As described in this case statement, TANF and WIOA programs at the Employment Services Centers of Weld County are maximizing resources to serve target populations by sharing a work-based learning team, infrastructure costs, and flexible staff across programs. This collaboration also facilitates the coordination of two-generation and immigrant/refugee services.

The brief is organized into sections on joint service delivery, resource sharing, shared learning, managing collaborative activities, and a special focus on immigrant and refugee populations. Readers may also access links to the state TANF plan and variations in funding for more context and resources. This brief is part of the TANF Works! TANF/WIOA Collaboration Series, through which the Office of Family Assistance’s Integrating Innovative Employment and Economic Stability Strategies (IIEESS) initiative seeks to highlight innovative coordination strategies of TANF and WIOA programs to serve low-income or vulnerable populations.

This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation report reviews the Carreras en Salud program, established by Instituto del Progreso Latino, a nonprofit organization in Chicago, Illinois. This program strives to help low-income Latinos improve their basic skills and enroll in occupational training for Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) and Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) jobs. Evaluation findings show that the program succeeded in engaging and enrolling students and helped them advance to higher-level training and secure employment in the healthcare field.

The Aspen Institute will host a webinar on May 29, 2019 at 3:00 p.m. ET to discuss the Question Bank tool designed to build stronger relationships with retail industry employers. The webinar will also feature practitioner perspectives on how to use the tool as a strategy for worker retention and advancement. Speakers include representatives from the Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership and the Chicago Jobs Council.

This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation report highlights a study comparing the Back to Work (B2W) and Independent Job Search (IJS) programs administered by the New York City Department of Social Services/Human Resources Administration. B2W required daily attendance at the program office and offered a range of group and one-on-one job search services, while IJS program participants were required to attend weekly in-person meetings at the program office. The study examined the level and duration of job search assistance, services received, and job search tools that each program offered and explored the difference in outcomes regarding program participants’ employment, earnings, time to employment, and public assistance.

Using data to inform, create, and administer service provision is the best way to ensure effective programmatic change. On January 31, 2019 at 1:00 p.m. ET, Mathematica will host a webinar for practitioners to explore using administrative data in pre-employment transitional programs. Presenters will showcase new ways to use tools like Microsoft Excel to analyze demographic, geographic, and training characteristics and how to analyze these data to improve vocational rehabilitation services.

A January 9, 2019 webinar will discuss the implementation and outcomes of the Individual Placement and Support-Supported Employment practice for TANF families. This webinar will feature the Project Director for SAMHSA’s Transforming Lives through Supported Employment Program (SEP) in Washington State and a representative from the grant program’s evaluation team.

Skill development and job or educational training are essential tools for low-income or low-skilled workers to increase their labor market prospects and decrease their unemployment rates, so Local Workforce Development Boards (LWDBs) provide these services under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. However, child care barriers can prevent families from fully utilizing LWDB resources. The Urban Institute surveyed LWDBs that actively support child care needs to create a recommended list of best practices and administrative structures in the field. Some findings include working with local government and partners and utilizing government agencies and grants, while common difficulties included sufficient funding and high demand for a limited child care market.

This report presents findings from an OPRE evaluation of New York City’s Young Adult Internship Program (YAIP) that strove to provide subsidized employment and support services for disconnected youth. Implementation and short-term impact studies were previously conducted, so this report details longer term impacts and performs a cost analysis. While the program initially led to strong employment and earnings gains for participants, the results faded after 30 months and participants did not transition into education, employment, military, or training programs at higher rates than the control group. At $5,431 per participant, this intervention is on the lower end of the spectrum of similar programs, which can range from $4,200 to $10,000 per group member. The authors concluded that “light-touch employment and personal development services” are insufficient to translate into sustained employment and earning outcomes, and that future programs should pay more attention to transitioning their participants from subsidized work to long-term unsubsidized employment.

This detailed report by the American Enterprise Institute reviews the skills gap in the labor market today and underlines the inefficiencies in coordination between the U.S. Department of Labor and programs seeking to train workers. Because there are more jobs for middle-skill workers than there are people to fill them, the Federal Government created programs like the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) to upskill workers into these positions for the benefit of the workers and the economy. The report explains ways to improve workforce development initiatives by clarifying the program to grantees, improving coordination between college financial aid officers and American Job Center caseworkers, making requirements for data collection and reporting more flexible and easier to track, finding other sources of state and federal funding for WIOA beneficiaries, partnering with private businesses to offer training, and allowing training providers to transfer their credentials between states. These initiatives will streamline the workforce development process and allow for fewer inefficiencies and higher quality training.