This comprehensive dataset from the University of Kentucky’s Center for Poverty Research profiles state-level data on every state, reflecting numbers, rates, amounts, and/or percentages of population; employed and unemployed individuals; three food insecurity levels; personal income; low-income uninsured children; and recipients receiving workers’ compensation, AFDC/TANF, SNAP, SSI, Medicaid, and EITC credits from 1980 to 2017. This dataset was updated in May 2019 to reflect 2017 in this longitudinal data collection that assembles information from multiple sources into one place.

This Casey Family Programs issue brief looks at the use of peer mentors (“parent partners”) who work with parents entering in and engaging with the child welfare system. These parent partners have already encountered and worked with the child welfare system themselves, and the mentoring that they offer can encourage and instill hope for parents initially interacting with the system. The brief outlines these parent partner programs’ benefits and program research evaluation findings, and provides guidance on how these programs are structured and funded. It also provides brief summaries of three parent partner programs: Parents Anonymous^®, the Kentucky Sobriety Treatment and Recovery Team (START) Program, and Iowa’s Parent Partner Program.

American Job Centers in Southern and Northern Nevada are integrating TANF and WIOA services to connect more work-eligible participants to education, training, and employment opportunities. To streamline and expand service delivery, the American Job Centers have implemented a common referral process and co-located TANF and WIOA staff. Nevada is also designing an integrated data system to improve cross-program tracking and service coordination.

Sections of the brief focus on joint service delivery, resource sharing, and shared learning. Readers may also access links to the state TANF plan and funding information for more context and resources. This brief is part of the TANF Works! TANF/WIOA Collaboration Series, through which the Office of Family Assistance’s Integrating Innovative Employment and Economic Stability Strategies (IIEESS) initiative seeks to highlight innovative coordination strategies of TANF and WIOA programs to serve low-income or vulnerable populations.

TANF and WIOA programs in Tulare County, California are working together to coordinate employment services for CalWORKs (TANF) and work-eligible clients. Strategies include co-enrollment in programs—including WIOA career services, TANF supportive services, and a subsidized employment program—as well as shared spaces, cross-program workgroups, and a common database to exchange performance outcomes. This site also has a special focus on serving migrants and seasonal workers in rural areas.

Sections of the brief discuss joint service delivery, resource sharing, shared learning, and managing collaborative activities. Readers may also access links to the state TANF plan and funding information for more context and resources. This brief is part of the TANF Works! TANF/WIOA Collaboration Series, through which the Office of Family Assistance’s Integrating Innovative Employment and Economic Stability Strategies (IIEESS) initiative seeks to highlight innovative coordination strategies of TANF and WIOA programs to serve low-income or vulnerable populations.

Maryland’s Lower Eastern Shore job center and its partners have streamlined TANF and WIOA assessment and referral processes, as well as sharing staff, spaces, and resources across programs, to improve service delivery to TANF customers. Job center partners aim to match job seekers with employers through opportunities such as a “reverse job fair,” a job search database, and a regional job developer to specifically work with customers. Maryland also focuses on serving rural populations, with transportation subsidies and a mobile job center that delivers select WIOA services to TANF clients in rural areas.

This brief is organized into sections on joint service delivery, resource sharing, shared learning, and managing collaborative activities. Readers may also access links to the state TANF plan and funding information for more context and resources. This brief is part of the TANF Works! TANF/WIOA Collaboration Series, through which the Office of Family Assistance’s Integrating Innovative Employment and Economic Stability Strategies (IIEESS) initiative seeks to highlight innovative coordination strategies of TANF and WIOA programs to serve low-income or vulnerable populations.

This case statement highlights the collaboration between American Job Centers (called WorkSource) and TANF agencies in Spokane, Washington. WorkSource and partners have restructured staffing, resource allocation, and approaches to workforce development services with a customer-centered design. Leaders are also investing in organizational change through staff training, cross-program communication, and building support among staff at all levels.

This brief is part of the TANF Works! TANF/WIOA Collaboration Series, through which the Office of Family Assistance’s Integrating Innovative Employment and Economic Stability Strategies (IIEESS) initiative seeks to highlight innovative coordination strategies of TANF and WIOA programs to serve low-income or vulnerable populations. Sections of the brief describe joint service delivery, resource sharing, shared learning, and the management of collaborative activities. Readers, especially TANF programs looking to scale or replicate the practices, may also access links to the state TANF plan and funding information for more context and resources.

This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation report reviews the Carreras en Salud program, established by Instituto del Progreso Latino, a nonprofit organization in Chicago, Illinois. This program strives to help low-income Latinos improve their basic skills and enroll in occupational training for Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) and Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) jobs. Evaluation findings show that the program succeeded in engaging and enrolling students and helped them advance to higher-level training and secure employment in the healthcare field.

This Chapin Hall Research-to-Practice brief examines the diverse range of causes for youth homelessness, based on interviews with 215 youth, ages 13 to 25, in urban and rural communities. Four common experiences among the interviewed youth included: earlier disruptions of family and home (40 percent of interviewed youth had been in foster care); significant personal losses such as the loss of a parent or primary caregiver; conditions involving systems, peers, and families; and frequent moves or fluidity in sleeping arrangements.

This Urban Institute brief examines how variations in work schedules for participants in TANF and other safety net programs affect their ability to comply with weekly work requirements for reasons beyond participants’ control. Some challenges participants face include nonstandard work schedules, fluctuation in number of weekly working hours, capacity to receive advance notice of work schedules, and controlling or setting the number of hours per week they can work. While facing these challenges, participants also need to address work requirements so they can receive food assistance and attain child or dependent care or other case assistance.