The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and its federal agency partners invite stakeholders to participate in the "Our Future Matters: Informing the Federal Interagency Strategy" national online dialogue. This important virtual conversation aims to enhance policies and practices to facilitate a smooth transition to adulthood for youth with disabilities.

Through the dialogue, federal staff will seek input on ways to enhance services for youth and young adults with disabilities in the following areas:

• Education
• Employment
• Health and Human Services
• Social Security

Please join this important conversation by visiting the dialogue now through August 14, 2023. Simply log on, register, submit ideas, or comment and vote on ideas submitted by others.

Sector programs train people for high-quality jobs in industries that have strong local demand and offer the opportunity for career advancement. Most programs offer similar services: job-readiness training (including professional skills development), occupational skills training, and support services. These programs can improve both the educational and the economic outcomes of low-income adults trying to enter and advance in the labor market. This MDRC paper presents recommendations that can help policymakers and practitioners develop high-quality programs to assist unemployed people in obtaining the skills and support they need to work in high-wage, high-growth sectors of the labor market in their regions.

Wisconsin’s Youth Apprenticeship program is the oldest and largest ongoing youth apprenticeship (YA) program in the U.S. As youth apprenticeship has reemerged as an attractive option for preparing young people for careers, Wisconsin’s YA program offers interesting insights to policymakers and practitioners. The state funds the program in a way that emphasizes local control, administration, and outreach to high school students and employers. This Urban Institute brief highlights the program’s history, recent growth, and structure and draws on perspectives from state officials, local program directors, and employers.

Young adulthood is a crucial period that can determine a person’s success later in life by setting a trajectory for work experience, education and training, and financial stability. Unfortunately, many previously incarcerated young adults face collateral consequences from policies and laws that make it difficult to obtain employment and education even after they are released from incarceration. This Center for American Progress issue brief offers recommendations and highlights promising practices at the state and local levels for improving the economic outcomes of reentering young adults, addressing barriers to reentry, and reducing recidivism.

WorkforceGPS will host a virtual session on July 27, 2023, from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. ET that will provide technical assistance to workforce-oriented entities looking to better identify occupational segregation, which perpetuates wage disparities and hinders career advancement. In attending, participants will learn tangible ways to access and use publicly available data to understand the impact of occupational segregation in their communities. The webinar will feature a live demonstration of disaggregating publicly available data and will also feature guest speakers who will share practical examples of how data can be used to inform program practices and policies.

In 2014, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) released a treatment improvement protocol manual entitled Trauma-Informed Care in Behavioral Health Services, as well as Concept of Trauma, which served as a landmark publication that has influenced service provision beyond the areas of behavioral health and health care. Trauma continues to be a cross-SAMHSA priority, given its significant role in behavioral health prevention, treatment, and recovery. This updated guide expands the discussion presented in SAMHSA’s earlier resources, specifically focusing on tools and strategies for implementing a trauma-informed approach (TIA). The guide highlights the need for organizational assessment of readiness and capacity before implementing TIA and describes strategies for such assessments.

The Launch Pathways Initiative (Launch) is a national college and career pathways initiative focused on advancing high-quality, equitable, and sustainable pathways models at scale. The Launch Partners provide technical assistance to twelve teams from eleven states, organized into two cohorts: the Impact Cohort and the Innovation Cohort. While state teams in both cohorts focus on building more equitable and sustainable college and career pathways systems, the cohorts will follow two distinct paths. This New America blogpost provides a glimpse into the work of the Impact Cohort.

This alert is to ensure that NO family served by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) loses their medical coverage because of a lack of knowledge about the renewal process. Resources to support agencies as they help individuals renew coverage are provided below.

The key information that families need to receive:

• UPDATE contact information with the State Medicaid agency.
• RESPOND to the Medicaid renewal form when it comes in the mail. If they don't, they may lose their coverage even if they are still eligible.
• PARENTS should respond even if they are not eligible or enrolled in other coverage. Their children could still be eligible for coverage.
• CHECK OTHER OPTIONS: If no longer eligible for Medicaid, they should check if they can get coverage through their employer or through the Affordable Care Act Marketplace at www.healthcare.gov.
• To receive state-specific Medicaid renewal templates to help get the word out about the above information, contact a local Medicaid official.

For individual outreach, please consider these resources for office posting and distribution:

• State-specific Unwinding Flyers (in English and Spanish)
• State-specific information to help families update their contact information.

The Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services has developed a Communications Toolkit to help people with Medicaid or CHIP take steps to renew their health coverage or find other coverage options. This Toolkit includes important messages and sample materials (drop-in articles, social media messages, and flyers).

Looking for something that can give specific actions to different community partners? This Call to Action lets different groups (e.g., states, unions, employers, the health care community) know what they can do to spread the word and get people's heath care renewed.

For the tens of millions of American adults that lack basic literacy, numeracy, and digital skills, most cannot access employment opportunities in high-wage, high-demand occupations and industries that are increasingly focusing on skills in their hiring processes. Year Up provides its participants with the opportunity to develop essential career readiness and business skills, build foundational technical capabilities, and complete an immersive, work-based learning experience with a leading employer partner. American Institutes for Research’s (AIR’s) PROMISE Center is partnering with Year Up to expand its nationwide program with fidelity. In this Q&A, AIR shares how this work could help scale up effective skills-based training programs, expand and diversify the workforce, and support employers’ skills-based hiring practices.

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) will host a virtual training on anxiety and depression in children and youth designed for parents and caregivers on July 19, 2023, from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. ET. This training will provide:

• Information on anxiety and depression in children and youth from parents, caregivers, and behavioral health professionals;
• Useful skills to recognize and respond to children and youth managing anxiety and depression;
• Information on how to access mental health resources and guidance to help children and families; and 
• An overview of resources available to support parents and caregivers.

The training is a continuation of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' efforts to provide important and useful information an resources about child, youth, and family mental health and includes remarks from ACF Assistant Secretary January Contreras and SAMHSA Assistant Secretary Miriam Delphin-Rittmon. For additional information, see this flyer.