The Office of Family Assistance (OFA) and the Office of Community Services (OCS) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services have recently announced the COVID and Safety Net Innovation (CASI) TA Initiative. This new endeavor will delve into the resiliency of the safety net, exploring new approaches that support the economic and social needs of vulnerable families, particularly in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Through the COVID and Safety Net Innovation TA Initiative, partnerships between federally funded state, local, or tribal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs and Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) eligible entities or CSBG Direct Funded Tribal recipients will receive Technical Assistance (TA) to develop strategic and targeted action and implementation plans related to a specific safety net concern.

The deadline to nominate or self-nominate to participate in CASI is Tuesday, December 21, 2021. To receive further information about CASI, including instructions for the short nomination process, please email CASIsites@blhtech.com.

This playbook synthesizes lessons learned and recommendations from existing resources, emergency management protocols, and interviews with federal program staff about responding to emergencies and disasters. As federal human services program staff serve populations often experiencing marginalization, economic disadvantages, and disproportionate negative impacts in a disaster or emergency context, this playbook discusses opportunities for federal programs to deliver human services equitably to all populations during and after major emergencies, especially those with multi-state impacts.

Partnerships between child care providers and food access initiatives are a promising approach to supporting young children’s nutrition. This brief illustrates two of these partnerships that received funding from the Walmart Healthier Food Access grant and highlights three promising strategies those partnerships employ: supporting children and families directly, fostering the capacity of child care providers and their ability to support child nutrition in their own care settings, and organizing at a systems level to better coordinate efforts that target families with young children. Evidence-based recommendations are offered for building these partnerships in local communities.

This U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance toolkit helps tribal justice system practitioners create or enhance reentry programs for American Indians and Alaska Natives returning from jail or prison. The toolkit starts with the formation of a planning team and covers all the key steps of developing a reentry program, including developing partnerships, refining a reentry program, measuring program impact, and planning for sustainability. The toolkit is informed by the work of reentry programs in Indian Country, the Center for Court Innovation, the Harlem Parole Reentry Court, and the American Probation and Parole Association.

This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation brief is a literature review and meta-analysis of data from the Pathways Clearinghouse. The analysis sought to understand the interventions and types of services with the strongest evidence of success in improving employment, earnings, and related outcomes for people with low incomes during recessions and recoveries.

COVID-19 has brought additional attention to the impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and trauma across the lifespan, which may be exacerbated by disruption in the lives of families. This case study highlights California’s ACEs Aware and its key elements as a model for other states. Led by the Office of the California Surgeon General and the Department of Health Care Services, California’s ACEs Aware initiative trains and reimburses health care providers to screen children and adults for childhood trauma and respond to the effects of toxic stress, with the goal of reducing ACEs and toxic stress by 50 percent in one generation.

This Action Lab webinar, held on November 4, 2021, focused on leveraging Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Employment and Training (SNAP E&T) to expand access to and support student success in education and training programs that lead to good careers. The webinar included a SNAP E&T 101 session from Seattle Jobs Initiative, a discussion with a USDA Food and Nutrition Services representative, and presentations from the International Rescue Committee, American Public Human Services Association, Council on Adult Basic Education, and National Skills Coalition.

The Casey Life Skills (CLS) Toolkit assesses independent skills youth need to achieve their long-term goals and aims to guide youth toward developing healthy and productive lives. Functional areas that the toolkit assesses include daily living and self-care activities, maintaining healthy relationships, work and study habits, using community resources, money management, computer literacy and online safety, civic engagement, and navigating the child welfare system. The toolkit provides CLS assessments, a Practitioner’s Guide (that includes best practices for administering and scoring the assessments), and a Resources to Inspire Guide (a list of resources that can help strengthen independent life skills).

The National Runaway Safeline and the Family and Youth Services Bureau jointly developed this toolkit in recognition of National Runaway Prevention Month, a public awareness campaign created to “shine a light” on the experiences of runaway and homeless youth. This toolkit is designed for community-based organizations, advocacy groups, runaway and homeless youth service providers, schools, and other stakeholders committed to supporting vulnerable youth. It contains resources to help successfully engage with stakeholders to build awareness of the issues runaway and homeless youth face.

This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation brief describes perceived benefits of Youth At-Risk of Homelessness comprehensive service models for youth and young adults and child welfare systems. The brief provides recommendations for implementing models intended to reduce homelessness among youth and young adults with child welfare involvement.