This study from the Aspen Institute explores how justice-involved women experience family relationships. The researchers conducted interviews and focus groups with women enrolled in College and Community Fellowship, a program that helps justice-involved women successfully complete their college education. These interviews showed the pivotal role that social capital, in the form of family support, plays in enabling these women to complete college. Furthermore, as justice-involved women complete education, they become important sources of social capital within their communities. The authors pose several recommendations to help cultivate social capital among women with convictions.

This issue brief from the Center for Law and Social Policy examines how young men of color have been disproportionately affected by the decline in employment over the past several years. It is often the case that this population has very few opportunities for exposure to career paths, obtaining work experience, and building employment history. This brief also provides recommendations for promising strategies to improve outcomes for young men of color.

Some aspects of child development are often misconstrued. This brief from the Harvard Center on the Developing Child examines these aspects and clarifies their meaning and importance. For example, even infants are adversely affected when significant stresses occur in their family environment.

Adverse experiences in childhood can produce physiological changes in the brain, which can ultimately negatively affect a child’s long-term decision-making skills and ability to regulate emotions. The Annie E. Casey Foundation hosted a webinar that presented practical tools and solutions for integrating trauma-responsive practices into youth programs.

Although the labor market has been steadily recovering since the Great Recession, younger workers have not been benefiting at the same rate as the overall workforce. The unemployment rate among adults aged 20-24 is almost double the national average, and the jobless rate among people aged 16-19 is almost triple the national rate. This report from the National Skills Coalition and the National Youth Employment Coalition highlights how work-based learning can provide youth with job training, in addition to the essential income support for disconnected and at-youth individuals.

As of November 2015, more than 2.5 million children, many younger than six years old, are homeless each year. This report from the Bassuk Center presents strategies to end family homelessness, including assessing all family members, addressing trauma, and providing permanent affordable housing.

This brief from the National Alliance to End Homelessness explores the innovative ways that communities are using TANF to combat family homelessness. These include short-term rental assistance, employment services, and promoting stability for people with disabilities and other severe barriers.

This Office of Family Assistance Information Memorandum discusses the importance of addressing family homelessness with allowable uses of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds for families experiencing and at risk of experiencing homelessness.

With a total of 2.2 million incarcerated people in the United States, a collateral cost seems to be low levels of educational attainment. Among state prisoners, the average level of education is 10.4 years of schooling; similarly, over two-thirds of this population lack a high school diploma. This report from CLASP presents suggestions to improve training during and after incarceration that aim to increase educational and employment opportunities of reentering citizens.

The Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (FVPSA) is the primary federal funding stream for State and Territorial Domestic Violence Coalitions, which coordinate state- and territory-wide improvements within local communities, social service systems, and programming regarding the prevention and intervention of domestic violence. Every Coalition provides comprehensive training and technical assistance on a multitude of social, legal, and economic issues that affect victims’ safety and well-being. Each state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa, have a FVPSA-funded Domestic Violence Coalition. These coalitions are connected to more than 2,000 local domestic violence programs receiving FVPSA funding across the country. Every coalition provides comprehensive training and technical assistance on a multitude of social, legal, and economic issues that affect victims’ safety and well-being. Coalitions collaborate with government, private industry, non-profit organizations, faith-based communities, and other stakeholders to effectively coordinate and improve the safety net of services available to victims and their dependents.