration with the White House Office of Public Engagement, hosted a virtual roundtable discussion on “Improving Mental Health Service Delivery for Youth and Young Adults with Marginalized Racial Identities.” The event highlighted how mental health policies can help states promote positive long-term outcomes such as higher employment rates for youth and young adults (Y&YAs), including Y&YAs with disabilities who belong to marginalized racial groups. This CAPE-Youth brief provides a summary of various ideas and strategies participants raised during the roundtable discussion, highlighting:

• Expanding culturally responsive mental health care;
• Increasing access to mental health supports; and
• Embedding mental health programs and supports into workforce systems.

Some of the most dynamic, responsive industry partnerships are developed between rural community colleges and local employers. When colleges, employers, and communities work together to create these place-based opportunities, they can develop workforce education and training programs and career pathways that put students on a path to good jobs, meet the workforce needs of local employers, and improve the economic prosperity of rural communities. This National Skills Coalition report highlights how industry partnerships benefit rural learners and employers alike – and shines a light on the rich variety of rural contexts, state systems, investments, and policies that can help drive and sustain effective partnerships between rural community colleges and local industry.

Evaluations of employment and training programs often use state unemployment insurance (UI) wage records to measure effects on participants’ employment and earnings. However, UI wage records have some constraints, including:

• Missing earnings from certain types of work, such as self-employment, informal “off-the-books” jobs, and employment with the federal government; and
• Not capturing out-of-state work. This MDRC brief examines the implications of relying only on in-state UI wage records to evaluate programs that are designed to increase employment and earnings.

This brief builds on the work of National Evaluation of Welfare-to-Work Strategies, an assessment of a series of programs that were implemented and evaluated in the 1990s, by presenting differences between the National and Oregon-only data sets in employment rate impacts annually through Year 20. It also presents year-by-year differences in earnings impacts, comparing Oregon-only earnings data with data from a broader group of states.

In recognition of Financial Capabilities Month, the Office of Disability Employment Policy’s Employment First Community of Practice (E1st CoP) will be holding a series of webinars on access to Financial Planning for people seeking and maintaining Competitive Integrated Employment (CIE) positions. The series begins on April 24th at 3:00 p.m. ET with the webinar, “Using Ticket to Work to Support Competitive Integrated Employment.” This webinar will help shed light on the benefits of Ticket to Work for the worker and the provider and will discuss how beneficiaries can make the most of the program without feeling burdened by administration, apprehension, and paperwork.

The National Center on Leadership for the Employment and Economic Advancement of People with Disabilities (LEAD Center) will be hosting a Good Jobs Initiative webinar on April 25, 2024 from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET. Attendees will look at the construction industry to learn how inclusive hiring practices – including equitable workforce development pathways like pre-apprenticeship and Registered Apprenticeship programs, as well as labor-management partnerships – have benefited employees with disabilities and their employers in the construction industry.

The Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency-Next Generation (BIAS-NG) project aims to make human services programs work better for the people receiving services by reshaping program processes using lessons from behavioral science. This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation newsletter provides insights from New York and Washington, focusing on improving employment and training services for Temporary Assistance to Needy Families clients.

The Tennessee Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Opportunity Act funds seven grantees to provide services to families with low income, each aimed at improving education, health, and economic outcomes for adults and children. This Urban Institute resource is a baseline scan which describes the demographic and economic context within which the seven pilot programs are operating as of the start of the programs’ implementation. The context described includes demographic information, income measures and poverty rates, employment and education data, safety net program caseloads, and health information. This baseline scan provides information on the circumstances of Tennessee families to support the evaluation of the TANF Opportunity Act pilot programs. The data presented in this baseline report will also serve as a starting point for a data dashboard tracking changes during the pilots.

WorkforceGPS is hosting a webinar on April 23, 2024 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. ET, where participants will hear about the critical role of family engagement in the success of reentry programs for individuals returning to their communities after incarceration. By involving families in the reentry process, programs can create a supportive environment that fosters positive outcomes, such as employment, for returning individuals. Presenters will feature a representative from a reentry employment opportunity funded program, a participant from the program, a family member of the participant, and an employer.