This letter from the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) to its colleagues states that losing a parent or caregiver has become an ongoing tragedy for children and youth caused by the co-occurring COVID-19 and drug overdose crises, as well as increases in suicides and homicides. ACF is committed to partnering with grant recipients and state and local stakeholders to ensure that children, youth, and families who have lost a parent or caregiver are supported and connected with the services and resources they need to find stability again. The letter includes a list of resources and programs such as TANF to support families after parent and caregiver loss.

Nearly 20 million children (almost 1 in 4) live in a home without a resident father. These children are more likely to have social-emotional adjustment problems and failing grades at school, and to become involved in the juvenile justice system. To address the problems that arise from fathers’ physical or psychological absence from children’s lives, the U.S. Congress authorized in 2006 the Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood (HMRF) initiative, allocating $150 million per year to two separate programs: Healthy Marriage (HM) programs to strengthen married and unmarried couple relationships; and Responsible Fatherhood (RF) programs to increase the active engagement of non-residential and residential fathers as parents, partners, and economic providers. While almost all RF programs offer group programs attended and led by men, with a focus on parenting and men’s mental health, this brief presents evidence which shows that fatherhood programs that include both parenting partners and expand the curriculum to cover multiple domains of family functioning not only increase father involvement and collaboration between parents, but also reduce harsh parenting and support children’s development. The brief also illustrates evidence to support a greater integration of RF and HM programs, the use of expanded curricula that cover multiple aspects of family life, and where more attention is to be paid when assessing the impact of these programs on parents and children.

This year celebrates the 85th anniversary of the passing of the National Apprenticeship Act of 1937, which established the Registered Apprenticeship Program. To celebrate National Apprenticeship Week, the Center for Advancing Policy on Employment for Youth (CAPE-Youth) will host a webinar on November 15, 2022 at 4:00 p.m. ET with apprenticeship intermediaries, which are organizations with the capacity, expertise, and network to help businesses successfully create, launch, and expand apprenticeship programs. During the webinar, these organizations will explore the evolution of apprenticeship in general, and for people with disabilities specifically. The webinar will provide a brief overview of inclusive apprenticeships and feature speakers from three to four apprenticeship intermediaries who will discuss their advancement efforts and best practices to ensure apprenticeships are inclusive of youth and young adults with disabilities.

“Concrete support in times of need” is a cornerstone of family well-being and a critical protective factor in the Strengthening Families framework from the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP). CSSP will host a webinar on November 10, 2022 from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET where Clare Anderson and Yasmin Grewal-Kök from Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago will share recent research about how economic stability affects children and families and will illustrate how this research can bolster our efforts to ensure that all families have access to the concrete supports they need to thrive. Other presentations will include updates from CSSP staff and the Children’s Trust Fund Alliance about new resources and opportunities.

Approximately 20,000 young adults in foster care transition to adulthood and independent living each year. A majority of these young people want to pursue postsecondary education, but they are less likely to enroll in postsecondary institutions than their peers who have not interacted with the child welfare system. To address this gap, federal and state programs have been implemented to address barriers and provide supports to pursue a college degree. In 2001, as an amendment to the Chafee Foster Care Independence Act, the Education and Training Voucher (ETV) program became the first federal program aimed to assist young adults in or formerly in foster care with their postsecondary educational needs. This report uses administrative data from 10 states to describe how ETV programs operate, who receives ETV vouchers, how and when they are used, and the educational outcomes for young adults who receive ETVs compared with their peers who do not receive ETVs.

City and community leaders from government, philanthropy, and practice can make a difference in residents’ financial lives. They have the tools, policy and program levers, and decision making power to influence financial well-being at the local level and help narrow the racial wealth gap. This dashboard illustrates financial health and wealth across cities and states and by race and ethnicity, where data are available. Users can search by city or zip code to select a PUMA (Public Use Microdata Area) or area containing no fewer than 100,000 people. Data for each PUMA can be filtered to identify data on: median net worth; percent of residents with delinquent debt; percent of residents who are student loan holders with delinquent student loan debt; percent of low-income households with housing-cost burden; percent of households with at least $2,000 in emergency savings; median credit score; percent of resident who have had a foreclosure in the past two years; and the percent of residents with health insurance coverage.

This report details how states across the country are using flexible State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) to boost income security, particularly for those who face structural barriers to building wealth and income and have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. States have used some of this federal aid to expand income security programs, for example by increasing cash benefits provided through Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), savings accounts for children from low-income families and people with low incomes, and one-time cash payments targeted to those with low incomes. By strengthening and expanding these programs with FRF, states can continue to improve the current and long-term well-being of individuals and families.

Service providers, policymakers, and researchers need to know how likely specific interventions are to improve employment and related outcomes if implemented in a particular setting with clients. In practice, most employment interventions offer a combination of services that are designed to improve labor market outcomes (e.g., employment, earnings, education and training, and public benefit receipt). The Pathways to Work Evidence Clearinghouse has undertaken a series of research syntheses to explore what one can learn by looking across all the data the Pathways Clearinghouse has collected. This report uses an approach that synthesizes relationships across multiple studies to provide new evidence on the likelihood that specific interventions will improve labor market outcomes and which combinations of services are most likely to be effective for different groups of people.

Unprecedented levels of burnout and turnover are an unfortunate reality for many human services organizations today. Agencies are feeling the effects of staffing shortages and a shrinking pool of quality candidates to fill their vacant positions. Solving this crisis will require stakeholders – agencies sharing ideas and best practices, vendors, and consultants – to collaborate with one another. This brief cites examples of how states are employing multi-pronged strategies to address these issues.

This research brief shares findings from new analysis of income data of Black and white households who participate in the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) program, a refundable tax credit that serves as the primary income support for low- and moderate-income families in the United States. The brief notes that because the EITC is conditioned on a household's employment and work hours, its benefits to Black workers and families may be tempered by persistent structural barriers to employment and labor market discrimination. The findings also recognize that take-up of the EITC depends on workers’ awareness of the benefit and the decision to file an income tax return. Community-based organizations and tax assistance programs have an important role in promoting awareness of the EITC and providing tax filing assistance so more eligible families can receive the program’s benefits.