This report identifies barriers and opportunities that exist for older workers accessing online programs, with a focus on their digital skill levels. The report analyzes 2017 Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies Survey data, as well as American Community Survey data to understand how older workers’ poverty status and access to broadband, internet, and computers and other devices is associated with digital skill levels. Report findings are also complemented by information collected during interviews with leaders of programs to support digital skill training for older adults.

This video webinar recording examines ways to provide adults with access to digital technologies and opportunities for digital skill development. Presenters Dr. Jen Vanek, Director of Digital Learning and Research at the EdTEch Center at World Education, and Dr. Kathy Harris, Director of the Literacy, Language, & Technology Research group at Portland State University, share their research in digital literacy and technology integration in adult basic skills education. Additionally, they review research in the areas of integrating technology in the classroom to support digital literacies, and programmatic strategies supporting technology integration. The presenters also highlight areas of needed research.

Digital Resilience in the American Workforce (DRAW) is a new initiative from Jobs for the Future and World Education, with support from the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education. DRAW better prepares adult education practitioners who support learners who struggle to fully engage in tasks that demand use of digital technologies. This article highlights DRAW, which provides flexible, evidence-based, and piloted strategies and materials that help teachers build the digital literacy skills and digital resilience of adult learners. An invitation to complete a questionnaire is included which allows respondents to share insights, experiences, and expertise with digital literacy resources. Responses will be compiled in a Landscape Scan to be released in summer 2022.

A year after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of individuals remained out of work. This report presents data on labor market weakness and describes how the COVID-19 recession has exacerbated inequality and how the threat of long-term unemployment particularly impacts people of color. This report makes the case for a permanent subsidized employment program to respond to short-term needs and support disadvantaged workers even in economically better times. It highlights research on the benefits of subsidized employment for program participants and communities. It also highlights lessons learned from the TANF Emergency Fund, enacted during the Great Recession, and the value of subsidized employment in hard economic times as a means to recover from the COVID-19 economic downturn.

This blogpost identifies research on the skills adults need to effectively navigate digital spaces and what educators can do to support adult learning to build digital skills. Topics covered include: understanding graphics, digital interfaces, and online reproduction skills; reading online and comprehending digital texts; the importance of real-time thinking, social, and emotional skills; and ways to support adult digital literacy.

Governor Chris Sununu and the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) recently released "Helping Business Thrive and Families Prosper", a paper on the impact of the “Cliff Effect” on New Hampshire’s families and employers. The paper examines how these “benefits cliffs” keep families from climbing up and out of poverty and into self-sufficiency, the resulting workforce challenges for employers, and action steps for policymakers, employers, and other stakeholders to work collectively to end the Cliff Effect.

The U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration has issued a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) for the YouthBuild program. The program funds organizations to provide a pre-apprenticeship program model that encompasses education, occupational skills training, leadership development, and high-quality post-program placement opportunities to opportunity youth between the ages of 16 and 24 who left high school prior to graduation and also have other risk factors. The YouthBuild program simultaneously addresses multiple core issues important to youth in low-income communities: affordable housing, leadership development, education, and employment opportunities in in-demand industries and apprenticeship pathways. Applications are due by January 21, 2022.

Jobs for the Future will host a virtual event on November 16, 2021 from 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET which will discuss the promise of apprenticeship for in-school and out-of-school youth. Participants will learn how apprenticeship is being advanced at the federal and state level, how states are using those opportunities to create and expand youth apprenticeship programs, and how partnerships help to build and sustain Registered Apprenticeship for young people.

The National Association of Workforce Development Professionals will host a webinar on October 26, 2021 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. CT to take a deeper look into case management for the young adult population. The webinar will offer innovative and hands-on approaches for developing this segment of the emerging workforce. Highlights will include: making beneficial interactions (not just checking off a box); engaging your customers; and developing intentional programming. Webinar presenters are Kim Meadows of the Northeast Georgia Regional Commission and Jon Ryce of Action, Inc. There is a fee for participation.

NPR, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health conducted a five-part polling series in July – August 2020 to examine the most serious health and financial problems facing households across America prior to the expiration of federal coronavirus support programs, with an aim to identify vulnerable populations in urgent need of government help or charitable aid. The findings detailed in this report raise important concerns about disproportionate impacts of the coronavirus outbreak reported by Latino, Black, and Native American households beyond the elevated health risks they face battling COVID-19. In particular, these findings show these racial/ethnic minority households may have limited financial resources to weather long-term financial and health effects of the coronavirus outbreak, as large shares have already depleted their savings and are having major problems paying for basic costs of living, including food, rent, and medical care.