This four-part series is designed to help workforce development practitioners understand the neuroscience behind trauma and resilience and receive actionable steps to mitigate and manage toxic stress and trauma to cultivate a culture of resiliency for staff and organizations. The four guides are entitled: The Brain Science of Trauma & Resilience; Trauma in Workforce Development; Responding to Trauma Triggering in Real Time; and Cultivating a Culture of Resiliency in Organizations.

This podcast features Anne Mosle, Executive Director of the Aspen Institute’s Ascend initiative, where she discusses how community dialogue plays a significant role in restoring trust. The podcast also covers her belief that we must reevaluate how we build social capital, the access to relationships and networks that unlock opportunities. The overall theme of the podcast reflects how listening to people and honoring their lived experiences is the most valuable tool in the pursuit of prosperity and well-being for all families.

A study funded by the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation was conducted to identify strategies to support high-quality facilitation in healthy marriage and relationship education (HMRE) programs for youth. The basis of the study is a formative evaluation of a facilitation skills training curriculum for HMRE program staff at two community-based organizations: Catholic Charities of Wayne County in New York and Youth and Family Services in South Dakota. This report explores the content-related curriculum on the following topics: Managing Energy, Debriefing and Drawing Out Teachable Moments, and Building Trust and Challenging the Comfort Zone. The curriculum and supporting resources are available for download as well as three tip sheets with key lessons from each module of the curriculum.

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.

Many jurisdictions are considering unconditional direct cash transfers (DCTs) to youth and young adults to bolster housing stability, transitions to adulthood, well-being, and racial justice. DCTs offer a promising source of support and a safety net. The benefit of participating in a DCT program, though, is diminished if the payments increase tax obligations or reduce eligibility for public benefits or other financial assistance. Informed by collaborative community engagement with youth experts, local jurisdictions, nonprofits, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers through an interactive webinar series, this toolkit presents in one place the tax, public benefits, and educational aid implications for young people participating in DCT programs. Collaborators in the design of the toolkit also identified strategies to mitigate adverse effects on young people and maximize the positive effects of DCTs on young people’s well-being and investments in their personal goals.

More than 3,000 Family Resource Centers (FRCs) in 36 states and the District of Columbia work with more than 2 million people annually, and because they have emerged organically without dedicated federal funding, they are often described as "America’s best kept secret." FRCs work with families in a strengths-based, multi-generational, family-centered approach to enhance parenting skills, foster the healthy development and well-being of children, youth, and families, prevent child abuse, increase school readiness, connect families to resources, develop parent and community leadership, engage males and fathers, support healthy marital and couples relationships, and promote family economic success.

The National Family Support Network will hold a webinar on December 14, 2022 from 2:30 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. ET and will address the following three questions:

• What are FRCs and how are they networked across the country?
• What does research show about the positive outcomes FRCs have achieved for children and families?
• Why are so many public and private funders at the state, county, city, and community levels choosing to invest in FRCs?

The Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE) and 2M Research will host a webinar on December 13, 2022 from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET which will share lessons learned and practitioner recommendations from the Human Services in Rural Contexts Project. The webinar includes findings drawn from more than 100 interviews with human services staff in rural communities and data on how needs are being met by program services in rural counties.

Apprenticeships are structured work-based training programs that combine classroom instruction with on-the-job learning provided by a mentor at the employer’s worksite. The U.S. Department of Labor under the American Apprenticeship Initiative (AAI) sponsored an evaluation to build evidence about the effectiveness of registered apprenticeship for apprentices and employers and generate lessons for developing and operating apprenticeship programs, particularly in nontraditional occupations (occupations not related to construction). This report describes the characteristics, program experiences (e.g., occupation, wage progression), and post-program employment and earnings outcomes of participants in an AAI-supported apprenticeship or pre-apprenticeship program.

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.

Video recordings of the plenary and concurrent breakout sessions are now available for the Virtual Research and Evaluation Conference on Self-Sufficiency (RECS) 2022, convened by the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation in the Administration for Children and Families, held June 1 - 3, 2022. The conference recordings include sessions on the following topics:

• Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Programs, Policies, and Populations
• Employment and Mobility in the Labor Market
• Youth Well-Being and the Transition to Adulthood
• Strengthening Families, Fatherhood, Marriages, and Relationships
• Evaluating Social Programs, Building Evidence, and Using Data
• Approaches to Alleviate Poverty and Expand Opportunity