The targeting and scale of missing Indigenous relatives is deeply concerning and rooted in historical injustices, marginalization, and socio-economic disparities. The connection between exploitation and the displacement of Indigenous communities underscores the importance of addressing the root causes of vulnerability. This involves enhancing collaboration between Indigenous leaders, law enforcement, and policy makers to develop effective strategies for prevention, intervention, and support for victims and their families as described in the findings of the Not Invisible Act Commission. This blogpost from the Administration for Native Americans (ANA) and the Office on Trafficking in Persons (OTIP) provides resources for tribal leaders, Indigenous-led organizations, and state and federal partners committed to searching for missing relatives and loved ones. The resources include a podcast series on Missing and Murdered Indigenous People, a paper on culturally based prevention strategies, online trainings on strengthening screening and trauma-informed responses to human trafficking – and more.

Service coordination can help people achieve and maintain housing stability, wellness, and independence by identifying and connecting the services and supports they want and need. A strategy to increase access to this service coordination is “braiding”, which laces together funds from multiple sources - each funding unique activities - to support a common goal while maintaining the specific program identity of each individual funding source. The Housing and Services Resource Center, a partnership between the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, will host a webinar on January 31, 2024, from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. ET, which will feature two models for braiding funding streams across sectors to maximize the use of existing resources and broaden access to service coordination. Presenters will discuss program structure, funding and braiding process, partnerships, and outcomes, and participants will learn ideas for adapting these models to extend access to service coordination.

Economic empowerment is a critical need for many individuals who have experienced human trafficking, from their moment of exit through their long-term recovery. An increasing number of service providers are beginning to address this need, offering programs focused on financial literacy, job training, cash assistance, and more. However, there is little guidance for practitioners as they support the economic well-being of clients. The Administration for Children and Families will be hosting this webinar on January 17th, 2024, from 2:00 p.m. to 2:45 p.m. ET. Attendees will hear guiding principles for the development and implementation of economic empowerment programs as well as key findings and recommendations for programming.

This issue brief describes three specific program improvement strategies employed by six state, county and tribal TANF programs. The three strategies drove changes that resulted in tangible TANF program improvements across all six programs. The improvement strategies are:

1) Revisit and reimagine your working relationships with your community partners to improve collaboration and coordination;
2) actively listen to and learn from your TANF families, community members, and program staff; and
3) reorient or adapt outcome structures and monitoring elements to strengthen TANF program performance-based accountability.

The programs featured in this resource were among a group of 10 TANF programs that participated in the Office of Family Assistance’s initiative “Leveraging America’s Social and Economic Resilience TANF Learning Community” {LASER TLC).

Project IMPROVE helps Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and related programs learn to use and produce evidence to improve their programs. This one-pager, developed by Mathematica and The Adjacent Possible, shares information about Project IMPROVE and how state and local TANF agencies can get involved.

Latino parents with low incomes were especially hard-hit by COVID-19 pandemic-related closures and disruptions to their jobs and to their childcare arrangements — challenges exacerbated by Hispanic workers’ structural concentration within industries and occupations that offer few benefits and flexibilities needed to respond to childcare disruptions. This Hispanic Research Center brief presents findings on employment patterns among these parents and on workplace flexibilities adopted (or not) by the industries in which they are employed and discusses potential programmatic and policy interventions to support family well-being and childcare needs moving forward.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) theme for Human Trafficking Prevention Month 2024 is Activate Connections to Prevent Human Trafficking, designed to highlight the importance of collaborating across multiple sectors to build human trafficking prevention initiatives that work. Human trafficking cannot be prevented by any one individual, community, organization, or government. This HHS toolkit aims to educate and equip individuals and organizations to share resources to increase awareness, foster connections, and ultimately strengthen individuals, families, and communities. The first week will introduce readers to Human Trafficking Prevention Month and provide introductory information about human trafficking. Weeks two through five will explore activating connections to promote health and well-being, including economic mobility. Sample social media posts, sample email and newsletter content, and resources that HHS encourages all to share throughout the month of January are included.

The Retaining Employment and Talent After Injury/Illness Network (RETAIN) demonstration aims to help workers with recently acquired injuries and disabilities remain in the labor force. Following a pilot phase, the U.S. Department of Labor awarded cooperative agreements to state agencies in Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Ohio, and Vermont to fully implement RETAIN services. These five RETAIN programs aim to identify and recruit a subset of workers who could be at risk of exiting the labor force and applying for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). This Mathematica brief compares the characteristics of people who enrolled in RETAIN in 2022 with all workers and with applicants for SSDI and SSI.

In the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), young adults and adults, ages 18-49, who do not have dependents and are not pregnant, are considered Able-Bodied Adults Without Dependents (ABAWDs). ABAWDs cannot receive SNAP benefits for more than 3 months within a 3-year period unless they meet the ABAWD work requirement or are exempt. This Administration for Children and Families letter provides information and resources on new exceptions for the ABAWD time limits and work requirements in SNAP. The information can assist youth and young adults experiencing homelessness and transitioning out of foster care who are eligible for SNAP benefits.