Self-regulation skills are the skills needed to finish tasks, stay organized, and control emotions. These skills are important for succeeding in work, school, and other aspects of life. But recent research suggests that the stresses and uncertainty of poverty can be overwhelming, leaving less mental bandwidth for effective development and use of self-regulation skills. For this reason, some TANF and other employment programs that serve adults with low incomes have begun to work on strengthening self-regulation skills by implementing employment coaching. This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation brief shares promising strategies and lessons learned that human services staff might adopt to help program participants use and strengthen self-regulation skills.

CareerOneStop is a comprehensive career, education, and job search website. It also offers GetMyFuture, a specialized website for youth and young adults ages 14-24, where tools and information are available to help youth find information to achieve their employment and career goals. This Workforce GPS webinar is on January 18, 2024 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. ET and will offer participants tools and resources to help youth explore career ideas, gain insight into their work values and interests, learn about effective resume writing, job search methods, and more. Presenters will also demonstrate how to save career assessments and job searches, and how youth can share them with their counselors.

From its design, apprenticeship was meant to be a pathway for youth to gain skills and employment. However, with time, the system has morphed and the typical apprentice in California is closer to the age of 30 than to 16. Apprenticeship has largely ceased to be a pathway of choice for young people to access careers and has instead turned into an opportunity that’s only pursued after other roads have turned into dead ends. This New America blogpost looks at California’s Master Plan for Career Education. This plan will provide an opportunity for the state to make clear what it means for apprenticeship to serve young people in California.

Economic empowerment is a critical need for many people who have experienced human trafficking and is increasingly being recognized by social service providers. Economic empowerment is a multifaceted concept and there is much to learn about what it is, why it matters, and how people can achieve it. Informed by the expertise of people with lived experience of human trafficking and anti-trafficking professionals who represent organizations providing economic empowerment programming, this Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation infographic defines key terms related to economic well-being and opportunity, specifically in the context of recovery from human trafficking victimization. These definitions can help enhance the anti-trafficking field’s shared understanding of the needs of this population. The infographic is intended to be read alongside the full guide, Economic Empowerment for People Who Have Experienced Human Trafficking: A Guide for Anti-Trafficking Providers.

Research suggests that the stresses and uncertainty of poverty can be overwhelming, leaving less mental bandwidth for effective development and use of self-regulation skills, including those that are critical in finding and maintaining employment. It also suggests that coaching can promote self-regulation skills and hence may be a way to help adults with low incomes become economically secure. For this reason, some Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and other employment programs that serve adults with low incomes have been implementing employment coaching. These four impact briefs by the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation present estimates of impacts of coaching on participants’ self-regulation skills, employment, earnings, self-sufficiency, and other measures of personal and family well-being at 9 or 12 months after study enrollment.

In today’s rapidly evolving job market, becoming and staying relevant requires targeted training with specialized skills to align with top industries seeking talent. The National Association of Workforce Development Professionals (NAWDP) is hosting a webinar on January 24, 2024 at 1:00 p.m. CT where their experts will guide attendees through a virtual career training certification prep, ed2go. Presenters will share how ed2go enables NAWDP’s partners to target and train according to local demand, why industry-recognized credentials help candidates stand out, and how attendees can implement a similar course program for their organization.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Competency Model Clearinghouse will be hosting a webinar on December 13, 2023 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. ET where they will present new tools and innovations designed to empower the public workforce system, businesses, non-profits, human resources professionals, and career counselors to identify key competencies needed across industries. Attendees will learn how to effectively use the tools to engage industries and strengthen sector strategies.

The Pathways to Work Evidence Clearinghouse is a website funded by the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE). The website summarizes decades of research on programs and interventions that aim to improve employment outcomes for people with low incomes. In this Clearinghouse video, OPRE’s Clare DiSalvo talks with former state TANF administrator Ella Gifford-Hawkins about how TANF and other program providers can use the Clearinghouse to make evidence-informed decisions as they design, adapt, and seek to strengthen their programs and improve the odds that the job seekers they serve will succeed in the labor market.

The field of workforce development helps job seekers enter and advance in the workforce, and it helps employers improve their hiring, training, and advancement practices. To optimize local workforce systems, practitioners must dismantle silos and create coherent systems and services that balance the needs of both workers and businesses. The Aspen Institute’s Economic Opportunities Program is hosting “Workforce Leadership Café,” a series of conversations with leaders who are contributing their talents and insights to this field of practice. Guests will include sponsors of local Workforce Leadership Academies and others who are exploring talent development and job quality in workforce development.

Remaining dates include:
• December 21, 2023: Workforce Solutions Alamo
• January 18, 2024: United Way of Central Maryland + Scranton Area Community Foundation
• February 1, 2024: The Greater Memphis Chamber
• February 15, 2024: Ohio Workforce Coalition and New York Association for Training and Development Professionals

LifeSet is an intensive case management program that prepares young people in foster care for the transition to adulthood. LifeSet specialists meet weekly with youth to provide individualized, intensive services as youth work towards self-defined goals in areas such as housing, employment, education, and money management. This Chapin Hall report presents findings from the Phase II evaluation of LifeSet’s implementation by three child services providers in Illinois. Phase II evaluation activities included focus groups with LifeSet specialists; interviews with LifeSet supervisors, licensed program experts, and young people who participated in LifeSet; and an analysis of both Department of Children and Family Services administrative data and GuideTree program data from Youth Villages.