This discussion paper on a case study from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta studies the concept of benefits cliffs, which happen when earnings are offset by the loss of public benefits, resulting in a financial disadvantage to working. The study highlights a fictional young mother of two and suggests that career advancement can result in financial gain over a lifetime. Two policy interventions are discussed: a gradual child care subsidy phaseout, and transitional public benefits with asset mapping. The paper concludes that it is important for those helping low-income individuals to recognize not only their short-term barriers, but also the return to investment that career advancement can create.

This Urban Institute report examines the professional development and workforce development systems in place for home visiting staff funded under the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Program. The report includes analysis of a national survey of all MIECHV-funded local implementing agencies (LIAs) and 26 LIAs. The survey assesses why home visitors enter, stay in, or leave the home visiting field; their backgrounds and qualifications needed to enter the field; and their work environments and opportunities for advancement.

The Office of Family Assistance hosted a webinar on Wednesday, February 26 entitled Improving Employment Outcomes for TANF Recipients with Substance Use Disorders. The webinar outlined employment-focused strategies that can contribute to, rather than inhibit, substance use treatment and featured experts with backgrounds in research and practice on working with TANF recipients who have substance use disorders. Speakers discussed national trends in substance use disorders and strategies to move those with substance use disorders towards treatment, employment, and economic stability.

Speakers included:

• Dennis Romero, Regional Administrator, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

• Dr. Christine Cauffield, Chief Executive Officer, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Managing Entity, Lutheran Services Florida

• Kim Griswold Releford, University of Kentucky, Opioid Use Disorder Project, Targeted Assessment Program

This video by the U.S. Department of Education’s Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) offers a historical perspective of RSA’s Vocational Rehabilitation program, which provides services and support to persons with disabilities to maximize their employment. The video is part of the program’s 100th year celebration.

This Annie E. Casey Foundation blogpost discusses a new Foundation report entitled The Center for Working Families (CWF) Framework. This CWF framework or approach strives to assist low-income families in achieving greater financial security by integrating workforce development and employment services, income, work supports, financial literacy education, and coaching. The report highlights CWF in various programmatic and institutional settings across the U.S., as well as how the Foundation has helped develop the framework and how organizations have applied this integrated service delivery approach.

This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation-funded report evaluates the effectiveness of the Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Justice Involved Individuals Seeking Employment (CBI-Emp) curriculum to address economic stability under the Building Bridges and Bonds (B3) study. Economic stability is one of the three approaches within the Responsible Fatherhood (RF) grant program. A process study assessed how three RF program grantees implemented CBI-Emp, which assists individuals with recent justice involvement in identifying and changing thinking patterns and actions that prevent positive outcomes. Under the study, participating fathers were randomly selected and offered either their respective organization’s services or CBI-Emp with the range of services offered by their organization; these interventions’ costs and impacts were evaluated.

This video covers highlights from the “Thriving Communities for a Better Southern Nevada” meeting that was held in Las Vegas, Nevada on January 10, 2020. This event, hosted by the Office of Family Assistance (OFA) and Las Vegas-Clark County, Nevada, brought together a local planning team, community leaders, and practitioners who discussed constructive measures to help individuals overcome barriers to employment and improve their families’ economic well-being and mobility.

This Urban Institute blogpost profiles Kentucky’s Justice to Journeyman program, a prison apprenticeship program. The blogpost notes a key feature of the model: starting classroom occupational instruction (for jobs not available at correctional facilities) at the beginning of the apprenticeship and on-the-job training (OJT) upon the apprentice’s release. This classroom instruction and OJT leads to placement for jobs as welders, electricians, and telecommunications workers. Research cited in the blogpost notes that conventional prison-based apprenticeship programs offer occupational training in jobs typically found in correctional facilities, such as groundskeeping, cleaning, and cooking, which effectively limits economic prospects for returning citizens.