The Center for Advancing Policy on Employment for Youth (CAPE-Youth) seeks input on best practices to improve transition outcomes for youth and young adults with disabilities. CAPE-Youth, with funding support from the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Disability Employment Policies, is launching a national study on “Youth and Adult Systems Collaboration.” Research from this study will cover best practices, challenges, and strategies for improving interagency collaboration and service coordination to improve transition outcomes for youth and young adults with disabilities. Input is sought from supervisors and direct service providers working on behalf of state and local-level government agencies. Lessons learned from the study will be used to develop technical assistance and professional development tools and resources supporting state-level interagency collaboration and best practices of service coordination. Please indicate interest in the study here. For more information on the project, please contact the CAPE-Youth team at info@capeyouth.org.

The integrated service delivery (ISD) approach aims to assist individuals challenged by economic instability in accessing services to attain self-sufficiency. Using the ISD, organizations in the Working Families Success Network (WFSN) strive to meet participants’ needs by providing services in the areas of employment and career advancement, finance and asset-building, and income enhancements and work supports. Researchers conducted a survey of 71 WFSN organizations to identify promising practices for ISD implementation and found that goal setting among participants might support their progression to self-sufficiency. This brief identifies four promising strategies that support goal setting and help connect participants to services.

This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation brief reviews changes in the healthcare workforce, especially for Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) related occupations, during the first seven months of the COVID-19 pandemic from January through September 2020. More than half of HPOG participants train for Certified Nursing Assistant, Home Health and Personal Care Aide, Licensed Practical Nurse/Licensed Vocational Nurse, or Registered Nurse occupations. During the first four months of the pandemic, healthcare sector employment decreased over 9 percent but recovered about 60 percent of the losses through September 2020. The brief can support HPOG and healthcare workforce stakeholders when interpreting future impact evaluation analyses results or investing in future healthcare workforce programs.

As part of its Leading with Evidence series, the Annie E. Casey Foundation will host a webinar on September 9, 2021 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. ET to discuss how youth programs strive to improve by engaging their participants. The webinar examines data collection in the Latinos in Action (LIA) program, an initiative which builds college and career skills for youth, and how this data is used for continuous improvement. Representatives from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Latinos in Action, and Hello Insight (a data platform used by LIA) will present.

This report identifies the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on food insecurity, housing, and employment hardships. Data tables illustrate the difficulties in accessing enough food, increased inability to make timely rent or mortgage payments, challenges in meeting household expenses, and the concentration of job losses in low-wage industries. Comparative state data on these hardships is also presented.

The U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (ETA) will host a webinar on August 19, 2021 from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. ET to discuss the top ten tools available on CareerOneStop. The webinar will provide guidance on job searching and finding job openings, navigating career options for job seekers returning back to a previous career or changing careers, and connecting job seekers to specialized resources they may need when returning to work. Representatives from the ETA and the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development will present and moderate this webinar.

In April 2020, the Baltimore City Health Department, the Mayor’s Office of Employment Development (MOED), and other officials worked together to address the sudden loss of jobs that occurred due to the COVID-19 pandemic by developing the Baltimore Health Corps (BHC), a transitional jobs program for unemployed and underemployed city residents. BHC provides unemployed residents with paid jobs as care coordinators and contact tracers. Supported by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Administration for Children and Families, and the Office of Family Assistance’s Project IMPROVE, Mathematica worked with MOED using the Learn, Innovate, Improve framework to help BHC employees successfully transition to the regular labor market when their paid positions end. This brief features the MOED/Mathematica partnership, including its accomplishments, ongoing challenges, and next steps.

This report presents interim findings of a national random assignment evaluation of the Family-Self Sufficiency (FSS) program which is implemented in households receiving Housing Choice Vouchers through 700 public housing agencies. FSS consists of two elements: case managers who work with participants to develop individualized self-sufficiency plans, and the creation of an interest-bearing escrow account to support participants’ asset development. The report reviews implementation of the FSS program, program participants’ engagement, and the impacts on labor force participation and government benefits receipt.

The Mathematica Center for Studying Disability Policy will host a webinar on August 24, 2021 from noon to 1:30 p.m. ET, focusing on lessons learned from Vermont’s Linking Learning to Careers initiative. This initiative creates evidence-based practices on work-based learning for youth – a crucial strategy to improve career readiness. A discussion will be held with program leaders, transition team members, technical assistance providers, and evaluators. Additionally, youth program participants will share their experiences.

The American Public Human Services Association and the National Association of Welfare Research Statistics will host a hybrid (in-person and virtual learning) conference from August 22 to August 25, 2021 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The conference will bring together policy, practice, research, and various programs to advance the collective goal of achieving economic mobility and well-being for everyone. Workshops are being developed to help health and human service leaders, policymakers, and researchers in developing human services programs through collaboration, integration, modernization, and guidance on effectively monitoring quality control and performance management. A registration fee is required.