This interactive map explores the 32 states that operate child support-led employment programs for noncustodial parents. This resource highlights available programs in each of these states, including which states use TANF funding or offer TANF & Child Support Enforcement programs. It also offers program operation details to learn how 14 different states operate their employment programs.

The child support program serves parents in the context of their community. Child support agencies work with community-based organizations to help meet parent needs,and enhance the success of families in child support programs. This compendium reflects the diversity of child support partnerships across the country; it includes resources and fact sheets on employment, reentry, family violence, responsible fatherhood, homelessness, parental education, and preventing the need for child support services by addressing the importance of being emotionally and financially prepared to support a child.

Given the potential to build a more equitable economy and provide opportunities for upward mobility, apprenticeships have become a key tool in California’s workforce development toolbox. In July 2022, California’s Division of Apprenticeship Standards (DAS) and the Labor & Workforce Development Agency released a five-point plan of action to aid the expansion of the number of apprentices. One point called for expanding youth apprenticeship opportunities and recommended the state convene stakeholders to develop definitions and quality standards to support apprenticeship pilots, provide technical assistance, and take steps to support better alignment of funding. This New America blogpost highlights the creation of the California Youth Apprenticeship Committee and the California Youth Apprenticeship Grant Program.

Many of the reasons that people with barriers to employment will not show up on the first day of work, quit jobs, or get fired are present with them before they start employment programs. Work brings these reasons to the surface. The Radar Approach to Job Retention model works by providing an early warning system that identifies potential firing and quitting problems before people go to work. It is also an early identification system for building on the retention strengths that everyone brings to the employment process. The National Association of Workforce Development Professionals will host a virtual session on September 26, 2023 at 1:00 p.m. CDT that will highlight various aspects of the approach, including integrating retention into every program component so that it works like radar spotting and addressing the early warning signs of job loss as well as surfacing and enhancing assets to retention. There is a registration fee for participation.

Subsidized employment is a policy tool that provides subsidized job opportunities, on-the-job training, and wraparound support. It serves as an engine for economic opportunity, stronger labor markets, and healthier communities. Subsidized employment can mitigate structural barriers to work, such as racial discrimination in the labor market, and be adapted and scaled to meet specific worker, employer, and community needs. This Georgetown Law’s Center on Poverty and Inequality report reviews a half-century of evidence on subsidized employment’s power to increase employment and incomes, reduce poverty, and ensure a more inclusive economy for everyone.

Long-simmering workforce shortages, intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic, could undermine job growth, and the manufacturing sector serves as a prime example. Leading up to the pandemic, an estimated 500,000 manufacturing job openings were unfilled. For some legacy manufacturing regions, difficulties with worker recruitment and retention are especially pronounced. This Upjohn brief summarizes how centering workforce development within the U.S. Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) can be the institutional fix by documenting the workforce- and workplace-enhancing strategies that MEP centers have adopted since their inception in the mid-1990s.

MDRC’s Evidence First podcast features experts—program administrators, policymakers, and researchers—talking about the best evidence available on education and social programs that serve people with low incomes. In this episode, MDRC’s Leigh Parise talks with Paul Fain, an education and workforce journalist, and Betsy Tessler, a senior researcher at MDRC. Nondegree credentials are typically certificates or licenses earned in a short period of time that confer some kind of professional or industry-recognized skill. They are not new to the world of higher education, but they have received a lot of attention in the last few years as a “faster” way to connect students to employment in comparison to earning a traditional college degree.

On-the-job (OJT) training has been proven to be the most effective way to have dislocated workers seek reemployment in today's workforce. WorkforceGPS will host a virtual session on August 16, 2023 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET that will highlight best practices and testimonials on OJT effectiveness from Minnesota’s workforce development system staff, employers, and past participants.

The National Association of Workforce Development Professionals will host a virtual academy from August 28 to 30, 2023, offering a series of eight 1-hour sessions that will cover actionable strategies that attendees can leverage throughout the entire customer relationship, from initial intake through the job interview. Each session includes concrete techniques and actionable exercises that attendees can immediately put into practice with their customers. There is a registration fee for participation.

The prevalence of non-degree credentials (NDCs) in the U.S. workforce is growing, as more businesses look to skills-based hiring and more education and training programs emerge to meet those needs. NDCs increase the number of skilled workers and allow them to demonstrate learned competencies and skills. This National Skills Coalition report encourages state policymakers to invest in quality NDCs; shares work with states to define, measure, and track quality; and offers takeaways for how to advance quality assurance so that policymakers feel confident in investing in non-degree credentials, students have confidence in their training programs, and employers know which programs effectively prepare people for careers.