This Administration for Children and Families blog post from the Office of Child Support Enforcement Commissioner presents examples of how states are taking the lead in testing and implementing child support-led employment services. These projects, funded under the National Child Support Noncustodial Parent Employment Demonstration program, IV-D incentive funds, and waiver authority granted under Section 1115 of the Social Security Act (to support programs in Colorado, Ohio, and Wisconsin), include intensive case management, parenting peer support, and related employment services. A final evaluation report expected in April will demonstrate the positive outcomes of these programs that lead to increased capacity of noncustodial parents to support their children financially.

The U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s National Training and Technical Assistance Center (NTTAC), in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Family and Youth Services Bureau, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Special Needs Assistance Programs, and SchoolHouse Connection, will host a webinar on May 7, 2019 from 1:00 - 2:30 p.m. ET which will focus on preventing homelessness and supporting homeless youth. The webinar will review intervention strategies and how to interact with communities and local homelessness systems. It will conclude with a Q&A session. This event will be moderated by Francis Mendez, Project Director, NTTAC, and will include the following presenters:

• Christopher Holloway, Runaway and Homeless Youth Program Manager, Family and Youth Services Bureau
• Patricia Julianelle, Director of Program Advancement and Legal Affairs, SchoolHouse Connection
• Norman Suchar, Director, Office of Special Needs Assistance Programs, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

This Russell Sage Foundation research journal article identifies changes in the spatial distribution of returning citizens in greater Chicago. While traditional reintegration among ex-offenders typically occurs within urban communities, this article also identifies changes in the spatial makeup of metropolitan regions, such as demolition of public housing and greater poverty in suburbs. These changes dispel the conventional wisdom for the reintegration of formerly incarcerated persons using 16 years of prisoner release data.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration, Division of Youth Services will hold a webinar on April 29, 2019 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. ET. The webinar will cover technical assistance resources available to assist youth workforce development practitioners in delivering all-inclusive services to young people.

This Urban Institute study illustrates the financial costs and long-term effects of youth incarceration and suggests a new model to prevent and address illegal actions by youth. This new model calls for a continuum-based approach that includes restorative justice programming, family counseling and mentoring support, and interventions to address substance abuse. The brief reviews four areas to create this continuum, including: capturing and reinvesting savings resulting from youth detention facilities closures; repurposing youth detention facilities; maximizing existing state and federal funding sources; and identifying innovative funding strategies for opportunities for youth and their families.

This MDRC brief describes how behavioral strategies were used to encourage parents to make child support payments and to explain child support orders once issued. The Start Smart initiative guides eligible noncustodial parents on income withholding mechanisms to make child support payments and for making these payments before the income withholding starts.

Casey Family Programs developed and hosts this interactive mapping tool designed to identify community aspects that correlate with safe children and strong families. It utilizes current U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey data and shows the following data indicators by state, county, and zip code: vacant housing levels, housing cost burden, resident turnover, percentage of single-mother families, child-to-adult ratio, percentage of persons 65 years old or older, unemployment rate, percentage of adults with a high school diploma, and poverty rate, as well as general demographics, such as population, racial breakdown of the population, and percentage of persons who are foreign born.

This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation report identifies a research design plan that will be used in interviewing up to 140 participants from among 27 HPOG 2.0 grantees across the country. The interviews will provide insights about participants’ motivations, decision making, expectations, and experiences.

This Urban Institute study examines the effect of reinstating SNAP work-related time limits in Kentucky on a county-by-county basis. The review covers SNAP participation of able-bodied adults without dependents and reviews caseload data from January 2017 to September 2018.

This IMPAQ study for the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy identifies trends in entrepreneurship programs in low-income communities by comparing the characteristics of self-employed workers and of small businesses (such as industry and payroll), as well as income levels of self-employed persons in low-income areas with the rest of the country.