The U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (ETA) will host a webinar on January 8, 2021 from 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET which will discuss their process for exploring vendor capacity to develop a state level holistic case management system across Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) partner programs. WIOA requires that American Job Center (AJC) partners support aligning technology and data systems to improve service delivery. Stakeholders, including workforce practitioners, local and state government representatives, ETA program operations professionals, and information technology professionals from AJC partners, are invited to participate in the discussion and ask questions. Presenters will include the Administrator and the Enterprise Program Advisor of the Office of Workforce Investment at the ETA.

This Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) publication includes the agency’s “National Guidelines for Behavioral Health Crisis Care: Best Practice Toolkit” as well as papers covering crisis services. The toolkit highlights clinical and health services research, an assessment of program practices nationally, and best practice approaches. The accompanying papers cover a range of issues pertaining to crisis services, including overall service delivery, behavioral health crisis care for homeless populations, the use of technology addressing substance use, legal issues impacting crisis services, financing crisis services, diverse populations, improving child and adolescent crisis systems, crisis services in rural communities, and the role of law enforcement.

REDF will host a free virtual Lab for Employment Social Enterprise Leaders from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. PT on December 11, 2020, January 15, 2021, and February 19, 2021 (participants will have an opportunity to sign up for one of these three event dates). Geared toward leaders of employment social enterprises, this lab will offer an overview of REDF’s Accelerator program and will help participants assess their interest in applying for this program when the application cycle resumes in February 2021. The lab will also provide leaders with networking opportunities and will support them in setting goals and identifying stakeholder needs.

This issue brief explores the need for expanding the early care and education workforce. The brief highlights the T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood® Initiative in 20 states, which provides scholarships to teachers and child care providers interested in improving their formal professional credentials. The brief also discusses approaches to increase the wages and benefits that early care and education providers can offer their staff. There is also a section on improving working conditions in the field that includes coaching and professional development for teachers. In addition, the brief offers support to providers in sustaining their child care businesses with curricula on fiscal management, marketing, and personnel management.

This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation report, a summary of the Job Search Assistance (JSA) Strategies Evaluation, compares the effectiveness of different approaches for finding and keeping jobs among individuals applying for or receiving assistance under TANF. The report reviews findings from three sites: Genesee and Wayne Counties in Michigan; New York City; and Sacramento County, California. In each of these sites, TANF applicants or recipients were randomly assigned to one of two programs that provided employment-related services. The study measured outcome differences (in public benefit receipt, employment, and earnings) between people assigned to each of the two programs in each site. The report’s findings address three key questions regarding the frequency, mode, and content of the employment-related services for the TANF recipients in the two programs; the two programs’ impacts on employment and earnings; and the effects on receipt of TANF and SNAP due to participation in the two programs.

This new webinar series entitled Moving Upstream: Transforming Systems to Advance Well-Being will examine structural barriers to and opportunities for moving to a coordinated system of services to support and strengthen families. The first webinar in the series will occur on January 14, 2021 from 1:15 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. ET. The webinar will examine how housing and economic mobility programs can coordinate to promote child and family well-being. Presenters will include representatives from Mercy Housing, Casey Family Services, Compass Working Capital, and Abt Associates.

The U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (ETA) will host a webinar on December 14, 2020 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. ET which will cover the agency’s vision for implementation of the Training and Employment Guidance Letter (TEGL) 07-20. The TEGL describes the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) requirement that individuals who are basic skills deficient, low-income, or public assistance recipients must receive priority when receiving individualized career services training under the WIOA Adult program. ETA staff will highlight the requirements in TEGL 07-20, ETA’s method of monitoring these requirements using performance data, and how other resources can be leveraged to support WIOA adult priority populations.

This guidebook intends to support agency and organization leaders in setting goals and creating progress measures for their 2Gen approaches. The guidebook starts with definitions and a history of the 2Gen approach with lessons learned that inform current “2Gen 2.0” initiatives. The guidebook presents the 2Gen Organizational Change Measurement Framework, which reflects an organization’s culture and climate, engagement partnerships, knowledge and skills, infrastructure, and resources. The guidebook also includes resources and components to build capacity for change for each framework element.

This dataset features FY2019 kinship caregiving profiles for all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Data used in these profiles were retrieved from the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect. Some of the data featured includes the race and ethnicity of children placed with a relative foster family, age of the children placed with a relative foster family, and funding availability and spending for guardianship by state in SFY2016. Along with the profile is a companion guide that outlines how the state profiles can be used, a description of each data source, how to interpret the data, and an overview of the current state of child welfare in the United States.

This Office of Family Assistance dataset includes financial data tables, interactive maps, and national and state pie charts to illustrate the uses of TANF and Maintenance-of-Effort funds and transfers in FY2019. The charts break down expenditures for TANF-allowable purposes into 15 categories, including basic assistance; work, education, and training activities; child care; refundable tax credits (state Earned Income Tax Credit programs); child welfare services; pre-K/Head Start; out-of-wedlock pregnancy prevention; non-recurrent short term benefits; work supports and supportive services (transportation, mental health/substance abuse counseling, domestic violence services, and financial education); services for children and youth (home visiting, mentoring, and after school enrichment); fatherhood and two-parent family programs; transfers to Social Services Block Grant programs; and program management for TANF administration.