The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance (OFA) held the 2021 Regions IV-VIII Tribal TANF and NEW Program Virtual Meeting entitled Moving Forward: Weaving Stories of Perseverance During COVID-19 on March 16-18, 2021. This virtual event brought together Tribal TANF and Native Employment Works (NEW) program representatives from OFA Regions IV-VIII and focused on how programs can best address the needs of families during the pandemic and beyond. The meeting included sessions on promising practices for innovation from Tribal TANF and NEW programs, ideas for program adaptations, strategies for customer engagement, and discussions on broadband access and technology.

The National Association of Workforce Development Professionals (NAWDP) will host its 37th Annual Conference as a virtual event from May 17 to May 19, 2021. Conference workshops are categorized in five tracks: Excelling in a Virtual Environment; Strategies for Workforce Professional Self-Care; Fiscal Responsibility and Oversight; Diversity and Inclusion; and Educating and Training Our Future Workforce. The conference will offer opportunities for networking and enhancing professional development. There is a registration fee for participation.

These 2020 National Indian and Native American Employment and Training Conference Western Regional Peer-to-Peer Training Conference presentations cover several areas which are relevant to tribal workforce development programs and operations. Topics included: DOL ETA 9130 Reports; Enhancing Participant Outcome under WIOA Performance Indicators; Stackable Credentials; SMART Training; Tribal Workforce Development, Self-Determination, Innovation, Policy Recommendations; and Your Money, Your Goals: New Financial Empowerment Tools for Workforce Development. The presentations also include profiles of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Indian and Native American Programs and the Cook Inlet Tribal Council.

This session from the December 2020 OFA Regions IX and X Virtual Tribal TANF Technical Assistance Meeting examined strategies and tools for assessing employment trends and included presentations on designing employment partnerships adapted to economic realities in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Speakers included: Theresa Lujan, the Indian and Native American Employment Rights Program (INAERP); Evette Cullen, Nevada Department of Health and Human Services; Mike Yoder, Nevada Department of Health and Human Services; and Isla Young, Governor’s Office of Workforce Innovation (OWINN), State of Nevada.

This American Indian College Fund guidebook, intended to support Native American college students in developing career pathways, includes culturally relevant resources. The guidebook features tips and inspiring stories on job seeking, resumé preparation, cover letters, references, appropriate dress, internships, enhancing soft skills, personal branding, and interviewing. The guidebook also identifies career information about skilled trades, job opportunities in Indian Country, pursuing graduate school, networking, and joining associations.

This fact sheet from the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Indian and Native American Programs highlights the more than $7 million in spending under the Cherokee Nation’s Respond, Recover and Rebuild spending relief plan, which is designed to increase career opportunities in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The fact sheet discusses allocations for the tribe’s summer youth employment; a tribal training program known as “day work;” a work experience program; and a tuition assistance program to support careers in health care, construction, truck driving, welding, and other fields. The fact sheet also notes that the tribe is creating a career ladder program in telemedicine and health IT, expanding its online GED programs, and supporting its trade clients with technology needs.

Hybrid and competency-based approaches to Registered Apprenticeship programs are becoming increasingly popular and can be useful to participants who are enrolled in secondary education. This self-paced online course intends to support workforce development professionals, employers, and apprenticeship sponsors in planning, designing, and implementing a hybrid or competency-based Registered Apprenticeship program for youth or adults. Key elements of the course include guidance on how to build a plan, find program samples and create a work process, develop a related technical instruction (RTI) outline, create a wage scale, design a communications plan and identify success measures, and build competency assessments.

A prevailing belief suggests that having a job brings financial security, though many workers hold jobs that do not support financial stability. WorkRise and the Aspen Institute’s Financial Security Program (FSP) will host a webinar on April 28, 2021 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. ET on research covering workers’ financial health and on building pathways to support financial security and economic mobility. The webinar will also present a new report explaining how work arrangements relate to worker benefit provisions and how work and benefits can determine whether workers can attain financial security. The report examines the disparity in financial security outcomes among low- and moderate-income workers, particularly for persons of color, women, and younger workers. Speakers include representatives of the Aspen Institute’s Financial Security Program, Institute for the Future, the Plousha Moore Group, WorkRise, and the Urban Institute.

This research-to-practice brief presents a new model for job search assistance based on delivering virtual job search services in New Jersey. The brief identifies how job search assistance must be understood in the context of what does and does not work for unemployed job seekers and explores the principles behind effective job search interventions. It also illustrates the components of a three-tiered job search model: the need for physical and psychological safety and stability; the foundations of a sustainable job search to create maintainable patterns and schedules for persons whose lives are in disarray as a result of COVID; and the creation of new job search skills to enhance the job seeker’s motivation, persistence, and self-efficacy.

This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation report reviews the creation of integrated employment services and treatment programs for persons with opioid and substance use disorders (SUDs) and covers the emerging evidence on this approach’s effectiveness in improving participant employment outcomes. Employment service delivery as part of SUD treatment intends to support individuals in their attainment of sustained recovery and improved economic well-being. The report was prepared as part of the Building Evidence on Employment Strategies for Low-Income Families (BEES) project which evaluates programs that combine employment services with SUD treatment and recovery services. Through these evaluations, BEES strives to increase awareness of effective interventions that support low-income individuals in finding jobs and advancing in the labor market.