Many human services providers struggle with recruiting and retaining staff due to work-related stress, burnout, low salaries, and lack of benefits. This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation brief describes approaches to overcoming challenges with hiring and retaining staff for human services programs. Leaders of human services programs may find it helpful for strengthening their talent pool.

This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation report explores how employer engagement and job development can be mutually beneficial for programs, participants, and employers. The report provides practical examples and lessons learned about strategies for engaging employers in job development. This resource is written for leaders and staff of employment programs that work with people who face complex challenges to employment.

This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation brief summarizes promising strategies used to hire and support peer support staff. Leaders of human services programs may find it helpful to draw on this information as they are considering hiring peer support staff.

The Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 (FRA) includes several key changes to TANF, including a reset of the base year for the caseload reduction credit (CRC) component of the work participation rate (WPR) calculation. Additionally, the law requires HHS to exclude from the WPR calculations certain cases that receive benefits of less than $35 per month. Both changes go into effect October 1, 2025.

The Office of Family Assistance (OFA) hosted a virtual information-sharing session with federal program staff on August 6, 2025. They provided a presentation on Sections 301 and 303 of the FRA and the impact each may have on TANF programs. State TANF program officials were encouraged to participate in this forum to receive guidance on meeting the requirements of Sections 301 and 303.

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) has published these four Notices of Funding Opportunity (NOFOs) to support fathers, strengthen families, and empower youth across the nation.

• Family, Opportunity, Resilience, Grit, Engagement – Fatherhood (FORGE Fatherhood): ACF announced its plan to solicit applications for the competitive award of grants that support "activities to promote responsible fatherhood" under each of the three broad categories of promoting or sustaining marriage, responsible parenting, and economic stability activities authorized under Section 403(a)(2) of the Social Security Act. This funding will be targeted exclusively at projects designed for adult fathers, defined as fathers that are age 18 and older. Eligible fathers (or father figures) must have children who are age 24 or younger. Fathers will include those in the general population (or "community fathers"), as well as fathers who are returning, or have returned, to their families and communities, following incarceration. 

   

• Helping Every Area of Relationships Thrive - Adults (HEART): ACF announced its plan to solicit applications for the competitive award of grants that support "healthy marriage promotion" activities as authorized under Section 403(a)(2) of the Social Security Act. This funding will be targeted exclusively to projects designed for adult individuals or adult couples, defined as persons who are age 18 and older. Applicants will be asked to submit proposals that are designed to implement programs that include a broad array of service provision strategies. These include curriculum-based skills development and services designed to support family strengthening activities through one or more of seven activities specified under the authorizing legislation: marriage and relationship education/skills (MRES); pre-marital education; marriage enhancement; divorce reduction activities; marriage mentoring; public advertising campaigns; and activities to reduce the disincentives to marriage. 

   

• Relationships, Education, Advancement, and Development for Youth for Life (READY4Life): ACF announced its plan to solicit applications for the competitive award of grants that support healthy marriage and relationship education activities including parenting, and job and career advancement activities as authorized under Section 403(a)(2) of the Social Security Act. The Relationships, Education, Advancement, and Development for Youth for Life (READY4Life) grants will be targeted exclusively to projects designed to provide healthy marriage and relationship education skills, parenting (for young fathers and mothers as applicable), financial management, job and career advancement, and other activities, to youth that are high-school aged (grades 9-12) or in late adolescence and early adulthood (ages 14 to 24), including parenting and/or pregnant youth. Grants awarded will support family formation and healthy marriage promotion activities under the authorizing legislation, through marriage and relationship education/skills (MRES). Applicants must provide evidence of organizational capacity to implement their proposed project for the specified community.

   

• Grants for Coordination of Tribal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Child Welfare Services to Tribal Families at Risk of Child Abuse or Neglect: ACF announced the availability of funds under the Grants for Coordination of Tribal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Child Welfare Services to Tribal Families at Risk of Child Abuse or Neglect. The purpose of this program, as prescribed by the statute (section 403(a)(2) of the Social Security Act, as amended), is "to fund demonstration projects designed to test the effectiveness of tribal governments or tribal consortia in coordinating the provision to tribal families at risk of child abuse and neglect of child welfare services and services under tribal programs funded under this part." 42 U.S.C. 603(a)(2)(B)(i). The award must be utilized for one or more purposes that are specifically outlined by statutorily-prescribed uses: (1) To improve case management for families eligible for assistance from a Tribal TANF program; (2) For supportive services and assistance to tribal children in out-of-home placements and the tribal families caring for such children, including families who adopt such children; (3) For prevention services and assistance to tribal families at risk of child abuse and neglect. In recent cohorts, recipients have engaged in activities such as revising intake and assessment procedures, developing informed consent documents that will allow staff to share information across program lines, providing cross-training for TANF and child welfare staff, developing joint case management procedures, and developing information technology systems to enhance coordination. Successful awardees will be required to articulate the methodology employed, as well as the anticipated deliverables and impacts. As this constitutes a pilot award, recipients are expected to disseminate key insights to the wider Tribal TANF and child welfare community.

   

All applications must be submitted electronically by Tuesday, July 29, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. ET. 

This webpage offers program monitoring tools used by Florida’s local workforce development board in 2024-2025. This webpage includes monitoring tools for:
• Welfare Transition (WT)/Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF);
• Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Employment & Training (SNAP E&T);
• Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA);
• Wagner-Peyser (WP);
• Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA)/Rapid Response;
• Migrant and Seasonal Farm Workers (MSFW); and
• Jobs For Veterans' State Grant (JVSG).
This webpage also offers program monitoring tools used in previous years.

With the significant increase in the cost of food, some grandfamilies and kinship families, especially those on fixed incomes, may not have ample food to feed their growing family.  Federal nutrition programs can help kin caregivers stretch limited budgets, and ensure their families thrive. The Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network will host a webinar on September 10, 2025 at 2:00 p.m. ET to explore the array of federal nutrition programs, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), school meals, and afterschool and summer food programs, that are available to help kinship/grandfamilies get the nutrition they need. This webinar will equip attendees with practical information and resources that can be used to connect families to these nutrition programs. 

When the school year ends, millions of children lose access to the school breakfasts and lunches they rely on during the school year. This can exacerbate summertime food insecurity for those children in kinship. The Summer Nutrition Programs are designed to replace school breakfast and lunch and can help lower food costs for families. These programs ensure that children have consistent access to healthy meals during the summer months, which is critical for their health and well-being. This Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network tipsheet explains Summer Nutrition Programs along with benefits and eligibility.

This assessment provides a foundation to understand the scope of the childhood chronic disease crisis, the conditions that created it, and the mechanisms through which it continues to grow. Without this foundation, interventions risk being reactive, fragmented, or ineffective. The assessment identifies four potential drivers behind the rise in childhood chronic disease that present the clearest opportunities for progress.