The integrated service delivery (ISD) approach aims to assist individuals challenged by economic instability in accessing services to attain self-sufficiency. Using the ISD, organizations in the Working Families Success Network (WFSN) strive to meet participants’ needs by providing services in the areas of employment and career advancement, finance and asset-building, and income enhancements and work supports. Researchers conducted a survey of 71 WFSN organizations to identify promising practices for ISD implementation and found that goal setting among participants might support their progression to self-sufficiency. This brief identifies four promising strategies that support goal setting and help connect participants to services.

As part of its Leading with Evidence series, the Annie E. Casey Foundation will host a webinar on September 9, 2021 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. ET to discuss how youth programs strive to improve by engaging their participants. The webinar examines data collection in the Latinos in Action (LIA) program, an initiative which builds college and career skills for youth, and how this data is used for continuous improvement. Representatives from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Latinos in Action, and Hello Insight (a data platform used by LIA) will present.

This report identifies the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on food insecurity, housing, and employment hardships. Data tables illustrate the difficulties in accessing enough food, increased inability to make timely rent or mortgage payments, challenges in meeting household expenses, and the concentration of job losses in low-wage industries. Comparative state data on these hardships is also presented.

This research article examined the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact in relation to parental perceived stress and child abuse potential. Participants included 183 parents with a child under the age of 18 years in the western United States. Various tests and analyses were performed to assess the relationships among demographic characteristics, COVID-19 and mental health risk factors, protective factors, parental perceived stress, and child abuse potential.

This brief identifies factors contributing to poor mental health and substance use outcomes among children during the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on groups of children who are particularly at risk and barriers to accessing mental health care. While data has been limited for this population, the brief draws upon the National Survey of Children’s Health, the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, and surveys conducted during the pandemic.

Hosted in collaboration with Mental Health America and the GlobalMentalHealth@Harvard Initiative, this May 11, 2021 webinar focused on Peer Support and Youth Mental Health. In this 60-minute dialogue, Satvik Sethi of Runaway App, Martin Rafferty and Tia Barnes of Youth Era, and Dr. Cindy Liu of Harvard Medical School discussed the current challenges and successes in youth mental health, ways to empower youth, and tools to support them.

This collection from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Minority Health includes resources from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Department of Justice, and other stakeholders to support emotional well-being and recovery. The resources target two sets of populations: Individuals, Families, and Communities; and Crisis Counseling Providers, Law Enforcement, and Other Social Service Professionals.

This guide supports parents, rescue workers, and members of the larger community as they help children begin to recover from traumatic events and overcome those experiences. The guide includes the definition of trauma; common responses to trauma among young children (ages 5 and younger), children (ages 6 to 11), and adolescents (ages 12 to 17); and action steps when someone in crisis needs help.

The Brother, You’re on My Mind toolkit provides Omega Psi Phi Fraternity chapters and partners with materials to educate fellow fraternity brothers and community members on depression and stress in African American men. The toolkit can be used by all to plan and implement community education events and strategically build community partnerships to meet initiative goals.

This set of resources presents data and research highlighting how food insufficiency increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Included are data visualizations on food insufficiency rates by race/ethnicity, mapping the average rate of food insufficiency, and comparative state rates of food insufficiency calculated from the Census Household Pulse Survey. Also featured are research briefs on hunger, poverty, and health during the pandemic and its impact on identified special populations.