This report from MDRC provides an evaluation of the state of Kansas' Child Support Savings Initiative (CSSI) which was created to help parents pay off child support debt while contributing to their children's future higher education costs. It encourages parents to make direct deposits into 529 accounts, and in return, they receive matching reductions in their child support debt from the state. The search showed a common finding: that it is difficult to engage low- and middle-income families in saving money, as they already face other financial burdens. This is explored in depth in the report.

This report, produced by the University of Maryland, examines characteristics of adults who receive Temporary Cash Assistance (TCA) for children. Maryland’s TCA focuses on the economic stability of entire families by focusing both on child academic success and earning potential of caregivers. However, TCA services differ. Some families qualify for benefits for both themselves and their children, while other adults receive benefits only for children. This report evaluates the different sociodemographic characteristics between recipient and non-recipient adults, and assesses whether these different strategies affect the children under their care. Promoting the well-being of all children – regardless whether a caregiver is a recipient – is an important component of multiple-generation programs.

This report evaluates the early impacts of the Year Up program. Year Up is a national training program for youth between 18-24 years of age. It provides individuals with 6 months of full-time training in IT and financial service sectors, followed by a 6-month internship, with an emphasis on professional and technical skills development. Findings indicate that Year Up participants reported higher-than-average earnings after assignment, as well as high satisfaction rates within the classroom. This consistently large and positive effect on incomes – when compared to the control group – represents the largest positive impact to date for any federal workforce program tested in this manner. Findings also indicated that adherence to program design during implementation was also largely positive, though outcomes vary between Year Up offices.

This brief from the National Research Center on Hispanic Children and Families explores who Latino fathers are and how this affects their engagement with their children. For this brief, data from the National Survey of Family Growth was analyzed; a sample of Latino fathers was separated into immigrant and non-immigrant categories because the immigrant experience has been found to have a significant impact on all facets of a father's life. The brief shares key findings about who Latino fathers are and their interaction with the labor market and their children and offers points for discussion and future research.

This study from the NYC Center for Innovation through Data Intelligence provides information on the housing trajectories of youth exiting foster care or other residential programs for homeless youth and their met and unmet service needs. The study used administrative data and takes a look at factors predicting future service use and implications for this data for future work with youth in transition.

This report from MDRC presents the interim impact findings from an ongoing evaluation of YouthBuild, a program that employs at-risk youth in the construction field, teaching them marketable skills while also supporting them to earn their high school diploma or GED. Many of the reported impacts from this randomized control trial were positive, and each is examined in the report.

This report from the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation summarizes the findings of a research study of youth-serving healthy marriage and relationship education grant programs funded by the Office of Family Assistance. One of the main points addressed in this report is how these programs are specifically tailored to the developmental and cultural needs of the youth population.

This brief from the National Research Center on Hispanic Children and Families examines the take-up rates for child care and early education for Hispanic families. Historically, Hispanic families have lower rates of usage of programs targeted to assist low-income families such as child care assistance, and this brief uses research to determine why this is the case for child care assistance and what the implications are for these findings.

This resource from the National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse highlights a rural community partnership between a fatherhood program and local child support agency. In this case study, authors describe the development of a partnership in Merced County, California and lessons learned.

This blog post from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau highlights a new resource that the Bureau has released called "Focus on People with Disabilities" which is a companion piece to a financial empowerment toolkit previously released. The guide covers information such as how Supplemental Security Income works, identifying financial abuse and exploitation, and ways to pay for assistive technology. Additionally, the Bureau has 11 new tools to help organizations and their staff implement this toolkit.