Every year, over 600,000 individuals are released from our nation's prisons. Individuals who have limited job opportunities are more likely to be rearrested. The U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration will host a webinar on June 13, 2023 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. ET which will discuss innovative strategies on ways to engage and support returning citizens to return to the workforce. The webinar will highlight programs which assist with the challenges they experience and offer the support required for success. Presenters will speak about re-entry and present state and local programs that help prepare the population pre-release. Outreach strategies will also be covered that engage returning citizens post-release to ensure quality jobs are obtained, in turn, reducing recidivism.

Youth Thrive, a research-informed framework on youth well-being and an action-oriented initiative of the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP), is designed to better support healthy development and promote well-being for youth with partners across the country. For the past eight years, Youth Thrive has focused on strategies to improve systems that serve youth who are most marginalized in society, specifically focusing on child welfare and juvenile justice systems and the service system that supports youth who are at-risk of homelessness. CSSP will host a webinar on June 8, 2023 from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET to discuss new resources from Youth Thrive which organizations can use to help young people build their protective and promotive factors. Participants will learn about resources such as new graphics and animated videos, a practice blueprint with many tools and guides, an interactive professional development workshop for staff on social connections, and an instructional video on the Youth Thrive Self-Assessment Survey.

Learn and Earn to Achieve Potential (LEAP)™ is an Annie E. Casey Foundation initiative which creates supportive career and education pathways for youth, ages 14–25, who have experienced foster care, criminal justice system involvement, or homelessness. This webpage discusses how participants in the 2023 National LEAP Convening reflected on their collective work in three areas: LEAP’s support of education and career trajectories for young people who have experienced public systems; how strategic partnerships with public systems can promote and expand the reach of equitable career and education pathways; and the role of young adults in cultivating equitable pathways to school and work. Key takeaways from the convening reflect the following lessons: youth engagement is essential, scale strategies for today and tomorrow, and embrace innovative partnerships.

This CareerOneStop webpage provides information and guidance for individuals with criminal records seeking to expunge or seal their records to improve their chances of finding employment. The webpage explains the difference between expungement and sealing, provides information on eligibility requirements, and offers step-by-step instructions on how to begin the expungement process. Additionally, the page includes links to resources for finding legal assistance and other helpful tools for ex-offenders.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation will host a webinar on March 16, 2023 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. ET, to help youth justice staff better serve Native American youth involved in the justice system. The webinar will address the reasons behind the higher risk of system involvement for Native American youth, the need for support and treatment for historical, intergenerational, and contemporary trauma, and the importance of identifying and working with Native nations. Participants will learn about a successful Native nation diversion program and have the opportunity to request more information on supporting Native youth.

Responsible Fatherhood (RF) grantees seek to help fathers be the parent, provider, and partner they want to be. Evaluations can help grantees improve services and better support families by examining what is working well and what is not. In the 2015 RF grantee cohort funded by the Office of Family Assistance, 40 RF grantees served fathers or couples in the community or fathers reentering the community after incarceration. Fifteen of those grantees conducted local evaluations, and this brief highlights selected results from these local evaluations. The brief was developed as part of the Building Usage, Improvement, and Learning with Data in Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood Programs project.

This information brief draws from research on the impacts of parental incarceration on children and families. It also offers suggestions on ways that fatherhood programs can work in partnership with correctional agencies and schools or other community service providers to provide support for incarcerated fathers, their children, and their families. A set of resources is included at the end of the brief.

Youth involved in both the child welfare and juvenile justice systems — sometimes referred to as crossover, dually-involved, dually-adjudicated, or dual-system youth — require a special focus. An intentional approach is needed because involvement in both systems is associated with higher risks for mental health, educational, and vocational challenges, higher rates of recidivism, longer stays in detention, and poorer placement stability and permanency outcomes. This blogpost illustrates the Crossover Youth Practice Model (CYPM) to address the needs of this population. It outlines the three phases of implementing the CYPM by identifying policies, programs, and practices that will enhance how a community supports crossover youth. More than 120 counties in 23 states have implemented or are in the process of implementing the CYPM as of 2022; the blogpost references reports on lessons learned in using this approach in Harris County, Texas, eastern Idaho, and Los Angeles County, California.

In 2018, change agents within the Camden County (New Jersey) Department of Corrections introduced a five-pronged community engagement strategy to reduce the use of jail and improve reentry outcomes for people released from incarceration. Central to this strategy are the County’s NuEntry Opportunity Specialists, previously incarcerated individuals who serve as credible messengers to people released from incarceration and who work to reduce the stigma of incarceration through community education and outreach. This case study describes Camden County’s community engagement strategy and examines its implementation and reported impact. Lessons and recommendations derived from implementation of the county’s community engagement strategy and its sustainability efforts are also discussed.

Successful reintegration into society following engagement with the criminal justice system depends on being able to meet basic needs including those for food, shelter, and medical care, as well as having access to employment and training programs. According to this brief, TANF and SNAP are critical programs that help people meet their basic needs. However, people who have been incarcerated usually face significant challenges and are frequently disqualified from receiving benefits from these programs. Public assistance such as TANF and SNAP consistently reduces recidivism, while banning access to assistance has been linked to increases in recidivism. Lifting the ban on safety net supports reduces material hardship for formerly incarcerated people, who are exceedingly paid low earnings, and also helps their families. The brief includes a discussion of which states have lifted or modified the ban and highlights one state that had previously lifted the ban and then partially reinstated it.