Colleges across the United States have invested to develop credential-stacking programs. Their target students are often working adults who don't have the time or the money to get a college degree. These programs allow them to earn a series of credentials over time that can get them to the same place. If used effectively, stackable programs can provide low-income students with a path to the middle class. This RAND resource explains stackable credentials and provides data as well as lessons learned from high-value programs

The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta published a case study that analyzes a workforce development program in Washington, D.C., which was created to help families navigate the loss of government benefits when their employment income increases. The paper frames the discussion around a hypothetical family receiving support from all major federal public assistance programs, including those managed by the Administration for Children and Families that help families with income assistance, child care, and utility payments.

To learn more about workforce supports for system-involved young people, Urban Institute researchers identified programs that were using effective strategies to help system-involved individuals avoid detention or incarceration and find employment. The purpose of the study was to highlight examples of successful partnerships and effective partnership strategies involving community-based workforce service providers, public agencies, and stakeholders. Part of a series using findings from a multiphase study on community-based workforce development programs for youth and young adults ages 16 to 24 involved in the criminal legal system, this brief provides a practitioner perspective on the role strategic partnerships play in supporting workforce programs and the importance of establishing relationships with employers. It highlights lessons learned about engaging with employer partners and recommendations for future policy and practice.

The Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) program helps more than 800,000 people with disabilities obtain, maintain, and advance in employment each year, yet hundreds of millions of dollars in federal VR funding go unspent by state VR agencies. Unspent federal VR funding is problematic because it means that fewer people with disabilities can be served by the VR program. The VR program provides critical support for people with disabilities, and states should use the full funds available to them to maximize its impact. Various barriers such as complex and restrictive program rules, however, limit how states obtain and spend federal VR funding. This Mathematica resource provides solutions to increase states’ spending of federal VR funding.

While some secondary schools incorporate lessons on budgeting, saving, and investing into their curricula, often there is no formal venue to learn about money that is accessible to all communities. For those who experience economic victimization, including individuals who have experienced human trafficking, education and resources may also be needed to address the financial trauma to improve their relationship with money. Economic empowerment programming demystifies financial wellbeing by providing education, tools, and resources for people to attain financial literacy, stability, and professional growth. This Office of Planning, Research and Planning resource addresses strategies for survivor economic empowerment and provides additional resources, including a guide for anti-trafficking service providers.

The flexibility of a county’s workforce is crucial for success. The National Association of Counties will be hosting a webinar on January 18, 2024, from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET, to showcase successful workforce programs in coal and manufacturing communities. This webinar is a collaboration between NACo’s Building Resilient Economies in Coal Communities (BRECC) National Network and Counties for Career Success initiatives.

To learn more about workforce supports for system-involved young people, Urban Institute researchers identified programs that were using effective strategies to help system-involved individuals avoid detention or incarceration and find employment. The purpose of the study was to highlight examples of successful partnerships and effective partnership strategies involving community-based workforce service providers, public agencies, and stakeholders. Part of a series using findings from a multiphase study on community-based workforce development programs for youth and young adults ages 16 to 24 involved in the criminal legal system, this brief details the landscape of funding strategies and sources used by workforce programs, the blended funding approach and site-specific examples of what blending funding allows programs to do, and examples of how funders factor strategic planning and innovation into their funding decisions.

For people with disabilities, the decision to disclose information about a disability can be nuanced and complex. Creating an apprenticeship environment that is welcoming and inclusive for people with disabilities requires an understanding of an array of legal and ethical issues that are at play. This Jobs for the Future brief shares the various topics related to disability disclosure and self-identification, including the legal parameters regarding disclosure and other important matters that must be taken into consideration by apprenticeship sponsors, employers, providers of related technical instruction, and workforce partners, as well as program applicants and apprentices themselves.

Benefit cliffs describe incremental increases in income that result in major, destabilizing losses to critical benefits. The cliffs are a major impediment to families successfully participating in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Employment and Training (E&T) services and transitioning from assistance into family-sustaining wages. Depending on the state and wage, the new job may come with the loss of other benefits like Medicaid or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families as well. This American Public Human Services Assocation brief explores the challenges SNAP E&T participants face during the critical first months after they have obtained unsubsidized employment.

Read part one here.

Latino parents with low incomes were especially hard-hit by COVID-19 pandemic-related closures and disruptions to their jobs and to their childcare arrangements — challenges exacerbated by Hispanic workers’ structural concentration within industries and occupations that offer few benefits and flexibilities needed to respond to childcare disruptions. This Hispanic Research Center brief presents findings on employment patterns among these parents and on workplace flexibilities adopted (or not) by the industries in which they are employed and discusses potential programmatic and policy interventions to support family well-being and childcare needs moving forward.