This toolkit provides leaders overseeing frontline staff, managers, or other unit-based roles with guidance on assessing their staff’s potential risk of compassion fatigue. The toolkit identifies a five-step process for administering a compassion fatigue assessment, and includes a compassion fatigue discussion guide and a compassion fatigue literature guide.

This blogpost addresses several topics related to compassion fatigue. It defines and identifies symptoms of compassion fatigue compared to burnout and primary traumatic stress. The blogpost also graphically illustrates the compassion fatigue process, offers tips for managing compassion fatigue, and presents the ABC’s of Prevention — Awareness, Balance, and Connections.

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and other human services programs faced unprecedented challenges managing the COVID-19 global pandemic. They were tasked with serving America’s most vulnerable families as they navigated difficult economic circumstances and public health risks. TANF program staff reported that they and the families they serve were showing signs of stress, including lack of focus, fatigue, agitation, and a sense of hopelessness. In response to these crises, TANF leaders adapted in new and innovative ways to support staff and families. This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation brief captures how TANF programs adapted to promote staff and participant wellness and the innovative adaptations that leaders might consider adopting or sustaining moving forward.

This program snapshot examines how KEEP Fathers Engaged, a South Carolina fatherhood program, adapted to better engage fathers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The snapshot also highlights strategies this program and others used during the pandemic that may help strengthen service delivery going forward. These strategies include emphasizing retention of fathers in programming over recruiting new participants, adjusting program services to meet new needs that arose during the pandemic, and expanding the program’s reach by leveraging opportunities created by virtual service delivery.

This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation report summarizes the design and implementation of LIFT, a coaching intervention in four cities that aims to help participants identify and attain goals related to self-sufficiency. It describes LIFT’s goals, the target population and program participants, the implementation of coaching, and other services available to program participants. The report's findings are of interest to practitioners and policymakers considering implementing or supporting coaching interventions and offers important context for understanding and interpreting the findings from the impact study.

This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation brief discusses the use of video recordings of interactions between program staff and participants as a data source for an implementation study of four employment coaching interventions for people with low incomes. The brief describes the process for video recording coaching sessions and analyzing the videos, provides examples of what was learned from the data, and offers lessons for researchers considering using video recordings as a data source in future studies.

This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation brief describes the experiences of three organizations that adapted existing interventions to provide remote work readiness activities or education and training services during the COVID-19 pandemic. It summarizes common challenges that made it difficult for participants to engage in remote services, adaptations made by the organizations, and considerations for remote service delivery after the pandemic. The brief draws upon information gathered from an Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training (I-BEST) site in Des Moines, Washington, Project Quality Employment Through Skills Training (QUEST) in San Antonio, Texas, and a Wisconsin Regional Training Partnerships (WRTP) site in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, with MEF Associates and the Urban Institute, are conducting this study to better understand financial capability interventions delivered in the context of employment and training (E&T) programs serving low-income individuals.

Research links financial capability to important outcomes for low-income households, but financial capability levels are low, on average, among low-income individuals. Financial capability interventions, such as financial education, coaching, and counseling, intend to improve economic outcomes by building financial skills, knowledge, and self-efficacy, as well as expanding access to resources and opportunities to promote positive financial behaviors. E&T programs provide opportunities to deliver these interventions, but there is currently little evidence on the effectiveness of this channel.

The study aims to build more evidence for policymakers and practitioners about the extent, forms, and practices of incorporating financial capability interventions into E&T programs serving low-income adult populations. The study also aims to help establish a basis for research and evaluation in this area.

This report identifies barriers and opportunities that exist for older workers accessing online programs, with a focus on their digital skill levels. The report analyzes 2017 Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies Survey data, as well as American Community Survey data to understand how older workers’ poverty status and access to broadband, internet, and computers and other devices is associated with digital skill levels. Report findings are also complemented by information collected during interviews with leaders of programs to support digital skill training for older adults.

A year after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of individuals remained out of work. This report presents data on labor market weakness and describes how the COVID-19 recession has exacerbated inequality and how the threat of long-term unemployment particularly impacts people of color. This report makes the case for a permanent subsidized employment program to respond to short-term needs and support disadvantaged workers even in economically better times. It highlights research on the benefits of subsidized employment for program participants and communities. It also highlights lessons learned from the TANF Emergency Fund, enacted during the Great Recession, and the value of subsidized employment in hard economic times as a means to recover from the COVID-19 economic downturn.