In 2016, the Annie E. Casey Foundation launched Learn and Earn to Achieve Potential (LEAP™), a national initiative that helps youth and young adults who have been involved in the foster care or justice systems or who have experienced homelessness succeed in school and work by building and expanding education and employment pathways. Through partnerships with public agencies, postsecondary education, housing, service providers and more, LEAP partners are working toward improving policies and practices that place more systems-involved young people on positive economic trajectories. This Annie E. Casey Foundation brief shares the key takeaways from an evaluation conducted to better understand their efforts in tackling the root causes of disconnection from education and careers with systems-involved youth.

The Department of Labor’s Division of Youth Services will be hosting a webinar on August 28, 2024 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET, which will explore different frameworks of youth engagement in the decision-making processes of workforce development. This session is designed for anyone interested in understanding and enhancing youth participation in workforce development.

In October, the Department of Labor (DOL) will be hosting the National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM) to celebrate the value and talent workers with disabilities add to America’s workplaces and economy. While NDEAM takes place each October, its purpose is to confirm our commitment to ensuring disabled workers have access to good jobs, every month of every year. This DOL webpage contains resources to help celebrate NDEAM 2024: Access to Good Jobs for All.

This National Association of Workforce Development Professionals virtual event will take place on September 25, 2024 at 1:00 pm. ET, and participants will learn how to build a resilient and dedicated workforce by hiring and upskilling returning citizens.

WorkforceGPS is hosting a virtual event on August 22, 2024 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET that will provide front facing resources to American Job Center (AJC) staff serving veterans. Participants will learn about the various roles AJC and public workforce system staff play in serving veterans. They will gain a refresher on services available to veterans through Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, Wagner-Peyser, and Jobs for Veterans State Grants programs. Participants will also learn about resources available through the National Veterans’ Training Institute to improve service delivery to veterans.

The COVID-19 pandemic began during the Procedural Justice-Informed Alternatives to Contempt (PJAC) demonstration project, which tested a new approach to child support service delivery. The PJAC demonstration project integrated principles of procedural justice into enforcement practices in six child support agencies across the United States. This MDRC report uses data collected during the public health emergency to examine how three child support agencies experienced the COVID-19 pandemic. It focuses on how employment, earnings, and unemployment insurance patterns changed for members of the PJAC sample after the onset of the pandemic.

Black entrepreneurs face persistent systemic barriers to starting, maintaining, and growing businesses. Education, training, and workforce development organizations can be a source of support. This Urban Institute brief investigates how organizations within this space support Black business owners and help remove structural barriers.

HireAbility Vermont, Vermont’s state agency meant to help those with disabilities prepare for, obtain, and maintain meaningful careers, designed Vermont Career Advancement Project (VCAP) to address barriers to employment and encourage enrollment in training programs for high-wage occupations. VCAP will train more people for career pathways by connecting participants with programs and educational opportunities that result in a credential, postsecondary degree, or higher-paid job. This Mathematica brief describes how VCAP connects people with disabilities with opportunities for career training.

In 2023, the Department of Labor (DOL) launched the Youth Employment Works strategy to set a clear vision for young people in the workforce system and its public and private sector partners. This work is urgent and necessary to promote high quality career pathways for young workers to ensure they are prepared and empowered to engage in a dynamic labor market full of opportunities. This DOL resource lays out a roadmap for how they are aligning their programs and funds to advance this vision. The resource highlights additional links that provide guidance outlining promising practices for partnership and service delivery through the youth workforce system as well as the national Call to Action on Youth Employment.

The five-year initiative New Skills for Youth (NSFY) aimed to transform career readiness education and bridge the skills gap by supporting innovative strategies in 10 states across the United States. This Advance CTE report shares the successes and challenges of sustaining the work beyond the conclusion of the NSFY initiative, and through a global pandemic, in six of the states: Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin. From the experiences of each of these states, the resource presents specific recommendations and action steps for state and local leaders on how to sustain career pathways for long-term success.