Economic empowerment is often a critical need for people who have experienced human trafficking, from their moment of exit through their long-term recovery. An increasing number of anti-trafficking service providers are beginning to address these needs, offering programs focused on financial literacy, job training, cash assistance, and more. Yet there is little guidance for practitioners as they support the economic well-being of anti-trafficking program participants. This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation guide is intended to serve as a foundation for organizations considering starting, expanding, or refining programs addressing economic empowerment of people with lived experience of human trafficking.

The Pathways to Work Evidence Clearinghouse is a website funded by the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE). The website summarizes decades of research on programs and interventions that aim to improve employment outcomes for people with low incomes. In this Clearinghouse video, OPRE’s Clare DiSalvo talks with former state TANF administrator Ella Gifford-Hawkins about how TANF and other program providers can use the Clearinghouse to make evidence-informed decisions as they design, adapt, and seek to strengthen their programs and improve the odds that the job seekers they serve will succeed in the labor market.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation recently announced new webinars as part of its series focused on youth mental health. The series seeks to respond to questions and insights raised by attendees at the Foundation’s Youth Mental Health Summit hosted with the Office of the U.S. Surgeon General in April 2023. Field experts at Annie E. Casey Foundation are set to host the following upcoming sessions that will feature leading researchers and practitioners:
1. Addressing the Mental Health Needs of Young Immigrants will take place at 1:00 p.m. ET on November 21, 2023;
2. Exploring Community-based Approaches to Youth Mental Health care will take place at 1:00 p.m. ET on December 19, 2023; and
3. Preventing Adverse Childhood Experiences: Creating Safe and Nurturing Environment will take place at 1:00 p.m. ET on January 23, 2024.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation recently announced new webinars as part of its series focused on youth mental health. The series seeks to respond to questions and insights raised by attendees at the Foundation’s Youth Mental Health Summit hosted with the Office of the U.S. Surgeon General in April 2023. Field experts at Annie E. Casey Foundation are set to host the following upcoming sessions that will feature leading researchers and practitioners:
1. Addressing the Mental Health Needs of Young Immigrants will take place at 1:00 p.m. ET on November 21, 2023;
2. Exploring Community-based Approaches to Youth Mental Health care will take place at 1:00 p.m. ET on December 19, 2023; and
3. Preventing Adverse Childhood Experiences: Creating Safe and Nurturing Environment will take place at 1:00 p.m. ET on January 23, 2024.

LifeSet is an intensive case management program that prepares young people in foster care for the transition to adulthood. LifeSet specialists meet weekly with youth to provide individualized, intensive services as youth work towards self-defined goals in areas such as housing, employment, education, and money management. This Chapin Hall report presents findings from the Phase II evaluation of LifeSet’s implementation by three child services providers in Illinois. Phase II evaluation activities included focus groups with LifeSet specialists; interviews with LifeSet supervisors, licensed program experts, and young people who participated in LifeSet; and an analysis of both Department of Children and Family Services administrative data and GuideTree program data from Youth Villages.

Prior evaluations of reentry grants funded by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) highlight the many challenges community service providers faced when integrating workforce development programs inside correctional facilities. Such challenges include limited physical space, restricted staff and participant movement within the facility, the culture of corrections, recruiting and hiring qualified program staff who can pass background checks, and sharing data across partners. This DOL brief is part of an evaluation series of the Pathway Home grant initiative which required services to be delivered to participants both before and after release from incarceration, ideally with the same case manager. The brief focuses on the efforts of Pathway Home grantees to provide services to participants prior to their release from prison or jail.

Registered Apprenticeships are recognized as a key strategy to improving job quality and creating access to good-paying jobs for all, including populations historically underrepresented – women, people of color, and individuals with a disability – and underserved populations. The U.S. Department of Labor Women's Bureau will be hosting a webinar on November 16, 2023 from 2:00 p.m. ET to 3:30 p.m. ET to discuss creating access to good-paying jobs for youth and young adult women. It will highlight the importance of educating young women on the advantages of apprenticeship, feature programs and training opportunities, discuss recruitment strategies, and share information on Department of Labor apprenticeship programs.

The success sequence is discussed in the context of policy approaches for reducing poverty and improving economic opportunity for adolescents and young adults. It refers to a series of milestones in life associated with escaping poverty and joining the middle class, most commonly including high school completion, full-time employment, and waiting for marriage to have children. Policy approaches influenced by the success sequence theory emphasize educational programming and public awareness campaigns to spread knowledge around the importance of following success sequence milestones to achieve economic self-sufficiency. This Mathematica report is the third in a series on the success sequence conducted for the Department of Health and Human Services. This report presents findings from this mixed-methods study that investigates the factors associated with following the success sequence and economic self-sufficiency. 

Access the first report and second report here.

Human services programs, including TANF, can improve the experiences of participants and staff by using strategies from the field of business process management (BPM). BPM can help human services programs assess their processes and practices to understand what is working well and where they can make improvements to strengthen service delivery. Recent applications of BPM strategies by various human services programs show promise for improving the outcomes of families and children by reducing sources of stress and boosting satisfaction for both participants and staff. This Mathematica brief shares examples of human services programs that have BPM strategies in partnership with technical assistance providers and gives an overview of how programs can undertake similar work to strengthen service delivery.

Registered apprenticeship programs (RAPs) are industry-driven, high-quality career pathways that not only allow employers to build a future-focused workforce but also provide high-paying, high-quality job opportunities for individual career seekers. Given that four-year education and secondary education systems are not attractive or feasible to everyone, RAPs provide a dynamic alternate solution for youth to gain skills and experience in fields of interest while earning a progressive wage and receiving on-the-job training. The American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) population is—and has historically been—underrepresented in RAPs across all age groups and occupations. Of the 547,922 active apprentices in FY2021, only 6,523 individuals identified as AI/AN. This Cybersecurity Youth Apprenticeship Initiative white paper includes culturally relevant tips and best practices to better recruit and employ AI/AN youth.